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Canadian immigration authorities tried to deport one of the Toronto VIA Rail terror suspects nine years ago but never did so because, as a stateless Palestinian, he could not be sent to any other country, documents first obtained by the National Post show..

[np_storybar title=”Kelly McParland: Only twisted logic could turn VIA ‘plotter’ against country that offered safe harbour” link=”http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/04/25/kelly-mcparland-3/”]

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The tale of Raed Jaser and his family, as revealed in Thursday’s National Post, makes for fascinating reading. It demonstrates, for one thing, just how fraught life can be for anyone unfortunate enough to be born into the cruelly complex mix of religious, ethnic and political tensions that remain an overwhelming feature of life in much of the Middle East.

As reported in the Post, Raed’s father, Mohammed Jaser, was born in Jaffa, in what is now Israel, to Sunni Muslim Palestinian parents. His mother is a Palestinian born in Saudi Arabia. As an infant, Mohammed Jaser moved with his parents to the Gaza Strip, which was then controlled by Egypt. Jaser told Canadian immigration officials years later that his family was forced to leave Israel when it was established as a state, and all their land and belongings were seized.