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July 29, 2005
Mayor set to visit Israel
Campbell to see Holy Land before his retirement.
PAT JOHNSON
In one of his last major acts of office, Vancouver Mayor Larry
Campbell will visit Israel next month.
The popular mayor, who announced last month that his first term
in office would be his last, was slated to attend a global gay pride
celebration in Jerusalem, but that was cancelled due to security
concerns related to the Gaza pullout.
Campbell told the Independent that he will visit Haifa at the invitation
of that city's mayor. A sister city deal could be in the offing.
After recently entertaining three Israeli mayors at his 12th and
Cambie office, Campbell said he had snagged another invitation from
the mayor of Kiryat Shmona, where Campbell will go to meet some
of Israel's foremost hockey players. After that, his itinerary was
open.
"I said I want to float in the Dead Sea," Campbell said.
"I want to go to the Old City and I want to go to the Wailing
Wall and I want to watch the sun rise on Masada. I'd like to see
the country. I've always admired the citizens there. I have a huge
number of friends here in the Jewish community."
Campbell said he may meet the mayor of Jerusalem and, though his
itinerary is not final, he may visit Ramallah.
"I have no difficulty in meeting with the Palestinians, not
at all," said Campbell. "I'd just like to see peace and
I'm sure that everybody else would too."
Leaving office after a single, three-year term, during which he
managed to maintain and even build upon the support he garnered
in the 2002 election, the mayor, who joked that he was leaving to
take a position as a Wal-Mart greeter, now speculates on future
ventures.
He will write some scripts for the TV series that is based on his
career. Da Vinci's Inquest will become Da Vinci's City
Hall this fall. He would like to work on drug policy. He discounts
running federally or provincially.
Campbell, who has been supported by many in the Jewish community,
also spoke of what Israel means to him.
"I believe that Israel has a right to exist as a state,"
Campbell said. "I believe that there's going to have to be
– and I think that at various times there have been - concessions
given on both sides and for whatever reasons, they have not been
fulfilled. There are many reasons. Certainly, there's no question
that I support Israel as a state. Historically, from my point of
view anyways, that's where they should be."
Responding to concerns expressed by Jewish constituents about the
potential for extreme anti-Israel or anti-Semitic manifestations
at next year's World Peace Forum in Vancouver, Campbell tried to
allay their worries.
"I understand their concerns, but I also have spoken to the
organizers of this and expressed that here are legitimate concerns,"
Campbell said. "I've been advised and I'm satisfied that they
recognize these concerns. They do not want a Durban, for instance.
We're bringing together a lot of people from around the world who
have conflicts ongoing. It's about peace, it's not about conflict.
I'm pretty satisfied that we'll be OK at that."
If trouble arose, Campbell said, he might use his status as a former
mayor to intervene.
"I'm not leaving Vancouver and maybe I'll play a role as the
elder statesperson, I don't know," said the mayor.
The postponement for a year of the World Pride celebration in Jerusalem
has not altered the mayor's travel plans, though Councillor Tim
Stevenson, who was to have been in Israel at the same time, has
changed his travel plans in light of the World Pride postponement.
Israeli ambassador to Canada Alan Baker, in Vancouver recently,
said it is "a great shame" that the global gay pride celebration
had to be delayed. He described it as a confluence of unfortunate
circumstances.
"We got this very strange coalition of the extreme religious
Jews, Christians and Muslims who all joined together to object,"
the ambassador said. "In addition to that, you've got a mayor
of Jerusalem who's from the ultra-religious parties. All this joined
together to make the realization of this gay pride festival very
difficult. Add to that the fact that it was scheduled for mid-August,
which is exactly the time of the disengagement. The organizers came
to the conclusion that, because of the use of the police in dealing
with the disengagement from Gaza, it would overly impose on the
capabilities of police to guard – protect – this type
of gay pride [event]."
At the Jerusalem gay pride celebration that did go ahead this summer,
the ambassador said, a religious extremist attempted to stab three
people.
Pat Johnson is a B.C. journalist and commentator.
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