The Current - Canadian MPs denied entry to West Bank

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi says the process towards peace he hoped to hear about on the ground in the West Bank and Jerusalem appears to be stalled. In Gaza, people continue to suffer as winter sets in.

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Watch free on CBC Gem. This is a CBC podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. Since the ceasefire took effect in Gaza on the 10th of October, Palestinian health officials say Israeli airstrikes and shootings have killed more than 300 Palestinians. Aid groups say humanitarian assistance is still barely getting through and that much of what is entering Gaza is commercial

and priced far beyond what families can afford. The area is also facing heavy rains and cold temperatures, complicating the humanitarian emergency. This week, a group of Canadian MPs traveled to the region, hoping to meet aid groups and see conditions firsthand in the occupied West Bank, but they were denied entry by Israel. In a moment, we will hear from a Canadian MP who is part of that delegation, but first, we begin with what's happening in Gaza.

Yolene Feltweck is Kair's country director for the West Bank and Gaza. We've reached her today in Amman, Jordan. Yolene Feltweak, hello. Hey. You were last in Gaza this Tuesday. You have spent weeks there since the ceasefire. Just describe what daily life looks like for people there. Daily life for people in Gaza is an enormous amount of work.

Everything takes time and effort. So much of the infrastructure is destroyed. Roads have become inaccessible, very difficult to travel. And especially now with the rains and the floods, it's really complicating people's lives. People's tents, you know, are flooded. They don't have houses to move back to. They don't even have access to their former residences because it's, you know, in areas of Gaza that are now inaccessible to them behind the yellow line, as we say.

And life is very, very complicated. I've had people come to me, you know, and say, we need food, but then, you know, but we also need cooking gas. Cooking gas is very expensive. Wood to cook on is very expensive. Sometimes people are only reliable. lying on food that they are receiving from community kitchens, which can be over five kilometers away. You have said, these are your words, it doesn't sound like a ceasefire, it doesn't look like a ceasefire,

and it certainly doesn't feel like a ceasefire. What are you seeing that would lead you to say that? When I was there, throughout the, you know, the four weeks that I've been in Gaza over the last period, still an enormous amount of air strikes. We heard shelling at night, shooting, at night, also during the day, there's barely any quiet moments in the Gaza Strip. And it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's just felt very different from when I was in Raza during the first ceasefire in, in February of this year. Also, because it's, it's even very difficult to, to, to feel the hope, you know, and during the first ceasefire, people were so hopeful. And during this ceasefire,

because life is still so tough. It is so difficult for them to get access to what they need in order to survive. That it's just very, very painful. We talked a little bit about aid. Tell me a little bit about the access to aid and how that has been affected by what you've just described. It is still not coming into the levels that we need to see for the people of Gaza. Even for care, we have our warehouses full with items that we've been trying to get into Gaza

since March the 2nd, which is the start of the blockade. We have warehouses in Cairo, warehouses in the West Bank and warehouses in Jordan, full with shelter supplies, food, medicine, winter clothes. And especially now, you know, during the, as the winter has arrived, you know, I've seen so many children barefoot in the mud, shaking because they're so cold, everything is wet, mattresses are wet, blankets are wet,

wet. They have to sleep on wet sand for, you know, for days on end because they live in temporary shelters on the beach. And, you know, and even now we have reports that, you know, for at least, you know, 800 families flooding has been so severe that their shelter is no longer accessible. And this is, of course, unacceptable. What is your understanding and why are you being told by authorities as to why that aid that, as you said, is waiting to go in, why that aid is still being restricted? We simply don't get the access. So it's unapproved either because we as organizations are not allowed to bring it in

or because the items are not allowed to come in itself. And it's interesting because, of course, we see the commercial pipeline is very, very active. There are a lot of commercial items come in. But it also means that the price of a tent inside Gaza is at least $1,000, which, of course, makes everything very expensive. We see also with the food, even fresh produce that is not coming in through the humanitarian pipeline. It is coming in commercially, but it's very expensive and very almost impossible for people to purchase. I would say for the large majority of the Gaza population, it's impossible to purchase.

What are you most worried about? We talked about winter setting in and the rains and the cold. What are you most worried about there on the ground? I'm very worried about malnutrition. a scare we run a clinic where we treat, especially women and children who are malnourished, some of our patients were already malnourished before the start of the war. Of course, their situation has incredibly worsened over the past two years and especially in the past nine months. And we can't treat malnourishment only with nutritional or high

energy biscuits. You know, it requires a holistic approach that requires for people to have access to save drinking water, for people to have access to dignified shelter, shelter that will keep them warm, shelter that will keep them dry. And that seems impossible to achieve for most of the population this winter. So much of the water infrastructure is destroyed. We understand also from our partners that eight out of ten people in Raza is still water insecure. And we are trucking water to as many places as we can, but it's not sufficient. And we are, you know, rehabilitating desalination units to make groundwater drinkable, so less salty and clean. But this requires supplies, and not all of the supplies are coming in to adequately rehabilitate. And we

see some movement. There's more coming in commercially that we can purchase on the market, but it's absolutely not good enough. What would you like to see just finally from countries like Canada now. I would like to see continued efforts to get our supplies in for INGOs to continue to be able to operate. We, you know, we are the final, the last mile. We are responsible for the last mile of humanitarian deliveries inside Gaza. And we need to continue to have access and to be able to do our jobs as we do in so many contexts in the world. But in particular, in Raza this winter, this is incredibly important. And you feel like a country like, Canada can help apply pressure to make that happen?

Absolutely. We ask everyone to continue to apply pressure to the authorities, to give us access, to let us do our jobs, and also for everyone to take their responsibility for the people of Gaza. Yolene Felfaik, we'll leave it there. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yolene Felfich is CARE's country director for the West Bank in Gaza. She was in Amman, Jordan. H.L. is back for the third season of heart-stopping women's hockey. And this season, there are two new teams looking to make their mark on the ice,

the Seattle Torrent, and Vancouver Golden Eyes. When the world's best women's hockey players face off, anything can happen. Will the Minnesota Frost achieve a three-beat? Will a new team take home the trophy? There's only one way to find out. Watch the PWH for free on CBCJ. Samir Zubari is a liberal, MP, and he is one of the group of six Canadian parliamentarians who Israel barred from entering

the occupied West Bank. He is outside, Amman, Jordan. Samir Zabari, hello to you. Hi, Matt. You and the other MPs arrived at a crossing to enter the West Bank. What happened? Well, us, we were six members of parliaments from different parties looking to enter the West Bank through what is called the L&B crossing with Jordan into the West Bank.

We were in the delegation with other Canadians who are humanitarian involved in helping out those who need help most. We gave our information to the Israeli authorities well in advance, received what's called an ETA, which is a document that says that we're good to come to the border and all the information was given. Unfortunately, we were held there for five hours with very few people being spoken to, and we were turned away, the whole group was turned away, which was extremely shocking, it was extremely disappointing and completely unexpected. One of your liberal colleagues, Ikra Khalid,

says that she was shoved by one of the Israeli security officials. What did you see there at the crossing? She was roughed up, really, like, that was in a way that was completely uncalled for, very surprising. And we are Canadians. Ikra is a parliamentarian. The way in which she was treated would be shocking to anyone. She was pushed hard so much so that she took two or three paces back due to the force.

And then a second Israeli border agent came and also started roughing her up. That interaction was something that we would never have expected at a border here. It was extremely tense. The Israeli ambassador to Canada, Ido Moed, told CBC News that your group was denied entry because the organization that helps organize and sponsor for some people on this trip, Canadian Muslim vote, is linked to a group called Islamic Relief Worldwide, which Israel considers a terrorist organization. He said, the ambassador said,

the issue really is the link to the terrorist organization, that Israel is a democracy and admits the vast majority of visitors without question, but it's about this organization. What's your response to that? Well, Israel also considers UN agencies, terrorist organizations. I think that this is completely ludicrous. We're dealing with a very well-known charity that operates both within the UK and in Canada has been audited hundreds of times by both of these governments,

has operations throughout the world. If Israel is listing as terror groups' UN agencies, there's a serious problem. And this is completely need to be cast aside and rejected. We are all unknown individuals, humanitarian, we have public profiles. There is nothing that fairies about any of us. And, you know, what I do say is that Israel did not want us to see what's actually happening. We had a thorough plan to go into the West Bank and into Jerusalem,

to engage with Jews, Muslims, and Christians from all backgrounds, to hear from reverends, to visit the Church of Holy Sepulchre, to visit the Aksa Mosque, to go into Hebron and Bethlehem. These are cities that are well known, and we are people that are well known. We are simply there to observe. What is happening now, though, isn't only happening to Canadian parliamentarians. It's happening to journalists. It's happening to UN workers. It's happening to doctors.

We were at the border, we were at the crossing, along with other groups, including other Canadians and nationals from other G7 countries. Some were turned away there, too, including physicians who were coming with a baby formula and coming with expertise that are needed in this desperate situation. This spring, Israeli soldiers fired shots near four members of a Canadian diplomatic delegation that was in the West Bank. And since then, as you know, there has been tension between Ottawa and Israel. particularly over Canada's decision to recognize a Palestinian state.

Now there is this incident. What does that say to you about the state of this country's relations with Israel? I think what it says in general is that the direction isn't positive right now for what's happening in the region. And the fact that what is happening is being hidden from the world isn't allowed to be seen, should be deeply concerning to each and every one of us. because we are at the other day, Canada and Canadians, we are humanitarian, we call for the respect of international law, for the rules-based order, we call for the rules of war to be respected.

And when internationals are not permitted, humanitarian are not permitted, UN workers and journalists are not permitted to enter the region, there's clearly something to hide. It's clearly something that those authorities don't want to be seen. Right. I mean, what were you hoping to achieve? There are journalists that are in the West Bank, for example,

And we're not talking about you trying to get into Gaza. You were trying to get into the occupied West Bank. And there are journalists who are there. That is true. People who are there who are documenting what's unfolding there. But what were you hoping to achieve and going into the West Bank? What we were hoping to see is the evolution, the sad evolution of what is actually happening right now, and to hear from people on the ground. So I myself have been to these exact regions seven years ago.

I've been to both the Jerusalem and the West Bank, to Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Jericho, had been on, and I've seen the state of things back then. What I have heard now, what we have heard now from people on the ground over there, Palestinians and other proletarians, is that right now the West Bank is being carved up into small little city regions. There are checkpoints and checkpoints. One cannot move as they could just a few months ago between within the West Bank. Communities are being cut off from each other into local, local And the settlement project has increased at a pace that's unprecedented. The international state two states.

We stay a state of Palestine and a state of Israel must exist for everyone to live in true peace and security. But what is happening is that the reality of the state of Palestine, even if we recognize it today, the reality of it actually existing as a fact is being made impossible to the state. project. So we were there to see what is happening, whether or not these concerns are valid or not. Are these localities within the West Bank truly being cut off, or is it easy to walk back and forth through the region? And if it's easy to walk back and forth to the region, guess what? We'll report that. But what we can report right now is that we were prevented. Well-known people were prevented, including parliamentarians, were prevented from entering and seeing what's happening. And that should be deeply concerning to each and every one of us.

I have to let you go, but just very briefly, what, you're part of the liberal government. What would you want your government to do in this region now? Well, I think of the, you know, the facts of birth, including that my colleague, Ikra Khalid, was roughed up and shoved, pushed and shoved, and the way in which we were dealt with, the delegation itself, we were coerced and coerced into signing documents that people did not understand, and not everyone did. But the point here is that the fashion in which the authorities dealt with us is completely unbecoming.

And how would we deal with, let's say, a government of Bangladesh or governments of Venezuela or any government, if they had dealt with us in such a fashion? We would be clear that this is completely uncalled for. The way in which we deal with one government has to be the same as another government. And so thankfully, I'm grateful that Minister of Foreign Affairs has already issued a statement that has been clear, that the way in which we have been dealt with has been incorrect. We'll see what happens next.

Samir Zubari, thank you very much. Thank you. Samir Zubari is the Liberal MP for Pierre von Dullar in Quebec. We reached him outside of Amman, Jordan. You've been listening to the current podcast. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to you soon.