![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788604571_480_indicator-big.gif\")
<\/p>\nHere\u2019s a look at the reforms Carney called for and where they stand today:<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
1) Governance<\/p>\n
Carney said Abbas promised that the Palestinian Authority, or PA, would \u201cfundamentally reform its governance.\u201d He said Canada has made it clear that Hamas can play no role in the future state.<\/p>\n
Feda Abdelhady, the Palestinian ambassador to Ottawa, said in an interview in August reforms are underway and are meant to boost democracy for Palestinians. But she said progress can only go so far while Palestinians still face constant violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could do the most incredible job of implementing reforms from textbooks and curriculum and everything else \u2014 but the occupation remains,\u201d she said, pointing to Gazans\u2019 daily struggle to survive without reliable access to food, shelter and water.<\/p>\n
Her delegation shared with The Canadian Press a report the Palestinian finance ministry released in July which argues the PA has achieved 30 of 33 promised legal and social-system reforms \u2014 such as strengthening the rule of law and investment laws \u2014 over an 18-month period.<\/p>\n
The report also said it will be impossible for the PA to fund social services or undertake more reforms due to Israeli economic policies such as withholding tax revenue collected on consumption and imports.<\/p>\n
Since the October 2023 attacks by Hamas, Israel has cancelled thousands of permits for Palestinian workers, blocked roads used to export goods, and capped financial transfers.<\/p>\n
2) Elections<\/p>\n
Carney said the PA vowed \u201cto hold general elections in 2026, in which Hamas can play no part.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palestinians last voted in 2006, leaving Abbas\u2019 Fatah party in charge of parts of the West Bank. Hamas seized control of Gaza during a brief civil war in 2007.<\/p>\n
Last fall the PA said it could only hold elections a year after the war in Gaza ends completely \u2014 and only when ballots can be cast in the West Bank and East Jerusalem without Israel detaining political candidates.<\/p>\n
The PA held one election in the Gaza city of Deir al-Balah in April.<\/p>\n
3) Demilitarization<\/p>\n
Carney said the PA pledged \u201cto demilitarize the Palestinian state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior Canadian officials, briefing media in September 2025 about the statehood recognition, said that effort must include ending the PA\u2019s payments to families of those imprisoned for killing Israelis.<\/p>\n
They said it also must include education reform to ensure Palestinian students aren\u2019t taught antisemitic messages.<\/p>\n
In February 2025, Abbas vowed to halt the practice of paying stipends to the families of Palestinians held or killed in Israeli prisons, particularly those accused of violent attacks. That has meant shifting welfare payments to a single system \u2014 called Tamkeen \u2014 based on family needs, instead of using criteria that prioritize detainees.<\/p>\n
Israel brands the previous policy \u201cPay for Slay\u201d and insists it\u2019s still happening. The PA says an independent audit, set for release later this year, found that the policy has been largely eliminated. The reform has been controversial in the West Bank, where some say the PA is abandoning people seen as freedom fighters.<\/p>\n
The PA previously said demilitarization will require some security guarantee \u2014 such as foreign peacekeepers \u2014 against Israeli incursions.<\/p>\n
4) Textbooks<\/p>\n
An analysis by the Israeli firm Impact-SE of textbooks and teachers\u2019 guides issued last September for schools run by the Palestinian Authority found the texts glorify violence.<\/p>\n
The firm\u2019s November 2025 report cites examples from the textbooks \u2014 such as one passage framing the 1972 murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics as legitimate resistance, and another featuring a photo of the dead body of four-month-old baby killed by Israeli shrapnel during the 2001 intifada.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Jewish Holocaust is entirely missing from the PA curriculum,\u201d the think tank found.<\/p>\n
Israeli textbooks have faced their own criticisms. A Hebrew University study in 2012 found the textbooks promote racism by excluding any portrayal of Arabs as peaceful, non-violent people. Both sides have published maps that ignore the existence of the other side.<\/p>\n
What does Israel say?<\/p>\n
The Israeli government has been loudly critical of Canada\u2019s recognition of Palestine. Israeli Ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed said the PA is corrupt and not serious about living in peace alongside Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see regression,\u201d Moed said, noting the lack of concrete dates for elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cPalestinians really don\u2019t live up to their commitments. There is no reason whatsoever to say that there is any kind of Israeli involvement. They have all the capability. Actually, they have all support from the international community to move forward with these reforms.\u201d<\/p>\n
How much does this matter?<\/p>\n
Jeremy Wildeman, a University of Ottawa human rights researcher who has focused on Canadian policies in the Palestinian territories, said statehood recognition seems to be based on perpetually moving goalposts.<\/p>\n
He said Canadian politicians should focus on Israel\u2019s disproportionate power over Palestinians \u2014 and the historically high level of violence the Israeli military allows settlers to undertake \u2014 instead of PA reforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you really care, the first thing you do is help stabilize the situation so the Palestinian government could govern,\u201d Wildeman said.<\/p>\n
Heidi Matthews, a professor at York University\u2019s Osgoode Law School, said Canada\u2019s focus on reforms could be understood as an attempt to create facts on the ground supporting Palestinian self-governance. Carney\u2019s announcement included funding to achieve reforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne way of reading that would be not a demand or a condition, but a concrete recognition that being able to function as a state, as a criteria of statehood, actually requires meaningful support by third states here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat support can look like actively strengthening governmental institutions so that the State of Palestine can fully and effectively perform the activities of a government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthews said this would be a shift away from decades of \u201cjust tinkering with humanitarian assistance\u201d and toward ending Israel\u2019s occupation.<\/p>\n
She said Canada has an obligation to make that shift under a July 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice.<\/p>\n
The ruling called on states \u201cto put into effect modalities required to ensure an end to Israel\u2019s illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory and the full realization of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s a look at the reforms Carney called for and where they stand today: 1) Governance Carney said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[214,286,111,280,287,279,281,282,116,283,284,285,49],"class_list":["post-197129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-breaking-news","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-mark-carney","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}