Stephen Harper blocked G8 leaders from declaring in their summit statement that Middle East peace talks should be based on returning to Israel’s pre-war 1967 borders, plus negotiated land swaps.

U.S. President Barack Obama had made that stand a key part of his campaign to re-launch peace talks, making the call for talks based on 1967 borders in a May 19 speech that was endorsed by most leaders of the Group of Eight countries gathered here.

But it’s a position that has been rejected by Israel, which regards returning to its smaller 1967 borders as unacceptable because they did not include East Jerusalem, which the Israeli government views as part of its capital, and key strategic territory for its security.

G8 leaders meeting in Deauville, France had sought to include the reference to 1967 borders as a way to prod talks by signalling concessions must be made – they argued embracing the Arab Spring of pro-democracy movements should be combined with an urgent press for Mideast peace. But Mr. Harper judged that the draft other G8 leaders wanted wasn’t balanced, and didn’t refer to key Palestinian concessions that Mr. Obama also outlined in his speech.

“You can’t cherry pick elements of that speech,” Mr. Harper told reporters at the close of the summit. “In terms of being balanced and even-handed and tying to resolve the Middle East peace conference, all of the elements of that speech have to be looked at as a totality, and I think that’s the basis on which we have to approach the situation.”

“I think if you’re going to get into other elements, obviously I would like to see reference to elements that were also in President Obama’s speech. Such as, for instance, the fact that one of the states must be a Jewish state. The fact that the Palestinian state must be de-militarized. I think it’s important that any statement on this be balanced, as was President Obama’s.”

Mr. Harper, staunchly pro-Israel, was attempting to walk a fine line between upsetting Israel or upsetting the leader of his largest ally and trading partner, Mr. Obama. But members of other delegations said Canadian objections had watered down the G8’s statement on the Middle East.

“The time to resume the peace process is now,” the final G8 communiqué stated.

“Negotiations are the only way toward a comprehensive and lasting resolution to the conflict. The framework for these negotiations is well known. We urge both parties to return to substantive talks with a view to concluding a framework agreement on all final status issues. To that effect, we express our strong support for the vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace outlined by President Obama on May 19, 2011.”

An aide to Mr. Harper, speaking on condition he not be named, said the Prime Minister played a significant role in talks on the text of the statement. Members of other delegations said the Canadians had pressed hard.

“The Canadians were really very adamant, even though Obama expressly referred to 1967 borders in his speech last week,” one European diplomat told Reuters News Agency.

At his closing press conference, the summit’s host, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said – without mentioning Mr. Harper –he thought it useful to refer to 1967 borders in discussions of peace talks.

“I think it’s appropriate to talk about 1967 borders, because we can’t talk about borders without specifying which ones,” he said. “I think precisely what made Mr. Obama’s speech courageous is that he evoked the 1967 borders.”

NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said Mr. Harper’s veto left Canada isolated from its traditional allies. “I don’t see how this helps our relationship with our best friend and neighbour to the south,” he said in an interview, referring to President Obama’s support for negotiations based on the 1967 borders, “and I certainly don’t see how this helps the peace process.”

Rather than constructively contributing to a balanced solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Canadian government had been reduced to a cheerleader for Israel, he said. “Are we in fact going to help build bridges and support the [peace] process, or are we simply going to be on the sidelines cheering for whatever Mr. Netanyahu states?”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared the 1967 borders to be a non-starter as a basis for a settlement, maintaining that it would leave Israel vulnerable to attack.

The G8 summit of leaders from Canada, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia, concluded with leaders declaring they will back pro-democracy movements in the Arab World with a multi-billion-dollar assistance package aimed first at two nations that have ousted dictators, Egypt and Tunisia.

Mr. Sarkozy said the aid would total $40-billion – $20-billion from international financial institutions like the World Bank, $10-billion from Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and $10-billion in bilateral aid from G8 members. Mr. Harper indicated Thursday that Canada would not offer bilateral aid and believes the assistance should be channelled through multi-lateral development banks.

But Mr. Harper did side with more gung-ho members of the group – Britain, France, and the United States – in backing the NATO military mission in Libya. He said he will ask the House of Commons, which is now under his party’s majority control, to approve an extension of the Canadian military mission in Libya.

The G8 as a whole called for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to go, but because Russia has criticized NATO for going too far in its bombing campaign it did not explicitly endorse the military mission.