"Canada welcomes the agreement on a truce between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. We urge them both to proceed with implementing it.

All Canadians join me in expressing our revulsion at the cowardly and vicious act of terror perpetrated today in Jerusalem. It epitomizes the violence which has wracked the region for the past several weeks and poses a serious threat to achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace. Coming as it did shortly before the truce was to be announced, it feeds the frustration of those who have been striving so courageously for peace.

We call on all parties to persevere with the difficult and essential work of making the dream of peace come true for all peoples in the Middle East."