Here's the press release:

Date: July 05
Time: 9:30
Paticipant(s): Honourable Stephane Dion Leader of the Opposition & Mahmoud Abbas President of the Palestinian National Authority

Location: 409-S Centre Block
Subject: Photo -Op

Date: 05 juillet
Heure: 9:30
Participant(s):L'honorable Stephane Dion chef de l'opposition & Mahmoud Abbas President of the Palestinian National Authority

Endroit: 409-S edifice du Centre
Sujet: Seance de photo

A photo-op with Mahmoud Abbas! Even as the Palestian territories are picking up the rubble left from the Fatah-Hamas civil war. Wow. Now that's a photo-op.

I didn't even realize Abbas was in North America. I mean, if he was visiting with Stephane Dion, leader of Canada's opposition, then certainly he would be meeting with President George W Bush and other people who can actually make a difference. I mean, seriously, Stephane Dion?

Something seems fishy about this.

Actually, the explanation is simple. The press release is wrong.

It is Mahmoud Abbas' son who is seeing Stephane Dion. Noteworthy, maybe, but it's not likely that the younger Abbas is working in any sort of official capacity. Abbas' two surviving sons (his eldest Mazen died of a heart attack) are in private business, and not officials in the PA.

In any case, Stephane Dion is not a meeting with the PNA President.

I bet someone in the Liberal Party press office is feeling pretty dumb.

Update:

A comment from reader Ted:

If the press release, says he is meeting with "Mahmoud Abbas President of the Palestinian National Authority" and invites the press to attend the post-meeting photo op, on what basis do you claim he is in fact meeting with someone else altogether, let alone some specific individuals.

Seems to me the press, having been invited and however dumb you may think they are, might notice it is someone altogether different.

So why not throw us a bone of evidence instead of typical Janke speculation and spin?

On what basis do I claim that he is meeting with someone else? On the basis that I know it to be true. If you prefer, believe the Liberal Party press release until the Liberal Party issues a new media release that corrects the one I alreay told you was wrong:

Liberal Opposition Leader Stephane Dion today called on the Conservative government to restore official aid funding immediately to the Palestinian Authority, following a meeting with Yasser Abbas, special envoy of his father, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Oh, and it was a meeting with Abbas' son, like I said nearly four hours ago. Go figure. It does look like young Yasser is working on behalf of the PNA though he has no official role. I had thought otherwise, and I was wrong on that count. Of course, you can imagine just what it means that Mahmoud Abbas depends on his son to act as envoy instead of someone who actually works in the Palestinian government.

Significant Update:

In terms of the mistake and the correction, nothing changes. But it was who made the mistake that surprised me:

Hey Steve - long time no talk! Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that the Abbas screwup wasn't, in fact, the fault of the Liberal press office, but the folks at the Parliamentary Press Gallery, who actually typed up the notice in question - not unusual when it's a last-minute event, easier to just call the Gallery and have them put out a quickie no-frills advisory than issue a full release (and yes, government ministers and other opposition parties do the same thing when they hold a media event on short notice). Anyway, a correction went out no more than ten minutes after the initial release, and it explicitly stated that the fault was that of the gallery, and not OLO.

So the OLO calls the PPG to tell them about the photo op, and in the process, a press release on behalf of the OLO (and looking like it was written by the OLO) is issued with a really silly mistake that the PPG took responsibility for.

So my apologies to the OLO -- I missed the correction, and I figured your press release was written by you, and so any mistakes were yours as well. Not the case, as it turns out. And to the Parliamentary Press Gallery, come on! Abbas is a bit too busy right now to be visiting Canadian opposition politicians. I can only imagine the number of people at the PPG reading the release, screwing up their faces, and asking, "Are you sure this is right? Abbas is here? In Ottawa?"

But I learned something I didn't know before, and that is the role the PPG plays is preparing these releases. Knowing that will help in the future when I see more questionable releases.