OTTAWA, Canada: A Canadian immigrant lost a federal court battle aimed at trying to force the government to recognize his birthplace, Held Jerusalem (Al-Quds), as part of Israel on his passport.

18-year-old Eliyahu Veffer who immigrated to Canada with his family about 10 years ago, wanted his Canadian passport to show he was born in Held Jerusalem, Israel.
The document states only his birth city with no reference to any country because Canada wants to remain neutral and avoid taking sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over claims to the holy city, officials said.

The federal court ruled this week that Canada's passport policy of remaining neutral on the contested holy city does not discriminate against Veffer because he is still free to hold and perpetuate his religious beliefs, and to travel abroad.

In his ruling, Justice Konrad von Finckenstein said: "Passports constitute governmental communications dealing with a person's identity in terms of citizenship ... Passports do not deal with, nor are they a reflection of a person's roots, heritage or belief."

"No matter how sincere (his religious) belief, it does not give (Veffer) the right to compel (Ottawa) to reflect that belief in its communications with other governments," he said.

The case has attracted interest from Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups in Canada.
Canada has never recognized Israel's 1967 annexation of Jerusalem. Although Israel calls Jerusalem its eternal capital, almost all foreign embassies have remained firmly planted in Tel Aviv.