CJPME Factsheet 30, published January, 2008: This factsheets provides an overview of the Annapolis negotiations process. On November 27, 2007, in Annapolis, Maryland, US President George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas presented a well publicized joint statement committing to recommence negotiations, with a view to having some final agreement by the end of 2008.  The parties promised to resolve “all outstanding issues, including all core issues without exception.” Continue reading

CJPME Factsheet 29, published May, 2007: The end of the Destruction of Lebanon – the 34-day assault by Israel in July and August of 2006 – was marked by the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.  Later in 2006, the Security Council requested quarterly reports from the UN Secretary-General on the implementation of the resolution.Following the Secretary-General’s third such report on March 14th, 2007, it is apparent that neither Israel nor Hezbollah are fully respecting the post-cease-fire requirements of 1701. Continue reading

CJPME Factsheet 27, published May, 2007: At the conclusion of the Arab League summit in Riyadh at the end of March, 2007, Arab nations reaffirmed and relaunched their blueprint for peace with Israel.  Under Saudi Arabia’s leadership, the proposal (unchanged from the original 2002 Beirut Plan) directly addresses all the “final status” issues between Israel and Palestine, and has the backing of 21 of the 22 members of the Arab League.   Continue reading

CJPME Factsheet 26, published May, 2007: Lebanon is extremely diverse religiously, culturally and politically.  This diversity has complicated the development of a stable political arrangement, and impeded the development of a single national identity.  As for diversity,  there are six different Muslim sects (in numeric order: Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ili, Alawite or Nusayri), and twelve different Christian sects (in numeric order: Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, Copt, Protestant.)  These sects are largely geographically defined.  This mosaic of peoples and politics has led the Lebanese to historically seek a balance of power through a political arrangement known as confessionalism.   Continue reading

CJPME Factsheet 25, published May, 2007: Following comments made at the Camp David II Summit in July, 2000, there has been a resurgence of interest and publicity concerning the rights and redress due Jewish emigrants and refugees who fled Arab countries in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.  (See CJPME’s factsheet “The Emergence of the Jewish Refugee Question” April, 2007)  While both Palestinian and Jewish refugees are protected under international law, it is important to understand fundamental differences in the narratives of each people.    Continue reading

CJPME Factsheet 24, published April, 2007: While settlement of the millions of Palestinian refugees has been at the forefront of international consciousness for the past 60 years, a vigorous six year campaign by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) has been mounted to raise the profile of the Jewish refugee issue (i.e. Jews displaced from Arab countries – e.g. Iraq, Egypt, etc. – during the late 1940s and following.)  It is important to understand why this campaign has been launched now, and how such claims should be viewed.   Continue reading

CJPME Factsheet 23, published March, 2007: Inaugurated in 1920 and ending in 1947, the British Mandate for Palestine was the product of 1) British political ambitions to replace the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, 2) Britain’s promises of colonial control to the French in the region, and 3) conflicting British promises of self-determination to the Arabs and Jewish statehood for Zionists. The British ruled Palestine under the League of Nations Mandate which followed Britain’s Balfour Declaration of 1917, whose unilateral principle was “the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people,” in Biblical Palestine. Continue reading

CJPME Factsheet 22, published February, 2007: Few Canadians are aware that Canada has a unique responsibility to the Palestinian refugees.  Since 1995 Canada has chaired the Refugee Working Group of the Middle East Multilateral Peace Process, which is charged with “improving the current living conditions of refugees and displaced persons without prejudice to their rights and future status.” Tragically, the committee has not met for several years, yet the need to improve the refugees’ living conditions of refugees has never been greater.   Continue reading

CJPME Factsheet 21, published February, 2007: Apartheid is fairly overt in the occupied Palestinian territories, and manifests itself in various obvious forms: Jewish-only roads; Jewish-only housing (i.e. colonies); the application of two different systems of law: military on Palestinians, and Israeli civil on Jewish colonists in the territories; the racially-defined course of the Wall; and selective policing and investigation; to mention a few.  In his book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, Jimmy Carter focused on this form of Apartheid.  However, Apartheid exists in Israel itself, though its institutions are much more subtle.   Continue reading

CJPME Factsheet 19, published January, 2007: Palestine: Peace not Apartheid (Simon and Schuster, 2006), the bestseller by former US President Jimmy Carter has generated a wide variety of reactions, primarily because of its focus on Israel’s refusal to respect international law in its occupation of the Palestinian territories.  In the course of the book’s approximately 250 pages, Carter details Israel’s activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, and how they form the primary obstacle to peace in the region.   Continue reading