Montreal, October 24, 2013  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) intends to appeal the Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) rejection of ads about various aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  CJPME learned Monday, Oct. 21, that its ads had been rejected by TTC staff. The centerpiece of the ads is a series of four maps depicting Palestinian loss of land over the past six decades, ultimately obstructing the creation of a viable Palestinian state.  In its rejection, TTC staff asserted that CJPME’s ads did not comply with the guidelines of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, but did not specify what aspects of the ads were non-compliant.   Continue reading

Montreal, October 7, 2013  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) joins other voices across Canada in celebrating Saturday’s  release of John Greyson and Tarek Loubani from detention in Egypt.  However, CJPME urges Canadian MPs to investigate the Harper government’s muted response to the arbitrary detention and brutal assault of the two Canadians.  Continue reading

Montreal, September 16, 2013  — CJPME strongly urges the Canadian government to take stronger measures to press Egypt to release two Canadians—Dr. Tarek Loubani and York University film professor John Greyson—after the prosecutor yesterday extended their detention another 15 days. Today, it was announced that the two men had begun a hunger strike to press for their release. On transit to Gaza, the two were arbitrarily arrested on August 16. Loubani was going to Gaza to train emergency room physicians, and Greyson to work on a documentary film. The Egyptian police have yet to offer any evidence of wrongdoing, and neither Loubani nor Greyson have been formally charged with any offence. Continue reading

Montreal, September 9, 2013  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is delighted to announce a public lecture tour by prominent Israeli-American peace activist and author Miko Peled. Peled, son of a celebrated Israeli war hero, has documented his disenchantment with Israeli policies toward the Palestinians in his book, The General’s Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine.  Peled’s lecture — Beyond Zionism: Hope for Peace in Palestine/Israel— will focus on his arguments for the “one-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his family’s growing opposition to Israeli policy from 1948 to 2013. The tour begins September 30 and ends October 8. Continue reading

Montreal, August 20, 2013  — CJPME is calling for the immediate release of Tarek Loubani, an emergency room physician from London, and John Greyson, a Toronto-based filmmaker and a York University professor.  Both were arrested on Friday, August 16, after walking to a police station in Cairo to ask for directions to their hotel. CJPME is extremely concerned that Loubani and Greyson are still detained in at Tohra prison in Cairo four days later, with very limited consular access.  Continue reading

Montreal, July 4, 2013  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is deeply concerned for the future of Egypt’s democracy following the Egyptian military’s ousting yesterday of President Mohamed Morsi.  Morsi is the first elected President since the 2011 revolution and was removed following massive protests and an arbitrary ultimatum issued by the military. Morsi was declared deposed yesterday by a council led by defense minister Al-Sisi, and including the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, the Coptic Pope, and Mohamed ElBaradei—former Director General of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The military’s move came on the heels of days of massive demonstrations estimated to be Egypt’s largest ever.  Continue reading

Montreal, June 17, 2013  —  Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) welcomes today’s announcement of a $25 million aid and security package for Palestinians.  However, CJPME strongly urges the government to complement the aid package with policy stances that address the underlying causes of the Palestinians’ dire  situation. Although Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird suggested the aid was for “prosperity and greater security,” the package as conceived will do little to improve Palestinians’ long term prospects for  either.  Continue reading

Montreal, May 22, 2013  — CBC Ombudsman Esther Enkin has upheld a complaint from Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) against a documentary it broadcast in April.  Enkin ruled that, in the interests of full disclosure and transparency, CBC management should have prominently included information on the funding of a comedy tour featured in the film “A Universal Language.”  “With that information, a viewer would have an important bit of context to understand what is shown, and to make up his or her own mind how much influence it had on the outcome” stated Enkin in her review, released last week. Continue reading

Montreal, May 15, 2013  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) strongly urges Canadian MPs of all stripes to recognize the gravity, causes and unresolved nature of the Palestinian Nakba (Arabic for “catastrophe.”)  The Nakba is marked this week by Palestinians across the Middle East, those in the occupied Palestinian territories, those in Israel, and those living as refugees outside historic Palestine.  As a result of the 1947 UN partition of Palestine, and the establishment of the state of Israel, at least 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced, the Palestinian civil leadership was decimated, and many Palestinian cultural institutions were partially or fully destroyed.      Continue reading

Montreal, May 13, 2013  — On May 8, it was revealed that world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking had cancelled his participation in an annual Israeli conference “Facing Tomorrow,” sponsored by Israeli President Shimon Peres and to be held in June. Initially some media outlets implied that the decision was strictly health-related. However, a statement published with Hawking's approval by the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine clarified that Hawking had decided to respect the boycott of Israel, based on his knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian situation. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) believes that Hawking’s decision is emblematic of major shifts in the international community’s attitude to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Continue reading