Montreal, January 16, 2014  — CJPME is troubled that Prime Minister Stephen Harper appears poised to miss an excellent opportunity to contribute to a just peace between Palestinians and Jewish Israelis during his upcoming trip to the Middle East. “Harper should press Israel to halt settlement expansion, once and for all; if it continues, a viable Palestinian state cannot be created, nor peace ever achieved,” states CJPME President Thomas Woodley. CJPME believes that the PM has a responsibility to Canadians, Israelis and Palestinians to uphold international law and fundamental human rights at all times, especially during such a state visit. CJPME reminds the PM that Israel’s establishment of “settlements” in the occupied Palestinian territories is a grave violation of international law and has been repeatedly condemned by most western nations.

The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six civilian ships of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Nine activists were killed in the raid. This position paper presents recommendations on how the Canadian government should handle the aftermath of this attack. 

This paper looks at the impacts of Israeli colony growth and highlights the importance for the Canadian’s government to actively oppose this colonial expansion and to pressure Israel to respect international law. 

Since the Spring of 2009, Israel has begun introducing new processes at its border crossings which are affecting Canadian nationals travelling in the region. These new measures have very unfortunate repercussions – and even legal implications – for Canadians travelling to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. 

On March 23, 2008, Canada signed a “Declaration of Intent” with Israel to cooperate on public safety. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) feels that this agreement was unwise and ill conceived, as it undermines Canadian values of equality and basic freedoms. CJPME believes that Canadians should question both 1) the reasons for Canada’s involvement in such an agreement, and 2) the essence of the envisaged public safety cooperation. CJPME believes that this agreement must be annulled.

This position paper contains recommendations to properly follow up on the murder of Canadian peacekeeper Major Paeta Hess-Von Krudener by the Israeli Army on July 25^th, 2006.  These recommendations are made subsequent to the issuance on Feb. 1, 2008 of the Canadian Board of Inquiry (BOI) report.

This position paper first summarizes the numerous and devastating impacts of Israel’s wall on the Palestinian population, before displaying the Canadian policy on the subject and its loopholes. This paper comes to the conclusion that Israel has the right to protect its citizens but that it should remain in conformity with international law.