Legal Violations with the ROM’s Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit
CJPME Factsheet 63, published May, 2009: After occupying East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel seized archeological artifacts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of over 900 ancient manuscripts excavated from Qumran and surrounding areas in the West Bank. In June, 2009, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) showcased these artifacts in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority, violating Canada’s responsibilities under UNESCO and its own obligations as a member of the Canadian Museums Association (CMA).
Read moreThe WMA, the IMA, Dr. Yoram Blachar and torture in Israel
CJPME Factsheet 54, published February, 2009: This factsheet looks at the World Medical Association (WMA), an international organization that determines the proper ethical conduct physicians should abide by at all times. The Israeli Medical Association (IMA) signed WMA’s Declaration of Tokyo in 1975, which prohibits the participation of physicians in interrogations and torture of any kind. Dr. Yoram Blachar, long-standing president of the IMA, was inaugurated as President of the World Medical Association (WMA) in 2008. Many have since called on Dr. Blachar to step down as head of the WMA, since doctors in Israel continue to play an integral role in the everyday running of Israeli interrogation suites that include cruel and inhumane treatment and humiliation amounting to torture.
Read moreLegal violations during Israel’s war on Gaza
CJPME Factsheet 52, published February, 2009: This factsheet looks at how Israel failed in all of its obligations under international humanitarian law during the war on Gaza from Dec.27 to Jan. 17th 2009. Indeed, Israel is accused of not allowing sufficient aid into the territory, keeping detained Palestinians during the war in inhumane conditions, and using highly dispersed and non-precision weapons among other things. This factsheet also provides recommendations on how to persecute Israel for war crimes.
Read moreIsraeli Attacks on UN
CJPME Factsheet 48, published January 2009: During its recent assault on Gaza, Israel damaged or destroyed 53 installations used by the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNWRA), the branch of the UN responsible for providing basic services and aid to over a million of Gaza’s 1.5 million people, including 37 schools—six of which were being used as emergency shelters—six health centers and two warehouses. It is not the first time the UN has come under fire from Israel. In fact, Israel’s disregard for the UN during times of military conflict is systematic and has been ongoing for decades. Over the past several decades, Israel has attacked UN installations literally hundreds of times, and killed hundreds – both civilians and UN peacekeepers – in the process.
Read moreRight to health - Case study: Gaza, 2008
CJPME Analysis, published July, 2008: This case study discusses the right to health in Gaza and Israel’s responsibility in the matter. Indeed, as an occupying power, Israel has an obligation to ensure the right to health of the population of Gaza, without discrimination.
Israeli “Public Safety” Abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
CJPME Factsheet 36, published May, 2008: Immediately following the 1967 War Israel’s leaders took a conscious decision to retain Control of the West Bank and Gaza using “security” as justification. That decision – illegal under international law – was taken despite advice from Israeli Foreign Ministry legal counsel, Theodor Meron, that “Civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes the explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva… The prohibition is categorical and is not conditioned on the motives or purposes of the transfer and is aimed at preventing colonization of conquered territory by citizens of the conquering state.” Ongoing Israeli colonization of the West Bank and Gaza, flowing from that initial illegal decision, has been a major contributing factor to friction and violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The failure by Israel, the occupying power, to assume its legal responsibilities for the indigenous people of the West Bank and Gaza, as required by international law, has spawned a range of abuses justified in the name of security or public safety.
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