Montreal, January 28, 2020  – Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is highly critical of the Mideast Peace Plan announced by US President Donald Trump today – one that CJPME considers preposterous.  The plan was done without the participation of the Palestinians, and ignores both international law and international precedent on the conflict.  The Plan further entrenches pro-Israel decrees that Trump has made in recent years, including that Jerusalem will be Israel’s “undivided” capital and that Israel will be able to annex major illegal Israeli colonies in the occupied West Bank.  Given that the Plan virtually ignores Palestinian interests, CJPME considers it useless in terms of resolving decades of violent conflict.    

This position paper discusses Trump’s decree recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, its implications and the role Canada must play in the situation.

Montreal, December 21, 2018 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) condemns the Trudeau government’s decision to abstain in today’s UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution A/ES-10/L.22.  The resolution demanded that “all States comply with Security Council resolutions regarding the Holy City of Jerusalem, and not recognize any actions or measures contrary to those resolutions.”  Like most Canadians, CJPME considers this UNGA demand to be reasonable and in line with Canada’s supposed wish to support international law and a negotiated two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. 

CJPME Political Blog, Oct 26, 2016

The appearance of B’Tselem Director Hagai El-Ad at the UN last week caused a healthy furor.  While European and other politicians supported his testimony, Israel’s right-wing leaders went so far as to accuse El-Ad of treason.  Yet this tiny Israeli human rights organization did what international diplomacy has failed to do for years: it held Israel to account – just briefly – for important violations of international law. 

Montreal, October 1, 2014 - Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) urges Canadian MPs of all stripes to back the Palestinian call for the UN to set a specific deadline for Israel to end its military occupation of the territories captured in the 1967 war—Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. “Further prolongation of the occupation is not only unfair to Palestinians, it may soon have dramatic and dreadful consequences for international stability and security,” warns CJPME President Thomas Woodley.

CJPME Factsheet 188, published June, 2014: Despite months of hard work by US Sec. of State John Kerry, negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians slowly broke down through the spring of 2014.  This factsheet highlights the many reasons for the breakdown of talks, and the unimpressive response to developments by Canada’s Harper government. 

Media – Diana Buttu speaking tour with CJPME: In March 2014, CJPME hosted Palestinian human rights lawyer Diana Buttu in Canada. Diana Buttu served as a legal advisor to the PLO and has participated in different negotiations sessions between Israel and Palestine. Her understanding of the peace negotiations garnered great interest from the media. Diana Buttu speaks of the failures of the peace talks in the juridical aspect and their consequences for the Palestinians. 

CJPME Factsheet 134, published August, 2011: This factsheet provides an overview of the numerous actions by Israel’s government that have prevented the resumption of negotiations with Palestinian officials. This factsheet also highlights Canada’s position on the impasse, as well as the Harper government’s failure to promote a symmetrical bilateral negotiation that ensures fairness to the weaker of the two parties, the Palestinians.

CJPME Factsheet 108, published February, 2011: This factsheet provides an overview of The Palestine Papers, a set of over 1600 confidential documents about Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations obtained by Al Jazeera news network and shared exclusively with the UK newspaper The Guardian. Al Jazeera and The Guardian began publishing the Papers in January 2011. These documents are controversial because they reveal that the Palestinian Authority (PA) offered Israeli peace negotiators huge concessions at odds with the PA’s public stances and many Palestinians’ expectations.

CJPME Factsheet 93, published July, 2010: Since many factors are making the two-state solution seem increasingly unlikely, this factsheet looks at the possible alternatives or outcomes should peace negotiations fail. John J. Mearsheimer, a renown author and professor of political science at University of Chicago, believes that a two-state solution would be the best outcome for both the Israelis and Palestinians, but fears that time is running out for a viable two-state resolution. Barring a two-state solution, Mearsheimer hypothesizes that there are only three possible alternatives: a democratic, bi-national state, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid.