Montreal, May 16, 2024 - CJPME has sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urging that Canada end its involvement in Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

Click here to download the full letter as a PDF, or click here for CJPME's position paper with recommendations.

Earlier this year, a real estate tour called the “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” was held in Montreal and Toronto that included the sale of properties within settlements in the occupied West Bank, including Neve Daniel, Ma'aleh Adumim and Efrat. This amounts to the illegal and open sale of properties in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), in clear violation of international law, the Canadian Criminal Code, UN resolutions and international human rights and humanitarian law. However, the issue of Canadian trade with Israeli settlements goes much deeper than one event. It is time that Canada stopped ignoring these crimes. Israeli settlements are war crimes under Canadian law. To address this broader problem, CJPME urges a whole-of-government approach to ending Canadian involvement in Israel’s colonial war crimes through the below series of coordinated measures, which falls under the jurisdiction of various ministerial portfolios.

Montreal, February 27, 2023 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) demands that the Canadian government hold Israeli officials responsible for acts of settler terrorism in the Palestinian town of Huwara and several other villages near Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Over a period of five hours last evening, more than 400 Israeli settlers attacked Huwara, Zaatara, Burin, and Asira al-Qibliya, killing at least 1 Palestinian and wounding at least 390, while torching at least 75 homes (35 of which were destroyed completely) and 100 vehicles. At least 9 families reportedly had to be rescued from their burning homes. Although a public announcement for the pogrom was widely circulated hours in advance, Israeli forces allowed settlers to enter the town freely and did not intervene until hours after the start of the violence; eyewitnesses say that soldiers protected settlers and were a “partner” in the attacks. CJPME argues that action from Canada and the rest of the international community is necessary to protect Palestinians from future atrocities committed by Israeli settler and state forces.

January 31, 2022 - Legislators from Europe and North America met today to discuss various legislative options that lawmakers can pursue to end the import of goods produced in illegal settlements in occupied territory, including by Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt). 

A mere three days prior to Israel’s April 9, 2019 elections, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank if given a fifth consecutive term. This position paper argues that Canada should leverage its relationship with Israel to uphold international law and human rights. 

CJPME Factsheet, published May, 2019. This factsheet discusses how the Israeli government intends to formally annex the illegal settlements within the West Bank and the implications of such an action.