Montreal, May 15, 2018 — This week, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. The Nakba, meaning “catastrophe” in Arabic, refers to the dispossession and loss suffered by the Palestinians as a result of the UN Partition Plan of 1947.  Over a period of several months, at least 700,000 Palestinians became refugees, and hundreds of thousands more were displaced from their homes and livelihoods by Jewish militias. The Nakba is still very much part of the living memory of Palestinians, who still haven’t been allowed to establish their own state, and who face ongoing persecution from the Israeli government.

Montreal, September 6, 2017  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) congratulates UNIFOR, Canada’s largest private-sector union, for the passage of a BDS motion at its recent convention. Resolution no. 5, entitled, “Palestinian Self-Determination and the Movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions,” was put forth by the Oshawa-based Local 222 and was “easily” adopted at the Unifor Canadian Council, held in Winnipeg from August 18-20^th. 

Montreal, May 29, 2017  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) congratulates the Bloc Québécois’ visionary proposal calling Canada to recognize an independent Palestine.  In a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa this morning, the Bloc announced a motion inviting the House of Commons to express support for Palestine as an independent state.  “136 of 193 nations already recognize Palestine as an independent state,” stated Thomas Woodley, President of CJPME, “So it is only natural for Canada to support international law and join the international consensus in support of Palestinian self-determination.”  

CJPME is pleased to publish the next of a 15 part election series analyzing the positions of Canada’s political parties. CJPME hopes that, by revealing what parties have said and done on key Middle East issues, Canadians will be better informed voters in the upcoming elections. Our next analysis studies each party’s position on the Palestinian accession to UN agencies, namely the International Criminal Court and UNESCO.

Montreal, November 29, 2012  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East is delighted that the UN General Assembly has granted Palestine “observer state” status at the UN. The vote represents a significant step forward for the international recognition and self-determination of the Palestinian people.  While the vote does not confer full member-state status for Palestine, it will give the Palestinians access to several new legal and diplomatic tools by which they can further their aspirations for full statehood.  

Thursday, Nov. 29th, the UN voted to upgrade Palestine’s UN status to that of “observer state.” The vote passed with a lot of international support, but Canada voted against. CJPME vehemently disagrees with the Harper government’s UN vote, considering it unjustifiable, and shameful.

CJPME Factsheet 124, published November, 2011: This factsheet provides an analysis of the possibilities, consequences and benefits of a Palestinian bid for UN membership. As a UN member state, Palestinians would be allowed to request the formal protections afforded to a country under the UN and under international law. Should Israel persists in occupying Palestinian land or blockading Gaza after an “independent Palestinian state” becomes a UN member, Israel will be violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of a recognized UN member state. Ultimately, UN membership entails Palestinians would no longer suffer the indignity of being stateless.

This position paper contains recommendations regarding the Palestinians’ application for full membership in the UN and its agencies and how should Canada react to it.   

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.