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- Published on Tuesday, 15 July 2014 08:40
- Written by editor
Dear Friends of SJS,
CJPME backs ceasefire call, as death toll hits 172, 77% civilians
For Immediate Release
Montreal, July 14, 2014 -- Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) supports the UN call for a ceasefire, and shares its concerns about the high civilian casualties among Palestinians. According to international reports, 172 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military. The UN estimates that 77 percent of the victims were civilians. Meanwhile, no Israelis have been killed.
On July 11, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay commented that attacks on civilian homes violate international law and called for both Hamas and Israel to respect international law. Despite the balanced nature of Pillay’s statement, Canada’s Foreign Minister John Baird attacked Pillay in a July 12 press release, and continued to portray... Israel’s assault on Gaza as defensive and thus justified. Like many Canadians, CJPME is appalled by the Canadian government’s stance.
“Baird’s attack on Pillay for insisting on respect for international law is an abysmal indicator of the Harper government’s abandonment of both international law and elementary justice,” says CJPME President Thomas Woodley. CJPME believes that both Israel and Hamas must to be held to the same standards and that neither side’s offences justify violations of international law by the other. Moreover, CJPME also notes that the vast majority of rocket-fire from Gaza causes neither death nor injuries. Another principle of international humanitarian law is that neither party to a conflict is justified in using disproportionate force. Israel’s response in the conflict is clearly disproportionate given the ineffectualness of most rocket-fire from Gaza.
CJPME reminds MPs of all stripes that even prior to the commencement of this latest round of armed conflict, in the last decade the number of Palestinian non-combatants killed by the Israeli military had far outstripped the number of Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians. Thus, attempts by the Israeli and Canadian governments to portray Israel’s assaults on Gaza in 2008-09 and now as purely defensive are absurd.
CJPME calls on Canadians and MPs of all political stripes to protest Israel’s assault on Gaza, and to push for a ceasefire and resumption of peace talks. CJPME believes that only an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and its illegal “settlement enterprise” will bring the peace that many Israelis and almost all Palestinians want.
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For more information, please contact:
Patricia Jean
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
Telephone: 438 380 5410
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**POSTPONED** O.U.R. Ecovillage Stone Soup Dinner Fundraiser in Victoria
An important update regarding the O.U.R. Ecovillage Stone Soup Fundraiser that was planned for this Thursday the 17th in Victoria:
In order to focus on the last 7 days of the www.protectOUR.ca campaign we are postponing this event to give us more time to sell tickets. The new date for the event will be announced in August or September. You can still support by buying your advance ticket to this event with 100% of the proceeds going to this campaign, please help us make our goal of saving the Ecovillage a reality. Here is the link:https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/protect-o-u-r-ecovillage-forever/contributions/new?perk_amt=25&perk_id=2146385
Check out the other amazing perks of becoming an O.U.R. Ecovillage supporter, including gift certificates for courses, spa packages and more at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/protect-o-u-r-ecovillage-forever For sponsorship or contribution opportunities, please contact Satiya at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Thank you for supporting this event, we apologize for any inconvenience caused by this schedule change.
Community Micro Lending writes:
We will be hosting our monthly information session Monday July 21st from 12:30 to 1:00pm at our office at 202-2610 Douglas St. This session is open to the public and will be geared to those who are interested in starting a business and looking for a micro loan. I have attached a poster to this e-mail. Please feel free to pass this along to any of your clients who may be interested. Please note that this will be our last info session before September.
We are also hosting a golf tournament this Friday, you can find out more information here http://communitymicrolending.ca/events. It would be great to see some of you there!
Take care and happy summer!
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Margo MatwychukDirector
Social Justice Studies ProgramUniversity of Victoriaweb.uvic.ca/socialjustice/ @UVicSJS on TwitterUVicSJS on FacebookUVicSJS on YouTube
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