diff --git a/eclipse/src/plugin-resources/templates/classpath.jelly b/eclipse/src/plugin-resources/templates/classpath.jelly
index 98733379..8cf522b9 100644
--- a/eclipse/src/plugin-resources/templates/classpath.jelly
+++ b/eclipse/src/plugin-resources/templates/classpath.jelly
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@
     <maven:makeRelativePath var="srcDir" basedir="${basedir}" path="${res}" />
     <classpathentry kind="src" path="${srcDir}"/>
   </j:forEach>
-
+  <!-- set a flag so JUnit jar is included only once -->
+  <j:set var="ignoreJUnit" value="false" />
   <j:if test="${unitTestSourcesPresent}">
     <ant:echo>Contains JUnit tests</ant:echo>
     <maven:makeRelativePath var="testSrcDir" basedir="${basedir}" path="${pom.build.unitTestSourceDirectory}"/>
@@ -105,6 +106,7 @@
     </j:if>
       
     <j:if test="${depVersion != 'none'}">
+      <j:set var="ignoreJUnit" value="true" />
       <classpathentry kind="var" path="MAVEN_REPO/junit/jars/junit-${depVersion}.jar"/>
     </j:if>
   </j:if>
@@ -135,7 +137,7 @@
       <j:when test="${eclipseDependency == 'false'}">
         <!-- ignore specific dependencies -->
       </j:when>      
-      <j:when test="${lib.dependency.groupId == 'junit'}">
+      <j:when test="${lib.dependency.groupId == 'junit' and ignoreJUnit}">
         <!-- ignoring junit dependency as we've already created it -->
       </j:when>
       <j:otherwise>
diff --git a/eclipse/src/plugin-test/maven.xml b/eclipse/src/plugin-test/maven.xml
index e0270c06..92118d82 100644
--- a/eclipse/src/plugin-test/maven.xml
+++ b/eclipse/src/plugin-test/maven.xml
@@ -28,17 +28,22 @@
     <j:set var="dotClasspath" value="${basedir}/.classpath"/>
   </goal>
   
-  <goal name="test-eclipse">
+  <goal name="test-eclipse" prereqs="test-init">
     <delete file="${dotProject}" failonerror="false"/>
     <delete file="${dotClasspath}" failonerror="false"/>
     <attainGoal name="eclipse"/>
 
     <assert:assertFileExists file="${dotProject}" />
     <assert:assertFileExists file="${dotClasspath}" />
+    
+    <u:file var="classpathFile" name="${dotClasspath}"/>
+    <x:parse var="classpathDoc" xml="${classpathFile.toURL()}" />
+    <x:set var="count" select="count($classpathDoc/classpath/classpathentry[contains(@path,'MAVEN_REPO/junit/jars/junit-3.8.1.jar')])"/>    
+    <assert:assertEquals expected="1" value="${count.intValue().toString()}" msg="JUnit dependency not found"/> 
 
   </goal>
 
-  <goal name="test-natures">
+  <goal name="test-natures" prereqs="test-init">
     <delete file="${dotProject}" failonerror="false"/>
     <j:set var="maven.eclipse.projectnatures" value="n1,a.b.c.n2"/>
     <attainGoal name="eclipse:generate-project"/>
@@ -52,7 +57,7 @@
     <assert:assertEquals expected="a.b.c.n2" value="${natures[2].text}" msg="a.b.c.n2 is not the third nature"/>
   </goal>
 
-  <goal name="test-builders">
+  <goal name="test-builders" prereqs="test-init">
     <j:set var="maven.eclipse.buildcommands" value="c1,c2,c3"/>
     <delete file="${dotProject}" failonerror="false"/>
     <attainGoal name="eclipse:generate-project"/>
@@ -68,7 +73,7 @@
   </goal>
 
 
-  <goal name="test-natures-and-builders">
+  <goal name="test-natures-and-builders" prereqs="test-init">
     <delete file="${dotProject}" failonerror="false"/>
     <j:set var="maven.eclipse.projectnatures" value="n7,n9,n11"/>
     <j:set var="maven.eclipse.buildcommands" value="c11,c21,c31"/>
@@ -91,7 +96,7 @@
     <assert:assertEquals expected="c31" value="${builders[3].text}" msg="c31 is not the second build command name"/>
   </goal>
 
-  <goal name="test-classpath-has-generated-source">
+  <goal name="test-classpath-has-generated-source" prereqs="test-init">
     <delete file="${dotProject}" failonerror="false"/>
     <delete file="${dotClasspath}" failonerror="false"/>
     <mkdir dir="${maven.gen.src}/gensrc1"/>
diff --git a/eclipse/src/plugin-test/project.xml b/eclipse/src/plugin-test/project.xml
index 2a196bcc..d9cc39de 100644
--- a/eclipse/src/plugin-test/project.xml
+++ b/eclipse/src/plugin-test/project.xml
@@ -58,5 +58,10 @@
       <artifactId>commons-jelly-tags-xml</artifactId>
       <version>20030211.142705</version>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>junit</groupId>
+      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
+      <version>3.8.1</version>
+    </dependency>    
   </dependencies>
 </project>
diff --git a/eclipse/xdocs/changes.xml b/eclipse/xdocs/changes.xml
index 4fddeb31..3b74955f 100644
--- a/eclipse/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/eclipse/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
   </properties>
   <body>
     <release version="1.8" date="In CVS">
+      <action dev="epugh" type="fix" issue="MPECLIPSE-36" due-to="Felipe Leme">Fixed a 'race condition' where JUnit dependency is not added to .classpath.</action>
       <action dev="epugh" type="add">Add maven.gen.src property that points to a directory whose subdirectories are included as separate source directories.</action>    
       <action dev="epugh" type="add" issue="MPECLIPSE-10" due-to="Thierry Lack">Set eclipse.dependency=false to explicity ignore dependencies in classpath generation</action>    
       <action dev="evenisse" type="fix" issue="MPECLIPSE-29" due-to="Marc-Antoine Garrigue">Fix classpath generation when tests are not present</action>