29 September 2014

EUROPE

• Art Base is hosting the virtuoso Palestinian oud player Adel Salameh for a concert on 25 October 2014 in Brussels.
• Breaking the Silence is organizing a conference with co-founder Yehuda Shaul at the city hall of Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg) on 1 October 2014 at 8.00pm.
• CAABU is inviting its members for a private briefing and Q&A session on the Gaza Strip with Dr. Aimee Shalan in London on 7 October 2014 at 11.00 am. Dr. Shalan is the Director of Friends of Birzeit University and the former Director of Advocacy and Communications at Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).
• Café Palestine is holding its next meeting on 2 October 2014 at Café Monk in Brussels under the title What now? Could laughter be the best medicine?
• Le Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient (CPJPO) released its latest agenda/newletter on 12 September 2014.
• The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) organized its Annual Sponsored Hill Walk on 28 September 2014. IPSC will also host on 6 October 2014 a fundraising evening in Dublin featuring a theatrical adaptation of Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani.
• Maramiya, the Palestinian cultural centre is organizing a Palestinian after-work in Brussels on 3 October 2014.
• Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) is organizing a fundraiser marathon on 7 October 2014 in the West Bank. Click here to support this initiative. MAP also released on 19 September 2014 a new report entitled Ten years since the International Court of Justice Ruling: The Impact of the Separation Wall on the Right to Health.
• Palestinagruppen i Stockholms (PGS) invites its members for a meeting on 12 October 2014 with Yvonne Fredriksson (PGS), Anna Wester (PGS Chairperson) and Gunilla Wettersjö (BDS activist). For more information and to RSVP contact: palestinagruppen.stockholm@gmail.com.
• Palestine Solidarity Campaign published on 18 September 2014 a video of the event Gaza – Eyewitness to Horror featuring Mustafa Barghouti, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and leader of the Palestine National Initiative.

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

• Al-Haq issued a new fact sheet on 27 September 2014 entitled Ongoing Demolitions of Palestinian Property in the West Bank.
• BDS Movement released an interactive timeline on the occasion of the 8th anniversary of the BDS call, to charter the key successes of the movement.
• B’Tselem issued a press release on 22 September 2014 saying that the group found no justification for the use of live fire that killed a 10-year old Palestinian boy in the West Bank’s al-Fawwar refugee camp on 10 August 2014.
• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) issued its latest weekly report on Israeli human rights violations in the OPT on 25 September 2014 covering the period 18 September – 24 September 2014.
• The Women Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) published a new report on 15 September 2014 entitled Jerusalem – A Divided City.

AMERICA

• The Arrival Agency is organizing in Vancouver on 7 October 2014 a fundraiser for the children of the Gaza Strip.
• Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) organized an event on 22 September 2014 featuring Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who addressed, for the first time, American students at Cooper Union in New York City. The transcript of President Abbas’ speech is available here. CMEP is also hosting a briefing call on 30 September 2014 with three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Archbishop Elias Chacour. Click here for more information.
• Columbia University hosted the event The War on Gaza: Military Strategy and Historical Horizons on 19 September 2014. The event featured Noura Erakat (George Mason University) and Rashid Khalidi (Columbia University). For more information please contact ml3408@columbia.edu.
• Cycling4Gaza issued a newsletter covering its recent US cycling challenge which took place on 19-21 September 2014.
• The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) published on 26 September 2014 a photo essay entitled Testimony from Gaza: Witness to a War Crime.
• Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews Say No are organizing the Stand Up for Palestine action on 6 October 2014 in New York. Click here for more information.
• Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) will also host in Berkeley (CA) on 6 November 2014 the release of award-winning reporter Nora Barrows-Friedman’s new book documenting the emergence and success of the Students for Justice in Palestine movement. Malihe Razazan, co-host of KPFA’s “Voices of the Middle East” programme, will interview Ms. Barrows-Friedman about her book.
• Voice of Palestine released on 15 September 2014 an interview with Brian Avery, American activist and former International Solidarity Movement member who was shot in the face by the IDF in April 2003.
• The Israel-Palestine NGO Working Group at the United Nations is organizing a launching event of the book Palestine: The Legitimacy of Hope by Richard Falk (former UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory). The event will take place on 21 October 2014 from 1.00pm to 2.30 pm at the Church Center, 777 UN Plaza, New York.

GLOBAL

• The Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) hosted on 24-25 September 2014 in Brussels an Extraordinary session on “Israel’s Crimes in the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge”. It found evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of murder, extermination and persecution and also incitement to genocide. The findings of the Tribunal were presented at a press conference and to the European Parliament. The videos of the testimonies are available here.

UNITED NATIONS

• The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will host Professor Noam Chomsky for a lecture on 14 October 2014 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Professor Chomsky will share his analysis on the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in light of recent events. Stay tuned for more information.
• The International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People has a Twitter account and official hashtag #2014forPalestine. Share the word and let us know about your International Year plans at 2014forPalestine@un.org!
• OCHA OPT issued its most recent Protection of Civilians Weekly Report on 15 September 2014 covering the period 16 September – 22 September. OCHA OPT also released a newfact sheet entitled Bedouin Communities at Risk of Forcible Transfer.
• The World Bank released a new report on 16 September 2014 stating that the Palestinian economy was in decline and the unemployment rising to alarming levels.