NGO Action News – 02 February 2018

This newsletter informs about recent and upcoming activities of Civil Society Organizations affiliated with the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The Committee and the Division for Palestinian Rights of the UN Secretariat provide the information “as is” without warranty of any kind, and do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, or reliability of the information contained in the websites linked in the newsletter.

NGO Action News
02 February 2018

Middle East

• On 1 February, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) released a position paper denouncing legislative gaps between Palestinians and Israelis living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Association stressed the “sweeping preference” by Israel for the rights of the settlers in criminal law, freedom of expression and demonstration; and in the exercise of the right to shelter and family, in comparison with laws applied by Israel in the OPT.

• On 30 January, UNWRA informed that a dozen countries had agreed to advance their annual contributions to the agency in light of the U.S. partial hold on funds transfer. The Agency launched an appeal for some USD 800 million to continue providing aid to Palestinian refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine this year, while underlining that “humanitarian funding should be preserved from being tied up with political considerations.”

• On 30 January, the Norwegian Refugee Council warned that Israeli courts threatened to demolish Palestinian schools in the framework of settlement expansion. New figures gathered by aid agencies revealed that there were 61 schools in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, pending demolition from the Israeli authorities.

• On 28 January, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights published five annual reports documenting violations in Palestine in 2017. These reports address Israeli forces’ violations, particularly the undermining of Palestinian fishermen’s sea access in the Gaza strip; attacks on schools and hospitals, detention of minors; as well as the use of lethal force and arbitrary arrest by the Israeli forces in Gaza restricted areas.

North America

• The Columbia University Centre for Palestine Studies is organizing, on 5 February, the presentation of a new book “The Wall and the Gate: Israel, Palestine, and the Legal Battle for Human Rights” by Michael Sfard, one of the leading Israeli human rights lawyers. The book examines the ethics and challenges of legal work for human rights based on the reality of occupation and surreal legal structures.

Europe

• Friends of Al-Aqsa, a U.K.-based NGO, is organizing a fundraising week on 17-23 February, as the largest Palestinian exposition in Europe, showcasing local art for auctions and fundraising.

• Israeli citizens including dignitaries in several sectors (arts, academia, NGOs and politics) recently addressed an open letter to the Irish Parliament on the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018, which was debated on 30 January. The letter urges Ireland to support any legislation that will help enforce differentiation between Israel per se within its 1967 borders; and the settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, calling the ongoing occupation as “morally and strategically unstainable.”

United Nations

• On 5 February, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will hold its first meeting of the year at UN Headquarters in New York. The event can be watched live on the UN webcast at http://webtv.un.org. The session will aim at electing the Committee’s bureau and approving its 2018 programme of work.

• During most recent Universal Periodic Review of Israel by the Human Rights Council on 23 January, Member States recommended that Israel end its occupation, cease demolitions of Palestinian property and the unlawful transfer of Palestinians from Jerusalem. Member States called on Israel to respect international law, halt the construction of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including businesses. Most importantly, recommendations were made for Israel to allow Palestinians the freedom of movement within the OPT, access to natural resources, religious sites, heath care and other services.