NGO Action News – 08 June 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
8 June 2018

Middle East

• On 8 June, Al Haq, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) issued a statement condemning a recently published report by the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy. The report calls on the European Union to halt their direct and indirect financial support to Palestinian and international human rights organizations that “have ties to terror and promote boycotts against Israel.”

• On 6 June, Al Haq issued a statement condemning “51 years of Israeli Occupation, 11 years of Closure of the Gaza Strip” and calling for action and sanctions. Al Haq drew a list of recommendations addressed to Israel, the occupying power, third state parties and the international community, through the United Nations.

• On 5 June, Gisha presented an analysis on the impact of the closure on women in Gaza before a Knesset committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality. Gisha drew the attention on the impact of Israel’s ongoing control over sea and land access to Gaza, which had pushed women out of economic sectors. Knesset members who attended thanked the organizations including Gisha and Physicians for Human Rights for working to bring them the “voices of Gaza’s women” that cannot be heard in that discussion.

• On 5 June, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) shared a status report on water provision and drillings in the West Bank in 2010-2016 obtained through freedom of information requests submitted to Israel’s national water company Mekorot and the Civil Administration in the West Bank. ACRI explained the water scarcity in the West Bank, where Israel drills large quantities of water to provide to settlements. This leads Palestinians to purchase water from Israel at expensive rates.

• On 3 June, HaMoked explained, following a petition they submitted against the mandatory fee for Palestinians living Israel by virtue of family reunification, that the fee had been lifted for some 10,000 Palestinians that would no longer be considered “foreign workers.”

• On 1 June, Adalah-The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel issued a press release on their participation to the UN Forum on “70 Years after 1948 – Lessons to Achieve a Sustainable Peace.” Attorney Suhad Bishara, who spoke at the Forum on behalf of Adalah, denounced Israel’s “racist policies of forced displacement” of Palestinians, denial of international law and attempts to turn Palestine into a domestic issue.

Europe

• On 7 June, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) published an article on “Recurring Nightmares for Gaza’s Children.” NRC describes the impact of the recent Israeli’s repression and killings during the Great March of Return, particularly on children and the increase of mental health issues and psychological deterioration.

North America

• On 1 June, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) facilitated a lecture by the “Justice delegation”, a group of social justice leaders, entitled “Palestine is everywhere.” The Justice delegation called on allies to take their own actions to support the Palestinian people and celebrated the work in the U.S. to support the realization of the rights of Palestinians.

United Nations

• On 2 June, the UN Humanitarian coordinator in the OPT, OHCHR and OCHA issued a joint statement to call for the protection of medical workers, after the killing of Razan An Najjar, a 21-year-old female volunteering as a first responder in Gaza, while carrying out her humanitarian duties with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS). UN agencies stated that attacks on medical teams in Gaza also undermine the overall capacity of Gaza’s health system, already suffering from “chronic underfunding and massive pressure.”

• On 1 June, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator and the UNRWA Director of Operations in the West Bank called on the Government of Israel to cease its plans to carry out the mass demolition and transfer of the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, located in the outskirts of East Jerusalem. The humanitarian coordinator warned against significant humanitarian hardship and grave breaches of international humanitarian law.

• The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will jointly convene an international conference under the theme “The Question of Jerusalem after 50 years of Occupation and 25 years of the Oslo Accords” in Rabat, Morocco, on 26-28 June 2018.