NGO Action News – 09 April 2014

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
09 April 2014

EUROPE

• L’Association Belgo-Palestinienne (ABP) posted on 7 April 2014 a memorandum on the occasion of the forthcoming local and European elections. The document comprises of a set of recommendations focusing on regional, federal and European approaches to achieve peace in the Middle East.

• The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network are organizing on the occasion of Palestinian prisoners’ day a conference in Brussels on 19 April 2014 featuring Charlotte Kates (Samidoun), Khaled Barakat (Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat) and Rabee Eid (Palestinian youth activist and journalist).

• Le Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient (CPJPO) is screening Miral by Julian Schnabel on 16 April 2014 at 6.30pm, Centre Curiel, Luxembourg-Ville. For more information please contact: paixjuste@yahoo.com. The CPJO, within the umbrella of the International year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, is also organizing a Palestinian Culture Spring from 24 April to 24 May 2014. The program can be found here.

• The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP) on 2 April 2014 published a list of treaties and conventions President Mahmoud Abbas signed letters of accession to after the Israeli Government refused to release the fourth group of Palestinian prisoners. The list of treaties is available here.

• Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) is organizing the event Cycle for MAP to raise money to support Palestinians, on 7 September 2014.

• The Palestinian Return Centre, the General Secretariat of the Palestinians in Europe Conference and the Palestinian Forum will organize the 12th Palestinians in Europe Conference – A United Palestine for the Promise of Returnon 3 May 2014 in Paris.

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

• Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Altufula Centre and Kvinna till Kvinna held a special meeting on 2 April 2014 for 20 EU representatives in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to present and discuss the most important issues facing Palestinian women on both sides of the Green Line, and the role of the EU and EU Member States in urging Israel and Palestine to promote and protect Palestinian women’s rights. The meeting was held in the context of a new report prepared by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) on the rights of Palestinian women within EU’s relations with Israel and Palestine.

• Addameer – Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and BDS Movement call on campaigners and people of conscience to take action and mark Palestinian prisoner’s day on 17 April 2014 to stand in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners.

• Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights took part in a briefing at the European Parliament on the issue of Palestinian refugees on 1 April 2014.

• B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories published on 26 March 2014 its findings on the killing of 14-year-old Yusef a-Shawamreh, stating that the Israeli soldiers fired live rounds at Palestinian youths crossing the Separation Wall to pick wild food plants. The human rights group also recently published a series of photographs taken in March 2014 at the Qalandia checkpoint.

• The Lajee Center is touring Ireland until 17 April 2014 with dabka (traditional Palestinian dance) artists. The centre will also be in Antwerpen, Belgium, on 20 April 2014 to present a photo exhibition.

• OneVoice Israel launched on 2 April 2014 its Peace, It Also Pays Off campaign to remind Israelis of what is at stake and of the choice Israel faces between continued conflict or a more secure and prosperous future.

• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) released its latest weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory covering the period 27 March to 2 April 2014.

• Palestinian human rights groups released an open letter on 3 April 2014 calling on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the biggest charitable foundation in the world, to end its investment in G4S, a British private security company that helps Israel run prisons where Palestinian political prisoners are detained in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

• Right to Movement and the High Council of Youth and Sports are organizing the second annual Palestine Marathon, to be held 11 April 2014.

NORTH AMERICA

• American Friends Service Committee and Just World Books are organizing a national speaking tour for up to four of the contributors to the book Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza until 24 April 2014. The tour features editor’s Refaat Alareer and book contributors Yousef Aljamal, Rawan Yaghi, and Sarah Ali. They will share from their experiences growing up in Gaza preserved in the book.

• Americans for Peace Now, Churches for Middle East Peace and Foundation for Middle East Peace are organizing the event John Kerry’s Framework More of the Same, or a Fresh Approach to Israel-Palestine Peace? with Ziad Abu Zayyad, Co-Editor and Publisher (Palestine-Israel Journal), and Hillel Schenker, Co-Editor (Palestine-Israel Journal), on11 April 2014 in Washington DC. Additional information is available at info@fmep.org or +1-202-835-3650.

• The Center for Palestine Studies is organizing a poetry reading event with Icelandic-Palestinian poet Mazen Maarouf. The poetry reading will be followed by a Q&A moderated by poet and writer Nathalie Handal. The event takes place on 14 April 2014 at 12.30pm, Knox Hall, Room 208, Columbia University. It’s free and open to the public.

• Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) Board of Director’s Study Tour to Palestine and Israel will take place 8 November – 15 November 2014. Custom-created by CMEP this dual narrative travel experience offers a unique vantage point on peace building efforts in Israel and Palestine. Brochure is available here here as well as the registration form.

• The Institute for Middle East Understanding published Facts on the Ground Peace Index: Volume VIII on 7 April 2014, focused on the actions of the Israeli Government and military as well as statements of Israeli officials.

• KinderUSA is hosting in Pasadena (CA) its annual fundraiser Food Four Thought, Food for the Soul and Food for Gaza on 19 April 2014 with guest speakers Laila El-Haddad(Gaza Mom, The Gaza Kitchen) and Ali Abunimah (Electronic Intifada).

• The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation invites its supporters to call on US lawmakers on Tax Day, 15 April 2014, urging them to hold Israel accountable for misusing US weapons in violation of US laws to commit human rights abuses of Palestinians.

• The Voice of Palestine presented on 3 April 2014 a new interview with Tyler Levitan, Campaign Coordinator for Independent Jewish Voices – IJV Canada, who talks about about IJV’s Expose the Jewish National Fund JNF campaign, their new postcard initiative, and their support for the BDS movement.

• Ali Abunimah (Electronic Intifada) is on a US tour for his book The Battle for Justice in Palestine until 23 April 2014. He will be joined by Refaat Alareer and Rawan Yahgi, editor and contributor to the new collection Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, on 22 April 2014 for the presentation of his book in Berkeley.

• Norman Finkelstein (author, researcher), will be speaking in Colorado Springs on 22 April 2014 on the topic Resolving the Israel-Palestine Conflict: What’s Possible, What’s Not.

GLOBAL

• Activestills is organizing a screening and an exhibition of Not A Dream Land, on artists and their subculture in the Gaza Strip in Paris on 10 April 2014. The event will be presented by French photographer Anne Paq.

• Amnesty International released a statement on 3 April 2014 to welcome Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s move to seek admission in 15 international conventions and treaties and to urge the Palestinians to sign up to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

• One Voice Movement published a new video on 7 April 2014 entitled OneVoice, Two States – Peace IS Possible.

UNITED NATIONS

• The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People hosted a briefing with Ziad Abu Zayyad, Co-Editor and Publisher (Palestine-Israel Journal), and Hillel Schenker, Co-Editor (Palestine-Israel Journal), on 8 April 2014 at the United Nations Headquarters.

• The International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People has a Twitter account and an official hashtag #2014forPalestine. Share the word and let us know about your International Year plans at 2014forPalestine@un.org!