NGO Action News – 10 November 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
10 November 2014

EUROPE

• Association belgo-palestinienne (ABP), the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP) and Mundubat are organizing the conferenceEuropean Union obligations vis-à-vis occupied East Jerusalem on 17 November 2014 in Brussels. More details to come soon.

• Café Palestine organized a meeting on 6 November 2014 at Café Monk in Brussels with with Ronnie Barkan, a member of Boycott from Within.

• Le Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient (CPJPO) is offering a one-day training for activists on the Middle East on 16 November 2014 in Luxembourg. For more information please contact nathalieoberweis@yahoo.com.

• Les Grignoux (asbl) is hosting the debate Israel/Palestine, where is the peace camp? featuring MEP Marie Arena, the Palestinian Ambassador to the European Union Leila Shahidand the human rights activist Simone Susskind on 20 November 2014 in Brussels at Cinéma Vendôme (8.00pm).

• The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) issued on 27 October 2014 a new report focusing on Palestine and entitled A policy of displacement and dispossession amid renewed conflict. A statistical e analysis is available here.

• Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) published on 6 November 2014 a news report from the Gaza Strip entitled Look Closer.

• Palestina Solidariteit is hosting the workshop Palestine for Dummies in Brussels on 8-15 and 22 November 2014. For more information contact: stienstijn@gmail.com orinfo@palestinasolidariteit.be.

• Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) issued a report on 6 November 2014 entitled What the media won’t tell you about East Jerusalem. PSC will also host the event Parliament Recognises Palestine: What Next? on 13 November 2014 in London.

• War Child’s photo exhibition Room No.4 illustrating the reality of detained Palestinian children in East Jerusalem is presented at the public library of Florenville in Belgium on 5-19 November 2014.

• More than 300 trade unions, NGOs and other civil society organizations from across Europe have called on the European Union on 2 November 2014 to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement until Israel complies with international law.

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

• Al-Haq issued on 30 October 2014 an alert urging the International community to take concrete action to end Israel’s aggression against the Al-Aqsa Compound.

• B’Tselem published on 2 November 2014 a new photo blog on the West bank village of Burqah.

• Gisha –Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement published a news item on 6 November 2014 about the first good from Gaza to be sold in the West Bank since June 2007.

• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) issued its latest weekly report on Israeli human rights violations in the OPT on 6 November 2014 covering the period 30 October –5 November 2014. PCHR also condemned in a press release issued on 3 November 2014 the latest Israeli measures and decisions against East Jerusalem.

• The Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) issued its October bulletin.

NORTH AMERICA

• A coalition of faith groups dedicated to encouraging peace with justice for Palestinians and Israelis launched the We Support Peace banner campaign.

• Church for Middle East Peace (CMEP) is organizing on 19 November 2014 the national briefing Homes and Human Rights in the West Bank and Gaza with Anat Saragusti, director of B’Tselem USA.

• The Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), Just Vision and the New America Foundation organized on 6 November 2014 the event New Media in the Israeli Landscape: The role of independent digital magazines. Speakers included Noam Sheizaf (+972 Magazine), Yael Marom (Just Vision) and Muna Shikaki (Al Arabiya).

• The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) published on 6 November 2014 an expert Q&A entitled Unrest in Occupied East Jerusalem with Ingrid Jaradat Gassner, Coordinator of International Advocacy and Public Relations for the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem.

• Librarians and Archivists with Palestine (LAP) launched on 6 November 2014 a new campaign designed as an international reading and discussion initiative and entitled One Book, Many Communities: Mornings in Jenin. Any questions about the campaign can be directed to librarians2palestine@gmail.com.

• Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) organizes an event in Berkeley (CA) with Professor Steven Salaita on 11 November 2014 on Silencing Palestinian voices on Campuses. MECA also launched a petition to stop the arrest and detention of Palestinian children.

• Voice of Palestine released on 30 October 2014 an interview with Ben Norton, an American freelance writer, artist and activist whose work has been published in CounterPunch, Electronic Intifada, Common Dreams, ThinkProgress, and ZNet, among other publications.

GLOBAL

• Amnesty International said on 5 November 2014 in a new report (Families under the rubble: Israeli attacks on inhabited homes) on the latest Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip that Israeli forces have killed scores of Palestinian civilians in attacks targeting houses where families were present, which in some cases have amounted to war crimes.

• The Emergency Water, Sanitation and Hygiene group (EWASH) is hosting the event Water deprived / The right to water and sanitation in the occupied Palestinian territory on 10 November 2014 in Brussels with Johanna von Toggenburg (EWASH) and Rachel Borell (Al Haq). For more information and to RSVP contact johanna@ewash.org.

• The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) conducted an investigative mission in Gaza from 24 to 28 October. This mission was able to document the destruction of infrastructure in Gaza during the last offensive led by Israel. A report will follow in the coming weeks.

UNITED NATIONS

• The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity (FAMSI) and the Junta of Andalusia are co-convening the International Conference of Local Governments and Civil Society Organizations in Support of Palestinian Rights, from 2 to 3 December 2014, in Seville, Spain. More information and RSVP (no later than 25 November 2014) available at the following link

• 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 7 November 2014 covering the period 28 October – 3 November.