NGO Action News – 13 October 2017

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
13 October 2017

Global

• On 10 October, Amnesty International re-issued an Urgent Action calling for the release of Palestinian parliamentarian and civil society leader Khalida Jarrar, unless charged with an internationally recognized criminal offence. The organization also reiterated its call for an end to the practice of administrative detention.

Middle East

• On 8 October, the 2017 two-week Journey for Peace organized by Women Wage Peace ended with a rally in Jerusalem. The event was attended by thousands of Israelis and Palestinians calling for negotiations with the participation of women and a peace agreement. For background information about Women Wage Peace, see the interview conducted by American Jewish Peace Archive with Anat Saragusti, one of the leaders of the movement.

North America

• On 6 November, the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) is hosting in Berkeley, California, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Al Mubadara for a talk on “100 Years after the Balfour Declaration: The Anti-Colonial Struggle in Palestine”.

• On 24 October, independent analyst Mouin Rabbani will hold at George Mason University the Middle East and Islamic Studies annual lecture“Palestine: Anatomy of an Abyss”.

• Churches for Middle Peace (CMEP) will be hosting conversations with Daoud Nassar from Tent of Nations about life in Palestine, human rights and peacebuilding in Washington, D.C. on 16-17 October; Seattle, Washington, on 18-20 October; and in North Carolina, on 21-22 October.

• On 11 October, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a complaint arguing that a Kansas law requiring all state contractors to certify that they are not boycotting Israel violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In an article published in the New York Times the same day, Dima Khalidi, director of Palestine Legal, stated that the lawsuit was a “really important step to make sure that our right to dissent is protected”.

Europe

• On 17 November, Independent Jewish Voices is inviting to a screening of its “100 Years of Balfour” at the Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image in London. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion.

• On 10 October, the independent media and research centre Danwatch reported that, following the publication of its investigations “Business on Occupied Territory” in January 2017, Denmark’s third largest pension fund (Sampension) had revised its investment guidelines and divested from four companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements. 

United Nations 

• On 2 November, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) will host a lecture on the Balfour Declaration and its impact on the Palestinian people, delivered by Prof. Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University in New York. For registration, please click here.

• From 23 October to 17 November, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in Geneva will review Israel’s compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Israel’s State Report as well as “shadow reports” submitted by Palestinian, Israeli and international NGOs are available on the OHCHR

• As part of its Humanitarian Monthly Bulletin, OCHA reported on 11 October that people with disabilities had been disproportionately affected by the energy and salary crisis in Gaza.