NGO Action News – 17 October 2024

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This newsletter informs about recent and upcoming activities of Civil Society Organizations working on the question of Palestine. 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.

You may find previous issues of the NGO Action News in Spanish here.

You may find issues of the NGO Action News in French here.

You may find issues of the NGO Action News in Arabic here.

Middle East

• On 16 October, Ir Amim informed that the Israel Land Authority had published a tender for the construction of 286 housing units in an open area to the north of the Ramat Shlomo settlement in East Jerusalem. The tender is based on a plan that provides for a total of 650 housing units to be built towards the Palestinian neighbourhood of Beit Hanina. The NGO added that if built, these units would further fragment Palestinian space, complicating the possibility of drawing the future border of a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem, and will block the ability of Palestinian neighbourhoods to expand and develop in order to meet the needs of their population.
• On 16 October, Scientists for Palestine held the webinar “Universalism vs. Orientalism. Some Thoughts about, and in the wake of, Edward Said”. In this lecture, Marwan Rashed, Professor at the Sorbonne University, discussed the complex relationship between the current “eradication” of Palestine and the state of Arab studies in Western universities.
• On 16 October, the Institute for Palestine Studies published an article on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by Israeli Defense Forces in the current war on Gaza. The paper informs that AI systems collect, search, and process data acquired by existing Israeli surveillance of Palestinians on a mass scale, adding that for decades, Israel has held control over telecommunications infrastructure used by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including phone lines and mobile and internet networks.
• On 14 October, Gisha, B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights and Yesh Din called on the international community to take action to prevent Israel from forcibly transferring hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have remained in the northern Gaza Strip, including by denying entry of essential humanitarian aid and fuel. The NGOs stated that there were alarming signs that the Israeli military was beginning to implement a plan that would lead to a complete forcible transfer of the civilians of the northern Gaza Strip through tightening the siege on the area and starving the population.
• On 13 October, Peace Now published the report “War and Annexation: How the Israeli Government Changed the West Bank During the First Year of War”. The NGO described how the Israeli government’s policy in the occupied West Bank was to annex it and shrink Palestinian space in Area C. This policy is being carried out through the establishment of a record number of illegal outposts, a sharp increase in the quantity and intensity of settler violence, closures of roads and highways, and unprecedented measures to legalize and fund illegal outposts. At the same time, the government is completing an administrative infrastructure for the annexation of the West Bank by transferring powers from the Civil Administration, a military body, to the newly created civilian Settlement Administration.
• On 12 October, Al-Haq, Al Mezan and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights published an article to mark the anniversary of the beginning of the current war on Gaza. The organisations lamented that foreign governments continued to fail to uphold their international obligations to prevent and end genocide and ensure respect for international law. The NGOs renewed their commitment to continue advocating for accountability and justice for the Palestinian people.
• On 10 October, Badil issued a press release raising concerns over the recent decision in the Israeli parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to greenlight two significant bills that aim to eliminate UNRWA’s presence and operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The NGO informed that these bills are now pending further readings before being voted into law. If approved, this law could lead to the end of UNRWA’s work in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, stripping Palestine refugees of their legal rights and protections.
• On 8 October, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies held the seminar “The future of Lebanon and Palestine one year after the 7 October attacks”, coinciding with the first anniversary of the war on Gaza. The seminar hosted Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science, and Hazem Nahar, a researcher and editor-in-chief of the magazine Rowaq Maysaloon. The discussion was moderated by human rights activist Messaoud Romdhani.

Africa, Asia and Europe

• On 15 October, Amnesty International published an article calling on Israeli authorities to rescind evacuation orders issued over the past week to Palestinians in northern Gaza and to immediately allow the unhindered entry of essential supplies, including food and fuel to the area, as fears grow for the fate of civilians trapped under siege. According to the NGO, the civilian death toll across the occupied Gaza Strip has continued to mount in recent days. Civilians have had to endure relentless Israeli bombardment and shelling, without access to basic supplies critical for their survival, including food and clean water.
• On 10 October, Law for Palestine, in collaboration with Visualizing Palestine, launched a data portal documenting reported genocidal incitement against the Palestinian people by Israeli government officials, military personnel, and public figures. This new platform is designed to make these statements more accessible to researchers, legal scholars and advocates. To date, the database has compiled instances of genocidal rhetoric, including explicit calls for forced displacement and collective punishment, capturing its systemic and intrinsic nature.

North America

• On 19 October, Columbia University will organize the open forum “Thinking Politically after Gaza”. Scholars from Ireland, Israel, Palestine, Rwanda and South Africa will discuss what kind of political future can end the violence that has marked so far Israel/Palestine.
• On 16 October, Americans for Peace Now issued a statement welcoming the recent letter from the U.S. administration to the Israeli government, emphasizing the urgent need to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza within the next 30 days. The statement reads that the government of Israel has been arbitrarily impeding humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip for over a year. These actions not only exacerbate the suffering of civilians but also undermine U.S. commitments to human rights and international law.
• On 15 October, Human Rights Watch published an article calling on Israeli authorities to withdraw a proposed legislation aimed at preventing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and halt their campaign to dismantle the UN’s most important aid agency for Palestinian refugees. The NGO added that Israel should let UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies do their work in Gaza, where the population faces famine due to Israeli authorities’ use of starvation as a weapon of war, which constitutes a war crime.

United Nations

• On 31 October, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will organize the briefing “International legal responsibilities for preventing genocide, holding perpetrators of war crimes accountable, and for ending the unlawful occupation of Palestine”. The briefing will feature presentations from the UN Special Rapporteurs on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory Occupied Since 1967, Francesca Albanese; and on the Right to Health, Tlaleng Mofokeng; as well as a Commissioner of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, Chris Sidoti. These briefings will address their recent reports to the UN General Assembly and recent developments, including the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice in July. The Committee will also hear from representatives of the Independent Commission for Human Rights of Palestine and the NGO “Law For Palestine”. The event will take place at 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., at the UN Headquarters (ECOSOC Chamber), New York, and be broadcast via UN Web TV.
• On 14 October, OHCHR stated being appalled by Israel’s continued bombing and other attacks on parts of North Gaza, where its forces have trapped tens of thousands of Palestinians, including civilians, in their homes and shelters with no access to food or other life-sustaining necessities. The UN Human Rights Office reminded Israel that the forcible transfer of the population of North Gaza would amount to a war crime and may amount to other atrocity crimes, as would shooting at civilians fleeing hostilities in response to their orders. It demanded an immediate end to the siege of northern Gaza, the end of the repeated bombing of IDP shelters and a public confirmation to its troops that civilians who are not directly participating in hostilities may never be targeted.
• On 11 October, a group of UN human rights experts, including several Special Rapporteurs, issued a statement to warn against the risk of a break down the international multilateral system one year after the 7 October attack by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups against Israel and the Israeli military campaign against the Gaza Strip. Experts stated that the world has seen a brutal escalation of violence, resulting in genocidal attacks, ethnic cleansing and collective punishment of Palestinians. They called on all leaders to move beyond dehumanising and polarising narratives, and actively work for an immediate cessation of all hostilities and crimes in Palestine/Israel and the region, and for the immediate release of all persons arbitrarily detained, both Israelis held in Gaza and Palestinians held by Israel.