NGO Action News – 20 January 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
20 January 2017

Middle East

• In the wake of home demolitions by Israeli authorities, on 19 January, Al Haq expressed solidarity with the “unrecognized” Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran alleging that Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line were facing discriminatory planning and building policies.

• On 16 January, B’Tselem expressed concern about the hardship caused to Palestinian civilians by Gaza’s worsening electricity crisis, providing analysis and background information  (“Israel cannot shirk its responsibility for Gaza’s electricity crisis”).

• On 15 January Badil issued a statement demanding an immediate halt to all Israeli collective punishment measures in occupied East Jerusalem including residency revocations, demolition notices, and closure of public roads.

• On 13 January, Al Haq’s general director Shawan Jabarin published an op-ed arguing that to be successful the French Peace Initiative must be rooted in international law and human rights. In another article published on 14 January in the Huffington Post, Sam Bahour, policy advisor to Al Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, maintained that the international community’s recognition of the State of Palestine might act as the silver bullet to save the two-State solution.

• On 13 January, Gush Shalom published an advertisement in Ha’aretz calling on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to attend the 15 January Peace Conference in Paris.

• On 12 January Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights issued a press release condemning Israel’s prohibition on family visits for Palestinian detainees from Gaza. The organization stated that Israeli authorities had increased the number of detainees from Gaza that are subjected to the family visitation ban, further exacerbating Israel’s failures to uphold its duties as the Occupying Power.

• On 12 January, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded a 20-hour training course on human rights and international humanitarian law in Rafah, Gaza, which was attended by 27 participants, including 11 young women.

Europe

• The 15 January Middle East Peace Conference Joint Declaration adopted in Paris expressed the participants’ readiness to contribute to enhanced Israeli and Palestinian civil society dialogue, rekindle the public debate, and strengthen the role of civil society on both sides.

North America

• On 7 February, The Jerusalem Fund will host in Washington, D.C. academics Nathan Brown, Philip Crowley and Shibley Telhami for a panel discussion on “Trump’s Foreign Policy Positions on Palestine and the Middle East”.

• On 14 January, Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) completed a two-week Pilgrimage to Peace Tour, sharing information about the realities on the ground and their vision for peace and justice in the Holy Land with US churches, universities and the US Government at 24 different events in Washington, D.C., Seattle and Philadelphia.

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