NGO Action News – 21 October 2013

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
21 October 2013

EUROPE

• Le Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient organized a conference on 11 October 2013 in Luxembourg, on the blockade of the Gaza Strip as well as two movie screenings on 15 and 16 October 2013. The association will also organize several different artistic events and conferences throughout the month of November 2013.

• The European Coordination Committee for Palestine published on 9 October 2013 a new e-tool allowing its supporters to send a message to members of the European Parliament and ask them to take action to support the recently approved EU guidelines on Israeli settlements.

• The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign convened a panel discussion on 11 October 2013 in Dublin on The International Criminal Court and beyond. Two esteemed experts on international law and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Shawan Jabarin (Al-Haq) and Dr. Michael Kearney (University of Sussex) were invited to speak.

NORTH AMERICA

• Adalah-NY is organising two protests in New York City on 27 October 2013 at the Beacon Theater, against Idan Raichel, self-proclaimed Israeli propagandist and army supporter – and on 29 October 2013 at the Alice Tully Hall against the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

• The American Task Force on Palestine will celebrate its 10th Anniversary at its annual Gala taking place in Washington on 29 October 2013.

• The Center for Palestine Studies is presenting on 30 October 2013 the event Palestine and the Public Intellectual, Honoring Edward Said at the Columbia University Low Library Rotunda. Renowned scholars Judith Butler and Cornel West will take part in the event. RSVP required.

• The Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) hosted a discussion on 9 October 2013 on the theme Two States or One? The Future of Israelis and Palestinians. FMEP also organized on 17 October 2013 the event 1973: The Road to War, presenting Israeli historian Yigal Kipnis new book.

• The JCC in Manhattan and the David H. Sonabend Center for Israel are organising on 31 October 2013 a panel discussion entitled Is peace possible now? The current Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative. Scheduled speakers are Tal Becker, Principal Deputy Legal Adviser at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ghaith Al-Omari, Executive Director at the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP). The discussion will be moderated by Ethan Bronner, Deputy National Editor of The New York Times. Tickets are available using this link.

• Jewish Voice for Peace and Mondoweiss have put together a collection of articles to mark the 20 years since the signature of the Oslo Accords, entitled What Comes Next?: A forum on the end of the two-State paradigm, investigating the current state of thinking about one-State and two-State solutions. Their latest article Once the one-State reality in Israel/Palestine is recognized, the basis for a comprehensive peace will be clear has been published on 17 October 2013.
• The Middle East Children Alliance (MECA) organised on 17 October 2013 at the University of California/Berkeley a joint presentation with Josh Ruebner (US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation) presenting his new book Shattered Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace and representatives of Defense for Children International Palestine.

• New Yorkers Against the Cornell-Technion Partnership (NYACT) will be hosting on 23 October 2013 in New York a panel discussion on Militarization, Domestic Spying, and the Boycott of Israel with David Swanson (RootsAction), Fahd Ahmed (Desis Rising Up and Moving – DRUM), Riham Barghouti (Adalah-NY) and Anna Calcutt (NYACT).

• The Palestinian BDS Movement urges the American pop artist Rihanna to cancel her concert in Tel Aviv scheduled on 22 October 2013.

• Tree of Life Educational Fund organised on 19 October 2013 in New York its Fourth Annual conference on Israel and Palestine, on the theme We Refuse to be Enemies: Voices of Conscience from Israel and Palestine.

• Visualizing Palestine published on 10 October 2013 their latest visual Uprooted, denouncing the 800,000 olive trees uprooted in Palestine since 1967.

• The Voice of Palestine presented on 12 October 2013 its new programme featuring a discussion with David Klein, professor at California State University Northridge who has been targeted by Zionist groups for his support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The music closing the programme, entitled They’re Building a Wall, was performed by the Jewish American folksinger David Rovics.

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

• The Alternative Information Center (AIC) will organize its 21st international political camp from 22 to 27 December 2013.

• The Emergency Water Sanitation and Hygiene group (EWASH) launched a new petition targeting the EU through its Thirsting for Justice Campaign.

• The European Union Mission in Jerusalem is organizing the Euro-Palestinian Water film festival from 21 October to 7 November 2013 in different Palestinian cities.

• The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC) published the final statement of its Eighth International Conference on Nonviolent Popular Struggle entitled Towards the Mobilization of Popular Resistance: adopting a unified strategy. 

• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) released on 10 October 2013 its weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory covering the period from 3 to 9 October 2013.

• Peace Now published its latest report on 17 October 2013 stating there was a 70 percent increase in West Bank settlement construction in the first six months of 2013 compared to last year.

UNITED NATIONS

• OCHA oPt released on 12 October 2013 its latest Protection of Civilians report covering the period from 1 to 7 October 2013.

• The Working Group of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People is organizing an event on 21 October 2013 at the United Nations, with Avner Gvaryahu from Breaking the Silence who will present the collective testimony book, Our Harsh Logic: Israeli Soldiers’ Testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000-2010.

• The World Bank issued a new report on 2 October 2013 entitled West Bank and Gaza Area C and the Future of the Palestinian Economy.