NGO Action News – 18 June 2018

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
18 June 2018

Middle East

• On 18 June, Al-Haq issued a statement expressing deep concern at Israel’s continued denial of entry to United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967. According to the statement, “Israel’s measures are designed to intentionally disrupt and impede the human rights reporting”.

• On 13 June, Peace Now informed that the Knesset approved in preliminary reading a bill that would allow the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) – a non-governmental body – to manage most of the land in Area C of the West Bank. According to international law, the occupying power must not grant NGOs authority to manage lands in occupied territory.

• On 12 June, Peace Now reported that security forces evacuated 15 houses illegally built on private Palestinian lands, in the Israeli settlement outpost of Nativ Ha’avot. On 1 September 2016, the High Court of Justice had ruled in favor of a petition submitted by Peace Now and Palestinian landowners and ordered the State to demolish the structures within a year and a half (by March 2018). About a month before the deadline, the state requested the Court to postpone the evacuation by another three months, which was subsequently granted.

• On 11 June, Gisha issued a statement calling on Israel to recognize responsibility and take immediate action for the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. The statement comes after the meeting of the Israeli Security Cabinet failed to yield concrete remedial measures. The issues to be addressed include: increasing the volume of electricity sold from Israel to Gaza; doubling the amount of water permitted for sale to Gaza; granting approvals for repairs to infrastructure and construction of water desalination plants; allocating a minor quota of permits for laborers from Gaza to work in Israel, and; developing an industrial zone at Erez Crossing. 

Europe

• On 14 June, Amnesty International in a statement demanded for a full, independent investigation into alleged assault and arrests of dozens of peaceful protesters by Palestinian security officers. The protesters were rallying against salary cuts of over 63,000 government employees in Gaza Strip, unpaid electricity bill, ending all spending on ministerial functions in Gaza, and severely limiting support to Gaza’s healthcare ministry and system, including decreasing permits for patients to leave the strip.

North America

• On 13 June, Human Rights Watch issued a statement condemning Israel forces’ repeated use of lethal force in the Gaza Strip, against Palestinian demonstrators and called on the UN General Assembly to support a resolution that calls for exploring measures to guarantee the protection of Palestinians in Gaza, and a UN inquiry mandated to investigate all violations and abuses. The statement stated that killings also highlight the need for the International Criminal Court to open a formal investigation into the situation in Palestine while third countries should impose targeted sanctions against officials responsible for ongoing serious human rights violations.

United Nations

• On 18 June, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights informed the Human Rights Council that Israel continues to deny access to the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967. He urged Israel to provide entry to all human rights mechanisms – including the investigative body mandated last month – to enable impartial monitoring and advance accountability and justice.

• On 18 June, the Human Rights Council in resolution A/HRC/RES/S-28/1 decided to urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry, to be appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council, to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, particularly in the occupied Gaza Strip, in the context of the military assaults on the large-scale civilian protests that began on 30 March 2018.

• On 14 June, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the OPT, warned about the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and disastrous consequences of a further reduction in electricity-supply to two million Palestinians. He called upon the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and Israel to put the welfare of Gaza’s residents first and to take the necessary measures to avoid further suffering.

• On 13 June, a new UNRWA study entitled “Stalled decline in infant mortality among Palestine refugees in the Gaza Strip since 2006” indicated that, infant mortality, which in most parts of the world is decreasing, has not declined for the last decade in Gaza. Gaza’s health sector is struggling to cope with the mass influx of casualties, with significant pressure on the 22 UNRWA health centres.

• The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will jointly convene an international conference under the theme “The Question of Jerusalem after 50 years of Occupation and 25 years of the Oslo Accords” in Rabat, Morocco, on 26-28 June 2018.