NGO Action News – 23 November 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.

United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the
Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People 

NGO Action News
23 November 2018

Middle East

• On 23 November, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel denounced Tel-Hai College administration after the college student union cancelled a planned performance on 28 November by Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, due to political pressure. Adalah stated that the cancellation was a violation of the freedom of expression of Arab students studying at the college and their right to be exposed to culture and art that conforms to their outlook and narrative.

• On 22 November, B’Tselem reported that the Israeli High Court rejected an appeal filed by 104 residents of Silwan to overturn a September 2002 decision by the Custodian of Absentee Property to “free” the land on which they have lived for decades. B’Tselem asserted that the judgment proves, yet again, that the Israeli High Court endorses almost any infringement of Palestinians’ rights by the Israeli authorities.

• On 21 November, Al-Haq and US Campaign for Palestinian Rights welcomed the decision by Airbnb to remove accommodation listings in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Al-Haq stated that the decision was an important step towards ending business complicity in Israel’s colonization of Palestinian territory and called on Airbnb to ensure that its policy also applies to Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Al-Haq urged other multinational companies to exclude settlement hotels, and refrain from selling tours that include settlement sites, such as Qumran in the Dead Sea area or City of David in Jerusalem.

• On 19 November, HaMoked submitted a petition to the Jerusalem District Court demanding that the court instruct the Israeli military to stop rejecting requests for permits to the Seam Zone, by Palestinian landowners. HaMoked argued that the state was violating its obligation before the High Court of Justice to guarantee that Palestinians and their relatives maintain access to their lands trapped behind the separation wall. Palestinians who own agricultural land in the Seam Zone are granted, according to the military’s regulations, farmer permits valid for two years. Recently, the military suddenly tightened its policy for issuing farmer permits and agricultural employment permits claiming the plots are too small and don’t require cultivation.

North America

• On 29 November to 1 December, the Grand Conference on Palestine organized with support of Roger Waters will be held in Montreal, Canada.

• On 16-18 November, the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) held its 8th annual national conference in Los Angeles. The conference brought together more than
  500 students from universities across the United States and Canada as well as keynote speakers from civil society organisations.

United Nations

• On 30 November, the General Assembly will vote on four draft resolutions recommended by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on item 39 entitled “Question of Palestine”.

• On 29 November, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in cooperation with the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations, will officially open the solidarity day exhibit “Unrealized Rights, Unfulfilled Promises: 70 Years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the Palestinian People’s Nakba” in the Public Lobby of the General Assembly Building.

• On 28 November, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will hold a special meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The President of the General Assembly, the President of the Security Council, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Member States, regional organisations, and civil society organisations will participate. Mr. Marc Lamont Hill, social activist and academic, will speak as a representative of civil society.

• In the afternoon of 28 November, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian will hold closed consultations with civil society organisations. Participating organisations include Defense Children International, Mossawa Center, Adalah, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, OneVoice Movement, Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem, Addameer, Human Rights Defenders Fund, Torah of Justice, Gisha, Jewish Voice for Peace, Center for Constitutional Rights, Al-Shabaka, Institute for Policy Studies, Churches for Middle East Peace and others.

• On 28 November, Mr. Mahmoud Elkhafif, the Coordinator, Assistance to the Palestinian People, Regional Focal Point for the Arab States, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will brief Member States on the findings of UNCTAD report to the General Assembly (A/73/201) on the Economic costs of the Israeli Occupation for the Palestinian People.

• On 22 November, Japan contributed a Solar Panel Project in Gaza worth US$ 4.4 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The Agency’s Commissioner-General expressed gratitude to the Government of Japan adding the “solar panels to health centres across Gaza will provide a renewable energy source and also enable the Agency to decrease its fuel consumption costs by some US$ 500,000 per year.”

• On 19 November, UNRWA Commissioner-General, Pierre Krähenbühl paid tribute to the Agency’s many partners who collectively helped to reduce the staggering shortfall of US$ 446 million at the start of this year to US$ 21 million today. The Commissioner-General was speaking before the Advisory Commission of host governments and leading donors of the UNRWA, in Jordan.

• On 19 November, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov briefed the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. Recalling the recent outbreak of violence in Gaza, he said “The fragility of the situation underscores the urgency to fundamentally change the dynamics on the ground, that address the underlying political issues. Two million Palestinians in Gaza cannot be held hostage to political grandstanding and brinkmanship. Their lives matter and they deserve real leadership that addresses the real problems of Gaza.”