NGO Action News – 27 December 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
27 December 2013

EUROPE

• L’Association Belgo-Palestinienne (ABP) is organizing its next Café Palestine on 9 January 2013 at the Monk in Brussels.

• The Bethlehem Unwrapped Festival opened on 23 December 2013 with the unveiling of an 8-meter high life size replica of the Separation Wall. It has been constructed over 8 days in the church yard of St James’ near Piccadilly Circus in central London in a bid to bring some reality of what it is like to live in Bethlehem in 2013. Watch the video here.

• The New Left Project invited a panel of analysts and observers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to summarise the current state of play and where things are headed. Contributionsfrom Norman Finklestein (political scientist, professor and author), Mouin Rabbani (Maartti Ahtisaari Centre), Jon Elmer (journalist), Alain Gresh (Le Monde diplomatique),Adam Hanieh (School of Oriental and African Studies) and Sam Bahour (Al-Shabaka – The Palestinian Policy Network) were published on 23 December 2013.

• The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is organizing a protest on 18 January 2014 outside the Israeli Embassy in London to mark the 5th anniversary of the end of the Israeli “Operation Cast Lead” on the Gaza Strip.

NORTH AMERICA

• The Canada Palestine Association published on 21 December 2013 an open letter to John Baird, Canadian Foreign Minister, concerning his recent call to remove Richard Falk, the current UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories.

• The Center for Palestine Studies at Columbia University seeks applicants for a residential Fellowship in “Palestine & Law” for the 2014-2015 academic year. Interested applicants should propose a course of research and scholarship relating to a range of domestic, regional or international legal issues concerning Palestinians and/or Palestine. The deadline for application is 3 February 2014. Please click here for more information.

• The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) published on 26 December 2013 a video of Raddad Hamad, the brother of Odeh Hamad who was fatally shot by the IDF on 20 December near the Gaza Strip border with Israel.

• J Street is still mobilizing for its 2 Campaign to support the Obama Administration’s efforts to reach a two-State solution. A video introducing the campaign can be seen here.

• The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation published on 23 December 2013 a message from their Advisory Board member Professor Rashid Khalidi (Columbia University).

• Samidoun – Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network announced on 26 December 2013 the release of Palestinian writer Ahmad Qatamesh after more than two years in administrative detention, held in Israeli jails without charge or trial.

• The Voice of Palestine presented on 26 December 2013 a new interview with Mazin Qumsiyeh, a Palestinian author and professor from Beit Sahour, who talks about the development of Palestinian popular resistance and the current role of the Palestinian Authority.

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

• The Alternative Information Center (AIC) is organizing its next AICafè, a political and cultural café, on 28 December 2013 at the AIC in Beit Sahour. The event will be dedicated to the Gaza Strip. Alberto Arce‘s film To Shoot an Elephant will be screened.

• Breaking The Silence posted on its Facebook page on the occasion of Operation Cast Lead’s fifth anniversary on 27 December 2013, a testimony from an IDF armoured corps soldier who took part in the operation. More testimonies are available here.

• Defence for Children International Palestine and Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights launched on 23 December 2013 the Know Your Rights campaign which focuses on empowering and educating Palestinian children to secure their basic rights while detained in the Israeli military detention system.

• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) expressed on 22 December 2013 its “deep concern” at what it called Israeli troops’ use of excessive force in last Friday’s fatal shooting of a young Palestinian in the Gaza Strip. On 26 December 2013, PCHR released its weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory covering the period from 19 December to 25 December 2013.

• Taste of Freedom published a new poster on 26 December 2013 to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Israeli Operation Cast Lead on the Gaza Strip.

• The YWCA-YMCA Joint Advocacy Initiative and the Alternative Tourism Group will organize their 7th Olive Planting Program from 8 to 17 February 2014. Besides olive planting, the programme features introductory presentations about the current situation in Palestine and the effects of the Separation Wall, tours in the old city of Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, as well as Ramallah, in addition to cultural events and social gatherings.

UNITED NATIONS

• OCHA oPt released its Weekly Report on the Protection of Civilians on 24 December 2013, covering the period 10 to 23 December.

• UNRWA condemned in a statement released on 26 December 2013 the latest demolitions in the West Bank, which displaced 68 people, the majority of them Palestine refugees and almost half (32) children, including a five year old girl paralyzed from the waist down.

• The UN Platform for Palestine’s Give Peace a Chance poster is still available for free distribution, reprinting or reproduction.

• The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern on 24 December 2013 about the escalating violence in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank in a statement issued by his spokesperson and called for maximum restraint by all parties to prevent further bloodshed.