NGO Action News – 27 February 2014

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 February 2014

EUROPE

• L’Association belgo-palestinienne is organizing a conference-debate on Europe and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Véronique De Keyser (Member of the European Parliament) and David Cronin (The Guardian, Electronic Intifada) who will take part in a conversation moderated by Hassan Bousetta (Belgian senator and professor). The event will take place on 6 March 2014 at 8.00 pm in Liège (Salle Piron, 4th floor, 13 Place Saint-Paul).

• The Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group and CAABU issued a joint statement on 25 February 2014 welcoming the announcement that Israel will establish a pilot scheme to issue summonses to Palestinian children suspected of crimes, instead of using night time arrests.

• CAABU is organizing an event (members only) on 7 March 2013 at SOAS University with political and human rights activist Musheir El-Farra for the launch of his book Gaza: When the Sky Rained White Fire.

• La Coalition internationale de femmes contre le blocus de Gaza will take part in an international solidarity march with the Gaza Strip on the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8 March 2014. Watch a video message here. For more information please contact: femmesgaza@gmail.com.

• Le Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient (CPJPO) is screening on 19 March 2014 (Centre Curiel, Luxembourg-Hollerich) the 1998 BBC documentary narrated by Edward Saïd In search of Palestine, Edward Saïd’s return home. The event starts at 6.30pm. CPJPO also issued its most recent newsletter on 22 February 2014.

• The European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine issued on 19 February 2014 a call to action inviting its supporters to ask European Governments to issue warning to business about the involvement with Israeli settlements.

• Le Mur a Des Oreilles – Conversations For Palestine posted on 25 February 2014 a new podcast featuring a conversation with Rabab Khairy (CNCD-11.11.11.) and Esti Micenmacher (Who Profits?) about the new Belgian campaign Made In Illegalitycalling for an end to the trade with Israeli settlements.

• Théâtre Océan Nord presents until 8 March 2014 Décris-Ravage, a compilation of texts dedicated to the question of Palestine, put together and orchestrated by Adeline Rosenstein.

• The Palestinian Return Centre, the General Secretariat of the Palestinians in Europe Conference and the Palestinian Forum announced the launch and preparation for the 12thPalestinians in Europe Conferenceto be held in Paris on 3 May 2014.

• Palestinagruppen i Stockholms is co-organizing the festival 2014 Cinema Palestine on 23 March 2014.

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

• Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association issued a statement on 25 February 2014 condemning the continued targeting of Palestinian human rights organizations in coordinated night raids by the Israeli forces.

• Al-Haq posted on 28 January 2014 a virtual field visit of the E1 area near Jerusalem.

• The Alternative Information Center (AIC) will organize its next AICafé on 1 March 2014 with Ala’ Hilu, Palestinian environmental activist and creator of Resign: Recycling design.

• B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories posted on 19 February 2014 a new photo blog focusing on water supply problems in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

• The Knesset Caucus for Ending the Israeli-Arab conflict brought over 300 Israeli students to Ramallah for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on 16 February 2014.

• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) released on 23 February 2014 its weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territorycovering the period 13 to 19 February 2014.

NORTH AMERICA

• The Brown University is organizing from 28 February to 1 March 2014 a symposium entitled 2014 New Directions in Palestinian Studies. RSVP here.

• Churches for Middle East Peace organized on 26 February 2014 a briefing with US Palestinian-Jordanian author and political columnist Rami G. Khouri under the title Making progress or spinning wheels? Analyzing the new US push for Palestinian-Israeli peace.

• The Foundation for Middle East Peace published on 24 February 2014 a corrected version of its Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories covering the period January-February 2014.

• The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) published on 20 February 2014 a new fact sheet entitled The Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre: 20 Years Later.

• Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) is hosting the screening of the award-winning documentary A World Not Ours directed by Mahdi Fleifel at Berkeley City College on 5 March 2014. A brief panel discussion will follow the film.

• The New York University Students for Justice in Palestine is hosting a conversation between Ali Abunimah (Electronic Intifada), Max Blumenthal (The Daily Beast, Al Akhbar) and Lisa Duggan (NYU) on 10 March 2014. This event is part of Abunimah’s tour book The Battle for Justice in Palestine.

• Students for Justice in Palestine at John Jay College are hosting on 4 March 2014 the screening of the documentary Voices Across the Divide co-directed by Alice Rothchild andSharon Mullally. The film will be followed by a conversation with co-director Alice Rothchild.

• Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA published at statement on 24 February 2014 from a group of Israeli and Jewish students at UCLA who officially endorse the divestment bill put forward by Students for Justice in Palestine which seeks to directly target corporations that are complicit in the Israeli occupation.

• The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is organizing a book tour of Shattered Hopes by Josh Ruebner, National Advocacy Director of the US Campaign, throughout the months of February and March. The next event is taking place on 27 February 2014 at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. The US Campaign is also calling on its supporters to tell TV channel NBC not to produce a new action series set to be shot in East Jerusalem in cooperation with Israeli authorities and an Israeli media company.

GLOBAL

• Amnesty International published a new report entitled Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank on 27 February 2014.

UNITED NATIONS

• The International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People has a Twitter account and an official hashtag #2014forPalestine. Share the word and let us know about your International Year plans at 2014forPalestine@un.org!

• OCHA oPt released its Weekly Report on the Protection of Civilians on 27 February 2014, covering the period 18 to 24 February 2014.

• The United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine (UNISPAL) published on 19 February 2014 a presentation by Udo Kock (IMF) entitled Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Recent Economic Developments in the Palestinian Economy.

• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is planning to do a Thunderclap using the following statement as the basis: “We demand a peaceful end to this devastating conflict and immediate, secure, substantial and permanent humanitarian access for all civilians in Syria. In the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus the parties have shown they can come together in ways that facilitate the work of humanitarian organisations. We urge the parties and the international community to act peacefully together now to halt the march of death, injuries, hunger and suffering in Syria.” If you would like your organisation to sign up to the statement, please contact UNRWA’s Spokesperson, Chris Gunness, c.gunness@unrwa.org, before 3 March 2014, 10.00 am (Jerusalem time), and provide the exact name of your organization as you would like it to appear on the statement.

• The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk, presented on 24 February 2014 his final report during the 25th session of the Human Rights Council. In the report Mr. Falk recommends that UN Member States should consider imposing a ban on imports of produce from Israeli settlements.

• The USG for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, briefed the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question, on 25 February 2014.

• The Working Group of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People organized its third meeting on 24 February 2014. Brad Parker (DCI-Palestine) briefed the Working Group members on Palestinian child arrests and ill-treatment by Israeli authorities. Watch the video here.