NGO Action News – 30 July 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
30 July 2014

• The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Thailand will hold its next meeting on 31 July 2014 in Bangkok. For more information please contactpalestinesolidaritythailand@gmail.com.

EUROPE

• CAABU is inviting its supporters to write to the UK Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary as well as MPs to demand a ceasefire on Gaza, the lifting of the Gaza-blockade, an independent international investigation on the current hostilities, a ban on Israeli settlements trade and a full arms embargo on Israel.

• Le Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche Orient (CPJPO) published on 20 July 2014 a video of the Gaza solidarity event it organized in Luxembourg on 19 July.

• The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) organized on 27 July 2014 a memorial vigil for Gaza’s victims at the Palestinian Embassy in Dublin.

• Médecins du Monde (MdM) issued a statement on 22 July 2014 calling for an immediate halt to the bombing in Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to be deployed and civilians treated.

• Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP) is inviting its supporters to sign an open letter calling on UK Prime Minister David Cameron to urgently use all available diplomatic means to end the collective punishment of the people of Gaza.

• Nedelands Palestina Komitee is organizing a rally to protest against Israel’s offensive against the Gaza Strip on 31 July 2014 in The Hague. Click here for more information.

• Palestinagruppen i Stockholm is organizing on 31 July 2014 a Gaza solidarity event in front of the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm.

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

• The Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) and other regional coordination networks, faith-based organizations and UN agencies launched the Thunderclap campaign on 27 July 2014 entitled #Ceasefire4Gaza.

• The Palestinian BDS Movement is calling for a military embargo on Israel and issued a petition entitled Stop Arming Israel.

• Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) issued on 30 July 2014 its latest statistics on the victims of Israeli Operation Protective Edge on the Gaza Strip started on 8 July.

• Voices of Gaza is a new website recently launched as a resource for journalists covering Operation Protective Edge. It has access to ordinary spokespeople who can speak a variety of languages including English, French and Italian.

NORTH AMERICA

• American Muslims for Palestine, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Defence for Children International-Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace and the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation are co-sponsoring the event Is Israel complying with US and international laws? on 1 August 2014 on Capitol Hill in Washington. Tariq Abu Khdeir, who was recently brutally beaten by Israeli security forces while restrained and unconscious, will speak at the event. Click here for more information.

• The Carter Centre called for an immediate cease fire on the Gaza Strip on 22 July 2014.

• Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) published 25 July 2014 its briefing call with Khaled Elgindy, a fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.

• The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) issued a statement on 23 July 2014 on the violence in the Gaza Strip entitled Abide by International Law in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

• Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) is hosting the screening of the documentary Flying Paper by Nitin Sawhney and Roger Hill during a benefit for aid to children in the Gaza Strip on 7 August 2014 in Berkeley. The event will feature co-filmmaker Roger Hill and MECA’s staff Ziad Abbas for a Q&A after the film. Click here for more information.

• The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation will be holding its Annual National Organizers Conference in San Diego, CA, on 19-21September 2014. A programme has been posted online. As well, the US Campaign’s Policy Director, Josh Ruebner, will speak on 31 July 2014 at the Mid-Manhattan Library in New York. Please click here for more information. Lastly the Campaign is inviting its supporters to write to CBS because of the “outrageous tirade against Palestinians” made by one of its presenters while on-air.

• The Voice of Palestine posted on 23 July 2014 a new interview with Joe Catron, a US International Solidarity Movement activist in Gaza. He has been filing almost daily eyewitness reports of the Israeli bombardment and was one of the volunteers trying to protect Al Wafa hospital.

• Norman G. Finkelstein, political scientist, activist, professor and author, gathered at least 100 people to protest against Operation Protective Edge outside the Israeli consulate on 29 July 2014 in midtown Manhattan, New York.

GLOBAL

• Freedom4Palestine posted on 28 July 2014 a video featuring prominent Jews and Palestinians as well as others standing for Palestine. Jonathan Demme (Oscar-winning filmmaker),Diana Buttu (Human rights lawyer), Chuck D (hip-hop artist), Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) and many others participated in the video.

• The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a statement on 29 July 2014 invoking the humanitarian imperative to “Stop the killing!”

• The Lancet published an open letter for the people in Gaza written by doctors and scientists Paola Manduca, Iain Chalmers, Derek Summerfield, Mads Gilbert and Swee Ang, on behalf of 24 signatories.

• Richard Falk, former Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, published on his blog on 28 July 2014 a Joint Declaration by International Law Experts on Israel’s Gaza Offensive.

UNITED NATIONS

• The Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) issued a statement on the situation in the Gaza Strip on 21 July 2014.

• OCHA OPT issued its most recent situation report on the Gaza Strip on 30 July 2014.

• The UN Security Council on 28 July 2014 expressed its grave concern regarding the deterioration in the situation in the Middle East as a result of the crisis related to Gaza and the loss of civilian lives and casualties.

• UNRWA‘s Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl issued a statement on 30 July 2014 strongly condemning Israel’s shelling of a UNRWA school in Gaza. UNRWA is still collecting money for its Gaza emergency appeal launched on 17 July 2014 to answer to the crisis caused by the escalation of violence with Israel.

• UN Women’s Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka issued a statement on 22 July 2014 on the Gaza crisis.