14 May 2021

Middle East

• On 19 May, Al-Shabaka will organise the policy lab “Ongoing Nakba: Sheikh Jarrah, Gaza, and Historic Palestine” with Aseel Albajeh, legal researcher and advocacy officer at Al-Haq, and Saleh Hijazi, regional deputy director of Amnesty Middle East and North Africa. The event will focus on how the current violence might reflect the structural realities of Israel’s military occupation and settlements, whether the reactions of Palestinians across historic Palestine represent a change in the narrative of Palestinian resistance, and how the frameworks of settler colonialism and apartheid could be employed to dismantle the practices that drive Israel’s violence.

• On 13 May, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel updated that, among its work during the ongoing crisis, it had issued a statement condemning the Israeli police force’s recent aggression against Palestinians, in which it characterized the Israeli Police’s “dispersal of legitimate protests with brutal force, violent invasions of houses of worship, denial of access to emergency medical treatment and assaults on paramedics and medical personnel, and denial of freedom of movement and worship” as illegal practices.

• On 12 May, Al-Haq sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Procedures requesting “immediate intervention to protect Palestinians, against whom Israel has intensified its serious violations of international law, in particular: systemic use of excessive force and indiscriminate targeting, collective punishment, arbitrary arrests, and condonement of settler violence.”

• On 12 May, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel sent an urgent letter following the police attack on Palestinian medical crews at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which “prevented and disrupted medical care for scores of people who had been injured.” PHRI added that Israeli Police had also confiscated medical equipment and blocked medical workers from approaching the injured, forcing the injured to make their own way to the medical crews.

• On 11 May, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) issued the call “International Community Must Take Immediate Effective Measures Amid Escalating Israeli Attacks in Jerusalem” in which it urges the international community, and especially Israel’s closest allies in Europe and North America, to “take long-overdue effective measures to hold Israel accountable for its widespread and systematic violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law; and to bring Israel’s impunity to an end.”

• On 11 May, Al Mezan Center For Human Rights warned of an unprecedented deterioration in humanitarian conditions in Gaza as Israel tightened its closure measures amidst the ongoing hostilities. This followed Israel’s shutting down of the two border crossings with Gaza and prohibiting any Palestinian access to the Mediterranean Sea, including for fishing.

• On 10 May, a group of Palestinian civil society umbrella organisations – the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC), the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO), Community Action Center (CAC) and the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem (CCPRJ) – issued the Action Alert “International Community Must Take Immediate and Concrete Measures to Halt Israel’s Aggression against Palestinian Jerusalemites” calling for an immediate intervention.

North America

• On 12 May, the Foundation for Middle East Peace held the virtual event “Top of Mind: Palestinian Analysts On Unfolding Scenes of Protest & Devastation” featuring Zaha Hassan (Carnegie Endowment for Peace), Nadia Hijab (Al Shabaka) and Inès Abdel Razek (Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy) to discuss the current events and reflect on how the events unfolding over the past several weeks speak to the larger story of Palestinian dispossession, Israeli domination, and the international community’s failed approach to resolving the question of Palestine.

• Jewish Voice for Peace launched the campaign “Save Sheikh Jarrah”, calling for action and offering guidance how to “Boost Palestinian voices on social media”, “Demand immediate action from the U.S. government: call your representatives” and “Help our Jewish family face difficult truths”.

United Nations

• On 18 May, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will organize the UN Forum on the Question of Palestine on “International Parliamentarian Support to the Question of Palestine” from 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. (New York time). The event, which will be livestreamed on UN Web TV, will be organized as an interactive discussion in two panels of parliamentarians from different parts of the world on the full implementation of UN Security Council resolution 2334 (2016) and the revival of multilateral efforts for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

• On 10 May, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People issued a statement, in which it expressed “its deep alarm at the dramatic deterioration of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory that includes the escalation of violence and acts of provocation and incitement, particularly by Israeli extremists in occupied East Jerusalem[,]” and Israel’s escalation in the Gaza Strip. The Committee reiterated its calls for “a halt to all illegal Israeli policies and practices, including all settlement activities, home demolitions, evictions and all other acts of collective punishment against the Palestinian civilian population[,]” called on the UN Secretary-General “to continue utilizing his good offices and mediation capacities,” and on all parties with influence to act with urgency to de-escalate the volatile situation. The Committee further urged the Security Council and the Middle East Quartet to revitalize the stalled peace process in view of resuming meaningful negotiations towards the achievement of a just peace.

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.