15 January 2014

EUROPE

• Le Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient and Pax Christi – Luxembourg are hosting the exhibition La Nakba – La Catastrophe designed by the associationFlüchtlingskinder im Libanon from 24 January to 14 February 2014.
• Medical Aid for Palestinians received on 2 January 2014 an award from Hanan Ashrawi, Head of the PLO’s Department of Culture and Information, in recognition of the charity’s work for the health and dignity of Palestinians living under occupation and as refugees.
• 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

• Adalah-NY – The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel announced on 13 January 2014 on its Facebook page that the Israeli company SodaStream, which is the focus of an international campaign against companies involved with Israeli settlements, unveiled unexpectedly low sales for the last quarter.
• The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat is launching Freedom Weeks from 15 to 30 January 2014, a call to action to free all Palestinian political prisoners and to end the Palestinian Authority security coordination with Israel. Posters and materials are available here.
• The Canada Palestine Association (CAP) published on 10 January 2014 two videos of the event Gaza in Crisis: Eyewitness Reports organized in Vancouver on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (29 November). The first video features Kevin Neish, activist and Mavi Marmara participant; the second video features Eva Barlett, journalist and activist who lived for extended periods in the Gaza Strip. CAP also released a report on 14 January 2014 entitled Canada’s Record at the UN General Assembly 2013, focusing on Canada’s support to Israel.
• 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 13 January 2014 a new fact sheet entitled Atrocities & Bantustans: The Legacy of Ariel Sharon.
• Foundation for Middle East Peace informed its supporters that the 16 January 2014 event Israel-Palestine talks: Deadlock or Breakthrough? Is There an Alternative? featuring PLO official Hanan Ashrawi was cancelled.
• The Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign is organizing a national briefing on 16 January to share information about the history of their campaign; their different mechanisms including media, legislative, educational, regulatory and judicial efforts; and their tips to start a campaign to end states and municipal governments’ investments in Israel. RSVP required.
• The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is screening the movie When I Saw You by Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir until 22 January 2014.
• The New York Times published on its blog Lens on 7 January 2014 a series of photos from Tanya Habjouqa, a Jordanian-born photographer, entitled Palestinian Pleasures.
• The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation published on 31 December 2013 a list of some of their top victories and achievements in 2013.
• The Voice of Palestine presented on 11 January 2014 a new interview with Muath Abu Alqumssan from the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat. Muath, himself a former political prisoner, discusses the upcoming events to call for freedom for all Palestinian political prisoners, including Ahmad Sa’adat, and for an end to the security cooperation with Israel.

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

• The Alternative Information Center (AIC) and Hithabrut-Tarabut organized on 11 January 2014 a conference in Hebron with some 300 Palestinians and Israelis to advance joint Palestinian-Israeli actions to end Israeli occupation and racism and to promote a just peace for all in the region.
• Breaking The Silence will organize a special tour to Hebron taking place on 22 January 2014. This upcoming tour will be a unique opportunity to hear about the reality in the city from Breaking the Silence co-Founder, Yehuda Shaul.
• B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories published on 8 January 2014 a video showing a group of masked settlers from the settlement of “Yitzhar” smashing an electricity meter and throwing stones at a Palestinian home and school in the Palestinian town of Urif near Nablus.
• Defence for Children International Palestine issued on 10 January 2014 its new bulletin covering the month of November 2013 during which a total of 173 Palestinian children were imprisoned and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system, an increase of 16.4 percent from the previous month.
• Minds of Peace organized its last congress on 10-11 January 2014 in Ramallah and Jerusalem bringing together Israeli and Palestinian representatives to engage in grassroots negotiations and hold talks on solutions to the conflict.
• Peace Now issued an update on 9 January 2014 regarding new settlement-related developments in Hebron.
• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) released on 9 January 2014 its weekly Report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territorycovering the period 2 to 8 January 2014.
• 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

• The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will launch the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People(#2014forPalestine) at the opening of its 2014 session on 16 January 2014. The meeting will be webcast live here.
• OCHA oPt released its Weekly Report on the Protection of Civilians on 10 January 2014, covering the period 31 December 2013 to 6 January 2014.
• The UN Platform for Palestine’s Give Peace a Chance poster is still available for free distribution, reprinting or reproduction.
• The Working Group of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People is organizing at the UN Secretariat on 20 January 2014 a screening of the documentary Where Should The Birds Fly, about the situation in the Gaza Strip followed by a conversation between the director Fida Qishta and the author-journalist Laila El-Haddad. For more information please contact: valenzuela2@un.org.