Middle East 

•  On 31st January 2022, Al-Haq submitted a joint report with Al-Marsad, the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council, the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net), the International Human Rights Clinic of Cornell Law School and the International Human Rights Clinic of the Boston University’s School of Law. The joint report concerns the Repression of Human Rights Defenders in Israel, the Occupied Territories of Palestine and the Golan and was submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, the Freedom of Opinion and Expression, and the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism. The report summarizes the findings of interviews and survey responses, revealing impact that Israel’s laws, policies, practices and the broader imposed political climate have caused human rights defenders.

• On 14 February 2022, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that two Palestinians, including a journalist and a paramedic, sustained rubber bullet wounds, while other Palestinians suffocated and sustained bruises, and at least 15 Palestinians were arrested by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) while protecting a group of settlers in their rampant violence and land appropriations in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem.

• On 14 February 2022, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that on the evening of 13 February a Palestinian child was killed, and 6 Palestinians, including a child, were injured after being shot by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) during their incursion into Silat al-Harithiya village, west of Jenin where they set to demolish a house belonging to a Palestinian prisoner currently detained in the Israeli jails.

•  On 15 February 2022, Addameer reported that on 13 February 2022, Ofer military court sentenced Palestinian human rights defender and President of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, Khitam Sa’afin, to 16 months’ imprisonment after nearly 15 months of arbitrary detention, in addition to five months suspended prison sentence and a fine of 1,500 shekels. Khitam was arrested on 2 November 2020, and placed under administrative detention, without charge or trial, until the military prosecutor submitted a list of inflated charges against her on 8 June 2021. The charges against Khitam alleged that she held responsibility for “joint administration” with the six Palestinian CSOs most recently designated as “terrorist organizations”.

•  On 10 February 2022, Addameer reported that Israeli High Court ruled to move forward with the implementation of the permanent residency revocation and forced deportation of French-Palestinian human rights defender and lawyer Salah Hammouri.

Israel 

• On 15 February 2022, Hamoked has released their annual report for 2021. It claims that over this past year, over 5,000 Palestinians turned to HaMoked for help. Many were people seeking to know where their loved ones were being held following their arrest. Others were victims of torture or police brutality seeking redress. Still, others were struggling to obtain the military permit necessary to reach their farmlands, to visit their family in Gaza, or simply to live in their own home in Jerusalem with their spouse and children. The breakdown of our cases shows how the Israeli occupation controls and disrupts the most basic aspects of Palestinian daily life. Almost 80% of these cases were resolved successfully.

•  On 14 February 2022, Physicians for Human Rights Israel have issued their 2021 Annual Impact Report. The report provides an overview of some of the highlights of PHRI’s work during the past year, and shares testimonies from a few of the people behind PHRI’s daily activities. In addition, the report provides numerical data regarding its activities during the year, demonstrating the wide scope of our work on both the individual and the principled levels.

United Nations 

• On 14 February 2022, the German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, H.E. Annalena Baerbock visited Talbieh camp for Palestine refugees in Jordan and witnessed first-hand the vital services provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Germany’s sustained policy and financial support has been a pillar of support to UNRWA. In 2021, Germany was the second largest donor to UNRWA, with contributions totalling EUR 150 million, which supported the Agency’s regular activities, critical infrastructure and management projects, as well as the UNRWA Emergency Appeal.

• On 11 February 2022, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) issued the Protection of Civilians Report for the reporting period of 25 January – 7 February 2022. It says, among other things, that a total of 215 Palestinians, including 28 children, were injured by Israeli forces across the West Bank during that period. On 1 February, the Israeli Attorney General authorized the re-establishment of the evacuated Israeli settlement of Evyatar, on land privately-owned by Palestinians, near the Palestinian village of Beita (Nablus).  

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.