Middle East

• On 16 March, Badil published the report “Denial of Palestinian Use and Access to Land: Summary of Israeli Law and Policies”. This new paper offers an overview of the different law and policies enacted by Israel to acquire the maximum amount of land with the minimum number of Palestinians. The paper highlights that Israel’s strategy is manifested in two complementary mechanisms: de facto and de jure land confiscation.

• On 16 March, B’Tselem published an article informing that Israeli authorities severely restricted Palestinian freedom of movement in the Nablus area for over a month following security incidents in Homesh settlement, disrupting life for tens of thousands of Palestinians. The article further included several testimonies of Palestinians affected by these severe restrictions of movement.

• On 15 March, Al-Haq, on behalf of partner organizations, delivered an oral statement during the interactive dialogue at the Human Rights Council 49th session with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Ms. Fionnuala Ní Aoláin. The statement addressed the issue of Israel’s designation of six leading Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations as “terrorist organizations” under its Counter-Terrorism Law of 2016, highlighting the serious effects of such criminalization based on secret evidence.

• On 14 March, Peace Now published an article informing that a group of settlers established a new agricultural outpost, around 400 meters from the houses of the Palestinian village of Battir, west of Bethlehem in the heart of an area that was declared in 2014 by UNESCO as a “World Heritage site in Danger”. The location of the outpost is allegedly part of the settlers’ attempt to create a corridor of Israeli presence between the city of Bethlehem and the Palestinian villages west of it, including Hussan and Battir, and to undermine the territorial continuity of a future Palestinian state. Peace Now added that settlers tried to establish an outpost in this same place three years ago.

• On 14 March, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) launched a 16- day awareness raising campaign on what CIHRS considers Israel’s crime of apartheid, in conjunction with the current Human Rights Council session. According to CIHRS, this 16-day campaign is part of longer-term efforts to shed light on Israel’s crime of apartheid and encourage more countries to publicly recognize and condemn it, whether through joint written statements and appeals, oral interventions before the Council, or in public and private side events and meetings on the side-lines of the session, in which UN experts and representatives of diplomatic missions participate.

• On 10 March, JLAC published an article informing that the Israeli parliament passed the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law (Temporary Order) on that day. According to JLAC, the law sweepingly prohibits Palestinian residents of Jerusalem or citizens of the Green Line from applying for family unification with their spouses who are Palestinian residents or citizens of the West Bank or the Gaza Strip unless the male spouse is over the age of 35 and the female spouse is over the age of 25. On 13 March, Adalah informed that it filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court in its own name and on behalf of three Palestinian families against this Law. The petition demands that the Law be revoked, as it is discriminatory, violates fundamental constitutional rights and is contrary to international Law. Association Belgo-Palestinienne also published an article criticizing the Law.

• On 10 March, Badil published a Statement by the Global Palestinian Refugee Network (GPRN) declaring that targeted campaigns are currently being implemented by Israeli authorities aiming to abolish UNRWA, deny the rights of Palestinian refugees, criminalize legitimate Palestinian resistance, equate freedom fighters with terrorists. GPRN called on their supporters to confront and expose what they consider the attempts of Israel and some Western donor countries to abolish UNRWA and change its mandate through their imposition of political and security conditions, among other measures.

• On 10 March, Al Mezan hosted a workshop on the status of women’s rights in the Gaza Strip, in an effort to find methods of improving access to fundamental rights and freedoms. The workshop, held at Al Mezan’s office in Jabaliya refugee camp, was attended by 46 women activists and representatives of civil and women’s rights organizations.

North America

• On 23 March, the Columbia University Palestine Studies Centre will organize a discussion with Leila Farsakh, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston and editor of Rethinking Statehood in Palestine: Self-Determination and Decolonization Beyond Partition. This book shows how notions of citizenship, sovereignty, and nationhood are being rethought within the broader context of decolonization, and critically explores the meaning of Palestinian statehood and the challenges that face alternative models to it, setting the terms of debate for the future of Palestine beyond partition.

• On 21 March, Americans for Peace Now will organise the webinar “The Holy Land Confederation Plan”, with Hiba Husseini and Yossi Beilin, both former peace negotiators. Participants will discuss the various form of a potential two-State peace agreement, including in the form of a confederation, the Holy Land Confederation Plan, presented by the two panellists.

• On 11 March, J Street published an article welcoming the Congressional passage of an omnibus appropriations package that, according to J Street, ensures robust assistance to Israel and the Palestinian people, as well as critical US funding for multilateral organizations and diplomacy worldwide, including a full funding of the $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing pledged in the US-Israel Memorandum of Understanding on security assistance. On 10 March, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights published an article criticizing this bill for side-lining Palestinian rights.

United Nations

• On 23 March, the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convey the virtual event “Impact of forced displacement on Palestinian women” on the margins of the 66^th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66). Panelists and participants will discuss the impact of displacement through evictions and demolitions on Palestinian families as a whole and on women in particular. The event will be held in virtual format, from 10.00 am to 12.00 pm (NY time) and will be livestreamed on UN Web TV.

• On 11 March, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published the Protection of Civilians Report covering the period 22 February – 7 March 2022. OCHA reported that 7 Palestinians were killed and 140 Palestinian injured by Israeli forces during the reporting period, while 10 Israelis were injured by Palestinians. 62 Palestinians were displaced due to demolitions, with 29 Palestinian-owned structures demolished in two weeks.

 

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.