20 July 2018

• On 23 July, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will hold its 390th meeting at United Nations Headquarters (Conference Room 3). Among the agenda points is a briefing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The meeting is open to the public. A live webcast of the event can be accessed on http://WebTV.un.org on the day of the meeting.

Middle East

• On 20 July, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel issued a statement underlining that the newly adopted “Nation-State Law” by the Israeli Parliament does not address either collective or individual rights of minorities. The Association stated that the law made evident to all non-Jews, and particularly the indigenous Arab minority, that they were second-class citizens and that the state was Jewish and for the Jews only.
• On 18 July, B’Tselem issued a press release denouncing Israel’s NGO Law, which sets a requirement for all NGOs to disclose their support from foreign state entities when it is more than 50 per cent of their total budget, in their publications and in communication with the Israeli authorities. B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence described the law as Israel’s “attempt to delegitimize the fight against the occupation”, and stated they remained “loyal to human rights values, freedom, democracy, and an end to the occupation” regardless of the origins of their funding.
• On 17 July, EuroMed Rights, together with 22 International, European, Israeli and Palestinian human rights and development organizations, sent a joint letter calling on the European Union to urge Israel to immediately and unconditionally lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip. This comes against the backdrop of Israel’s recent tightening of the Gaza blockade preventing imports and exports, except for humanitarian goods.

• On 17 July, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) stated that it testified before the United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli practices in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) in Amman, Jordan. During the testimony, the delegation reviewed the violations committed by the Israeli forces against Palestinians and the ongoing deterioration in the human rights situation.
• On 16 July, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights issued a statement condemning the recent Israeli military escalation targeting Palestinian civilians and properties in the Gaza Strip, and urged the international community to take prompt action to end the military campaign in Gaza.
• On 16 July, Adalah- The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel issued the position paper “Proposed Basic Law: Israel- The Nation State of the Jewish People”. The paper discusses the implications of the newly-passed law on the legal status of all Arabs living under the Israeli constitutional regime. Adalah argues the law is a “colonial law with characteristics of apartheid”.

Europe

• On 20 July, the UK-based Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) issued a statement condemning, the adoption of the new Nation-State Law by the Knesset on 19 July. PRC stated that the bill guarantees the ethnic-religious character of Israel as exclusively Jewish and entrenches the privileges bestowed to Jewish citizens, while simultaneously anchoring discrimination against Palestinian citizens and legitimizing segregation, racism, and systemic inequality.

 North America

• On 20 July, the International Crisis Group released a brief, warning that “despite repeated claims that efforts are being made to address the situation in Gaza, Israel and Hamas once again are sliding dangerously toward a new war”, adding that the only viable exit from the ongoing cycle of escalation is “for international actors to use carrots and sticks to bring about intra-Palestinian reconciliation, thereby allowing the Palestinian Authority (PA) to govern the Gaza Strip.”
• On 20 July, the Episcopal Church in the United States adopted a series of resolutions that will set a screening mechanism for human rights violations and activities by Israeli companies. According to the resolutions, the Episcopal Church, whose followers are estimated at two million, will boycott Israeli firms involved in human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

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.