Middle East

• On 20 September, Addameer reported that 199 human rights networks and organizations issued a press release to demand the formation of an independent international investigation committee immediately to determine the conditions of detention of the Palestinian detainees who had escaped Gilboa Prison before being re-captured by Israeli authorities. According to this press release, lawyers of those prisoners reported that the Israeli forces caused the prisoners multiple bodily injuries during their arrest, some necessitating hospitalizing. The press release also argues that those prisoners and families have been subject to threats and practices that violate international law.

• On 15 September, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights expressed grave concerns over Israel’s retaliatory measures against Palestinian prisoners following the escape of six Palestinian inmates from Gilboa Prison on 6 September 2021. Al Mezan stressed that, according to media sources one of the re-captured prisoners was admitted to the intensive care unit of an Israeli hospital after being beaten while held in an Israeli interrogation facility.

• On 14 September, BADIL – Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, issued a working paper entitled “Youth Perspectives on the Oslo Peace Process: Successes, Failures and Alternatives”. This working paper provides an analysis of Palestinian youth’s perspectives surrounding the peace process and emphasizes how involving Palestinian youth is crucial for formulating innovative alternative approaches that facilitate moving beyond the Oslo

North America

• On 27 September, the Columbia Global Center will organize the online event ‘Reporting on Palestine and Israel: Mainstream Media, Online Media, and Citizen Journalists’. This event will discuss the changes in the way international media have been covering news about Palestine and Israel.

• On 17 September, Americans for Peace Now informed that the organization had sent letters to the Arizona State Treasurer and the Acting Director of the New Jersey Department of the Treasury Investment Division objecting to their decisions to divest their states’ funds from Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever. This statement further stresses that laws should not punish those who rightly distinguish between Israel and the Occupied Territories, emphasizing the importance of the distinction between Israel and the settlements.

United Nations

•  On 17 September, in his remarks to the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, UNRWA Commissioner-General Lazzarini recalled that 2021 marks the 50^th  anniversary of the EU-UNRWA partnership and that the European Parliament has been a key contributor to UNRWA achievements. He further stressed that the deterioration of the situation in several UNRWA fields of operation as well as the current pandemic lead to an increase in the number of Palestine refugees relying exclusively on UNRWA basic services. Finally, the statement provided updates on the attacks against UNRWA’s education program and on the Agency’s uncertain financial situation.

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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.