29 April 2021

Middle East

• On 27 April, B’Tselem issued the press release “B’Tselem on Human Rights Watch Report: An Urgent Wake-Up Call” to welcome the legal analysis by Human Rights Watch (HRW) of Israel’s system as an “apartheid regime”. B’Tselem said that the “alarming findings by HRW [were] essential reading for anyone who desires to truly come to terms with Israel’s domination over Palestinians and its systematic oppression of them.” It also called for the report to serve as an urgent wake-up call for the international community, to finally take concrete action in rejection of apartheid and in support of human rights, democracy and justice.

• On 27 April, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights issued a press release to condemn Israel’s arbitrary closure of the Gaza fishing zone as a form of collective punishment. The press release follows Israel’s announcement of the complete closure of the fishing zone, allegedly in response to the firing of projectiles from the Strip. Al Mezan warned that the decision was severely impacting the livelihoods of an estimated 5,000 workers and their families and violated the Fourth Geneva Convention and other international human rights treaties to which Israel is a State party.

• On 27 April, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies issued a press release highlighting its participation in and summarizing the outcomes of the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council held last month. The NGO informed that three resolutions on Palestine were adopted by the Council on accountability for human rights crimes committed in the OPT, illegal Israeli settlements and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, following civil society calls to EU member states to support these resolutions.

• On 26 April, Ir Amim published the report “The Right of Palestinian Residents of East Jerusalem to Participate in the 2021 Palestinian Elections”. The paper examines the civil status of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and their right to vote and stand for election, their right to vote and run in the Palestinian elections based on the Oslo Accords provisions and the right to vote under occupation. Ir Amim stated that the right of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to participate in the Palestinian elections under the present political circumstances must be optimally realized, both in light of the fundamental rights underlying it and the binding agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

• On 24 April, Al-Haq informed it had sent letters to European Union member states in response to Israel’s “attempts to impair and undermine the prospect of conducting free, fair, and simultaneous national presidential, legislative and Palestinian National Council elections […].” The letters urged EU members to immediately intervene and to undertake effective measures to ensure that Israel respects the democratic process of the elections by halting all its actions and interference that aim to impede and diminish the process.

• On 22 April, Addameer – Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association reported that representatives of 28 Palestinian families constituting approximately 500 Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem sent a letter of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling to urgently include the imminent forced displacement of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah as part of the open investigation within the Situation in the State of Palestine. The families called on the Office of the Prosecutor to publicly condemn the imminent forced evictions, investigate the cases and intervene to forestall the displacement of these families from their homes.

• On 17 April, Adalah – The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel issued a press release on Palestinian Prisoners Day to call for protective measures to shield Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli prisons from the ongoing threats of COVID-19. Adalah called on the Israeli authorities to allow full access of lawyers and family visits to prisons; to increase health protection measures for prisoners; and to release the most vulnerable, especially older prisoners and those with serious health conditions that increase the risk of infection by COVID-19.

Europe

• On 22 April, the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine and other civil society organisations from different European countries issued a letter to the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to alert him to the responsibility of the EU to protect the Palestinian elections scheduled for 22 May, 31 July and 31 August 2021 under Israeli occupation and blockade. The NGOs raised their concern over the participation of the Palestinians residing in East Jerusalem in these three votes and over the frequent imprisonment by Israel of candidates for these elections, of political leaders of parties involved in them and of members of civil society.

North America

• On 27 April, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published the report “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution”, which tackles the use of the concept of “apartheid” in relation to Israel’s policies and practices towards the Palestinians continued and how few detailed legal analyses have been conducted on the international crimes of apartheid or persecution. In the report, HRW examines the extent to which that threshold has already been crossed in certain of the areas where Israeli authorities exercise control.

• On 23 April, J Street issued a press release to express its “horror” over the continued unrest in Jerusalem that culminated in violent confrontations between far-right Israelis, Palestinian residents of Jerusalem and Israeli police. J Street called on all Israeli, Palestinian and American leaderships to condemn this violence and to commit to protecting the safety and rights of all people in Jerusalem and throughout the country.

United Nations

• On 18 May, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will organize the virtual event on “International Parliamentarian Support to the Question of Palestine” from 10:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. (New York time). The event, which will be livestreamed on UN Web TV, will be organized as an interactive discussion in two panels of parliamentarians from different parts of the world on the full implementation of UN Security Council resolution 2334 (2016) and the revival of multilateral efforts for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

• On 28 April, the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People urged the Security Council to intervene immediately to ensure that Israel ceases its interference in the preparation and holding of democratic Palestinian elections throughout the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.  In a letter submitted to the President of the Security Council, H.E. Mr. Dinh Quy Dang, Permanent Representative of Viet Nam, and in a meeting with him later on the same day, the Chair of the Committee, H.E. Mr. Cheikh Niang, Permanent Representative of Senegal to the United Nations accompanied by a delegation of the Committee stressed that “the Palestinian people are avid to take charge of their own destiny and participate in the elections throughout the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, as reflected in the advanced preparations by the Palestinian Elections Commission and the high number of registered eligible voters, including women and youth”.

• On 24 April, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Tor Wennesland issued a statement on the recent escalations in Jerusalem and around Gaza. He was alarmed by the spike of violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem and the launching of rockets by militants in Gaza and called for the provocative acts to cease immediately and reiterated his call upon all sides to exercise maximum restraint and avoid further escalation, particularly during the Holy month of Ramadan and this politically charges time for all.

 

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.