NGO Action News – 28 August 2014

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.

NGO Action News
28 August 2014

ASIA

• The Kuala Lumpur Palestine Festival will take place 6-7 September 2014. Laila El-Haddad, journalist and co-author of The Gaza Kitchen, will be a guest speaker.

EUROPE

• ABF Stockholm and Palestinagruppen i Stockholm are organizing a panel discussion entitled Palestine – what happens now? on 8 September 2014 in Stockholm. Yasser Abu Jamei from the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP) will participate in the discussion along with other guest speakers.

• Association belgo-palestinienne (ABP) organized a national rally in Brussels on 17 August 2014 in solidarity with Palestine.

• Amnesty International UK (AIUK) and CAABU are hosting the briefing Gaza: The Origins of the Current Crisis and where next? with Jean Pierre-Filiu, author of Gaza: A Historyon 2 September 2014 in London.

• Artistes contre le Mur, Association belgo-palestinienne (ABP), CNCD 11.11.11, Fondation Heinrich Böll as well as other groups are supporting a week of movie screenings, debates, meetings, photo exhibits and concerts on 13-17 September 2014 in Brussels. The event is organized by Plateforme Watermael-Boitsfort Palestine under the title Israel Palestine beyond prejudices. The programme is available here.

• Café Palestine will dedicate its next event on 4 September 2014 to discuss the recent attack on the Gaza Strip, and assess the actions of the Belgian Solidarity movement during the Israeli offensive. For more information please contact: cafepalestinebe@gmail.com.

• The Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient (CPJPO) will resume its meetings in Luxembourg on 23 September 2014. For more information contact:paixjuste.lu@gmail.com.

• The Euro-Mid Observer For Human Rights [link doesn’t work] issued on 26 August 2014 an infographic based on research by the organization entitled Israeli Assault on Gaza by Numbers in 50 Days.

• The Last Summer Dance Festival is taking place in Luxembourg on 30 August 2014. It will feature a media workshop media with director, multimedia journalist and member ofComité pour une Paix Juste au Proche-Orient (CPJPO) Charlotte Bruneau.

• Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) released on 21 August 2014 a report from its last medical mission to the Gaza Strip.

• Palestine Solidarity Campaign along with other groups is organizing a mass lobbying effort of the UK Parliament on behalf of the Gaza Strip on 9 September 2014 in London. Clickhere for more information.

• Plateforme/Platform Urgence GAZA is organizing a gathering on 5 September 2014 against the Gaza blockade. For more information visit the Platform’s Facebook page.

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

• The Association for Arab Youth-Baladna issued on 11 August 2014 the report Palestinian Youth Voices Suppressed during Gaza War.

• B’Tselem updated on 11 August 2014 its webpage Families Bombed at Home.

• OneVoice Palestine (OVP) launched on 17 August 2014 the Unity Campaign calling for an immediate end to violence and asking Palestinians to rally around their leadership.

• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) updated its statistics on “Operation Protective Edge” on 27 August 2014.

• The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) sent on 13 August 2014 a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon concerning the hostilities in the Gaza Strip.

NORTH AMERICA

• American Muslims for Palestine, Code Pink: Women for Peace, Roots Action and US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation launched on 26 August 2014 a petition toPresident Obama demanding accountability for Israeli leaders as well as justice for the Palestinian people.

• The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) [they don’t have actual websites?] as well as other legal groups sent on 22 August 2014 a letter to International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, urging her to use the Court’s power under Article 15 of the Rome Statute to initiate an investigation into war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli Government in the Gaza Strip under “Operation Protective Edge”.

• Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) organized a benefit dinner in Santa Clara (CA) with Dr. Norman Finkelstein, author and scholar, on 25 August 2014 [at which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was discussed?]. MECA will also host in Berkeley (CA) on 6 November 2014 the release of award-winning reporter Nora Barrows-Friedman’s new book documenting the emergence and success of the Students for Justice in Palestine movement.

• SABEEL-Voice of the Palestinian Christians is organizing an event with Richard Forer, author of Breakthrough: Transforming Fear into Compassion-A New Perspective on the Israel-Palestine Conflict on 14 September 2014 in Denver (CO).

• The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is organizing its Annual National Organizers Conference in San Diego (CA) entitled The Mainstreaming of BDS and Continuing Struggle for Palestinian Rights on 19-21 September 2014. Click here to see the programme and list of speakers.

• The Voice of Palestine published an interview on 14 August 2014 with human rights activist Kevin Neish about the next Freedom Flotilla to Gaza planned for later this year.

GLOBAL

• Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued a statement on 20 August 2014 calling on Israel to allow immediate access to Gaza for their staff and other international human rights organizations so they can investigate allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict.

• The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) published on 21 August 2014 an audio interview with Abir Copty (Free University of Berlin, former city council member in Nazareth) on Palestine, feminism and the BDS movement.

• The Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) will organize on 24-25 September 2014 in Brussels an Extraordinary session on Israel’s crimes in the Gaza Strip during “Operation Protective Edge”. Like previous sessions the jury will be composed of high-profile legal specialists and human rights activists.

• The World Council of Churches (WCC) issued a statement on Gaza on 11 July 2014 and another one on 22 July.

UNITED NATIONS

• The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will host a briefing on Gaza and the current political situation in Palestine with PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi on 2 September 2014 at the United Nations Headquarters.

• The International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People has a Twitter account and official hashtag #2014forPalestine. Share the word and let us know about your International Year plans at 2014forPalestine@un.org!

• OCHA OPT issued its most recent Gaza Emergency Humanitarian Snapshot on 25 August 2014 as well as a situation report on 26 August.

• The Working Group of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People hosted on 26 August 2014 a briefing on the extraordinary session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine with Pierre Galand, former Belgian Senator and President of the European Coordination Committee for Palestine (ECCP).