NGO Action News – 06 October 2017

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
6 October 2017

Middle East

• From 17 to 23 October, FilmLab Palestine is organizing the film event “Days of Cinema”in Ramallah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nablus and Gaza. The programme includes the screening of Palestinian and foreign films, workshops and panel discussions.

• On 3 October, Peace Now expressed great concern about the start of construction work to build a new road providing Israeli settlers from the West Bank with an additional entrance to Jerusalem. The group claimed that it was the first step in plans to annex vast areas of land in the heart of the West Bank and cut it in two, jeopardizing the territorial contiguity required to build a viable Palestinian state as part of the two-State solution.

• On 2 October, Addameer reported the release of Khitam Saafin, President of the Union of Palestinian Women´s Committee, arrested by Israeli forces in the Ramallah area in July and subsequently held three months in administrative detention. In August, Amnesty International (AI) had launched an Urgent Action on behalf of Khitam Saafin and Palestinian Parliamentarian Khalida Jarrar, who continues to be held in administrative detention.

• On 28 September, B’Tselem denounced measures amounting to collective punishment against nine West Bank villages around Beit Surik, affecting approximately 40,000 Palestinians. Two days earlier, a Beit Surik resident had killed an Israeli Border Police officer and two Israeli settlement security guards.

• As part of a project to help Palestinian children in Gaza to heal by providing psychosocial support and recreation opportunities, the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme conducted in September a training course “Positive Management for Emotional and Behavioural Issues among Adolescents”.

North America

• From 27 to 29 October, the 2017 National Students for Justice in Palestine Conference “A Reimagined World: Dismantling Walls from Palestine to the Rio Grande” will be held in Houston.

• Friends of Sabeel North America is hosting two conferences on “Challenging Oppression: Working for Justice from Palestine to the USA” in California – in San Francisco on 3 December and in Santa Rosa on 1 December.

• Under the theme “From Pinkwashing to Pinkwatching” the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights will hold webinars with American Muslims for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace’s Network against Islamophobia and Palestinian queer activists on 17 and 24 October.

• On 14 October, the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice will hold in Olympia, WA, its “2017 Peace Works: From Marches to Movements” conference.

• On 5 October, the Arab American Institute hosted a screening of the movie “This is Palestine”, followed by a discussion.

Europe 

• On 4 November, the UK-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) is organizing a national march and rally “Justice Now: Make it right for Palestine¨.

• PSC is also hosting on 21 October a conference “Britain and Palestine 1917-2017: One hundred years of broken promises” in Liverpool, and on 18 October a conversation with Kamel Hawwash and Avi Shlaim on the Balfour Declaration in Cardiff. 

Asia Pacific

• On 29 November, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Thailand will host an event in Bangkok to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

• The Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA) has opened registration for the three-day symposium “Palestine and the West: History, Contemporary Realities and Challenges Ahead”, to be held at the University of Adelaide from 24 to 26 November. The 2017 Edward Said Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Israeli journalist Gideon Levy on 25 November “The First 50 Years: Israeli Society and the Occupation”.

• The programme for the 2017 Palestine Film Festival Australia, which will take place from 26 October to 19 November in Sidney, Canberra, Melbourne and other cities, has been announced.