North America
The Center for Middle Eastern Studies at North Park University, Not in My Name – Jewish Voices for Peace (Chicago Chapter), and The Committee for a Just Peace in Israeli-Palestine will hold a presentation on 24 January 2007 entitled “After a Tumultuous Year: Making Sense of the Middle East” by Rami Khoury, Editor at Large for the Beirut Daily Star, and Director of the Issam Fares Center for Public Policy and the International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. For further information, contact email jroth@norhtpark.edu or visit the website: http://www.northpark.edu
Brit Tzedek v’Shalom – New York Chapter held a presentation on 10 and 11 January 2007 in New York City by Sulaiman Al Hamri and Elik Elhanan, formers combatants, now the Palestinian and Israeli coordinators of Combatants for Peace. This event is part of 22-city US tour of the organization. For further organization, contact email nyc@btvshalom.org or visit the website: http://www.btvshalom.org
The Council for National Interest (CNI) issued on 24 December 2006 an advertisement entitled “Is Bethlehem Dying?”, in the “Week in Review” section of the New York Times. For further information, visit the website: http://www.cnionline.org or http://www.rescuemideastpolicy.com
Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (FFIPP) and Combatants for Peace held a conference from 5 to 7 January 2007 in Ramallah entitled “Ending the Occupation and Siege: The Need for New Coalition”. FFIPP and Combatants for Peace are calling on Palestinian, Israeli and international groups to establish a framework for future cooperation. Speakers included: Salim Tamari, Director of the Institute of Jerusalem Studies; Naomi Chazan, Professor of Political Science and African Studies at Hebrew University and former member of the Knesset; Jad Isaac, Director-General of the Applied Research Institute (ARIJ); Eyad El-Saraj, Director of the Gaza Mental Health Programme Center; Akiva Eldar, political columnist and editorial writer at Ha’aretz; and Yousef Jabareen of the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. For further information, visit the website: http://www.ffipp.org
The Feinstein International Center at Tufts University has issued a report entitled “Aid in a Pressure Cooker – Humanitarian Action in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” by Larissa Fast, Visiting Assistant Professor at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, where she teaches courses on conflict transformation, humanitarian action, and peacebuilding. For further information, visit the website: http://fic.tufts.edu
Jewish Voice for Peace, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) and Voices of Palestine held a presentation on 4 January 2007 entitled “The Water Situation in Israel/Palestine with a Focus on Palestinian Human Rights” by Susan Koppelman, who is coordinating an advocacy campaign with the Palestinian Hydrology Group (PHG) in Ramallah to improve Palestinians’ access to clean water and sanitation. For further information, contact email pl52ip@hotmail.com
The Palestine Center will hold the presentation on 29 January 2007 entitled “Entering the Final Phase of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict” by Saree Makdisi, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a free-lancer commentator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with articles in several publications. Mr. Makdisi will discuss the options available to the Palestinians in view of the failure of the peace process thus far and examine other possibilities.
The Palestine Center held a briefing on 17 January 2007 entitled “Looking Beyond the Numbers: The Palestinian Socio-Economic Crisis of 2006” by Mohammed Samhouri, Senior Fellow, Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University. For further information, contact email info@palestinecenter.org or visit the website: http://www.thejerusalemfund.org
The Palestine Center also held another briefing on 10 January 2007 entitled “Developments within the Palestinian Authority: Is National Unity Possible?” by Ghait Al-Omari, Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., and former advisor PA President Mahmoud Abbas, member of the negotiating team throughout the permanent status negotiating, and the lead drafter of the Geneva Accords.
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation has replanted 783 olive trees in Zaitoun in the West Bank and is seeking support for replant another 1,000 olive trees this month. The organization is working with Trees for Life to replant olive trees through the Palestine Fair Trade Association. The US Campaign will hold a demonstration on 10 and 11 June in Washington, D.C. to protest the 40th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The event will include a massive rally, teach-in, and lobby day and will be part of a week of action entitled “The World Says No to Israeli Occupation”. For further information, contact email info@endtheoccupation.org or visit the Campaign’s website: http://www.endtheoccupation.org
Europe
Amnesty International issued in December 2006 a report entitled “Israel and the Occupied Territories: A Road to Nowhere”; and an open letter by Irene Khan, Secretary-General of Amnesty International to Heads of State and Government of EU member states, asking the European Council to take urgent action to address the serious human rights situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. For further information, visit Amnesty’s website: http://www.amnesty.org
Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) issued a press release informing about the launching of a campaign in the UK by a coalition of NGOs to mark the 40 years of Israeli occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Enough! is a major coalition of UK-based charities, trade unions, faith and other campaign groups. The launch rally will he held on 30 January 2007 featuring Manuel Hassassian, Palestinian General Delegate in the UK; Mona El-Farra, author of the book “From Gaza, with Love”, Yonathan Shapira, an Israeli pilot and one of the founders of Combatants for Peace; Zakaria Abu Harbid, award-winning cameraman, and Sharif Omar, a Jayyous farmer. For further information, contact email doylec@caabu.org or visit CAABU’S website: http://www.caabu.org or http://www.enoughoccupation.org
Centro de Investigación para la Paz (Toledo International Center for Peace), Search for Common Ground, Fundación Tres Culturas, FAFO Institute and the International Crisis Group organized the Madrid +15 Conference from 11 to 13 January 2007, with the presence of Palestinians and Israeli representatives along with their counterparts from Arab countries, Europe and the US. For further information, visit the website: http://Madrid11.net
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem
Alternative Information Center (AIC) issued its December 2006 Settler Report. For further information, contact email bryan@alt-info.org or visit AIC’s website: http://www.alternativenews.org.
Gisha, The Legal Centre for Freedom of Movement issued on 17 January 2007 a 100-page report entitled “Gaza is Still Occupied – Despite Israel Denial”. The report states that Israel continues to control Gaza with an “invisible hand” that had provoked a severe humanitarian and economic crisis. The goal of the organization is to protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents. For further information, contact email info@gisha.org or visit Gisha’s website: http://www.gisha.org
Palestinian for Peace, Dialogue and Reality launched in January a one-month campaign in the West Bank entitled “30 Days Against the Roadblocks”, inspired by the visit of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the area. Several demonstrators dressed up as native Americans. For further information, visit the website: http://www.thecornerreport.com
Peace Now held a demonstration on 18 January 2007 in Hebron “for an end to the terror by the settlers, to reopen the Shuhada Road to Palestinians and to return human dignity to the city”. For further information, contact email info@peacenow.org.il or visit Peace Now’s website: http://www.peacenow.org.il
United Nations
The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will hold the United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People in Doha on 5 and 6 February 2007. The Seminar will provide participants with an opportunity to assess the scope of the socio-economic and humanitarian emergency in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; discuss the United Nations, international and regional response to the needs of the Palestinian people; and exchange views on the actions that need to be taken on the road to Palestinian recovery. For further information, visit the website maintained by the Division for Palestinian Rights: http://www.un.org/depts/dpa/ngo/index.html
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The NGO Action News is a bi-weekly newsletter issued by the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat and intended to provide information on worldwide NGO activities relevant to the question of Palestine. Organizations interested in sharing information about their activities through this newsletter may contact the Division for Palestinian Rights at:
United Nations Headquarters Phone: (212) 963-1550
Room S-3350 Fax: (212) 963-4199
New York, NY 10017 E-mail: dprngo@un.org
Please be advised that the final decision with regard to selecting material for inclusion in the newsletter rests with the Division for Palestinian Rights. The Division cannot take responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided to it by contributing organizations.