PALESTINE’S LEGAL SCENE –Issue.138

Your weekly survey of the most important publications and activities related to Palestine and law, from local and international sources

21 – 27 August 2022

Issued every Sunday by Law for Palestine

This weekly report reviews the legal dynamics of the Palestine question, and everything related to international law and Palestine. The report includes an account of the most important publications, activities and conferences related to Palestine at the local, regional, international levels. The report further covers decisions, decrees, and judicial orders affecting the Palestinian cause, whether made at the official, academic or public levels. The report aims to be a reference for monitoring, documenting and archiving the latest human rights developments related to Palestine, and to present them to individuals, researchers, study centers, and official, academic and legal institutions concerned.

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Judicial decrees, decisions, positions, and orders issued by official Palestinian bodies

• The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on the 53rd anniversary of the burning of the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque stating: “We demand and affirm the need for international protection of Jerusalem and its sanctities as the main entry point for the protection of the two-State solution.” (August 21, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemns the attack on a Palestinian employee in Jerusalem by a group of settlers who targeted him due to his Arab ethnicity. (August 22, 2022). For further details, click here
• The president of the Commission of Detainees Affairs has condemned Israeli MK Itamar Ben Ghafir’s violent threats to the family of injured prisoner Nur-Eddin Jarboua. (August 22, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian cabient to create a fund to assist Jerusalem’s schools, to enable them to function and continue to accomplish their purpose away from the exploitation of the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem; in a step opposing Israel’s measures against education in Jerusalem. (August 22, 2022).For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns martyr Mohammed Araishi’s murder and regards him as another victim of international double standards. (August 23, 2022). For further details, click here
• The head of the Expatriate Affairs Department calls on the European Union to take practical steps to stop the Israeli violations against the Palestinian people, their land, their holy sites, and their institutions. (August 25, 2022) For further details, click here

Judicial decrees, decisions, positions, and orders issued by official Israeli bodies

• The IDF announces its intention to file a formal indictment against the prisoner Bassem Saadi, include charges of membership in a terror group (the PIJ), conducting operations for said terror group, incitement, and supporting terrorism.(August 22, 2022).For further details, click here
• Israel’s High Court of Justice rejected an appeal to immediately release prisoner Khalil Awawdeh from his administrative detention due to his rapidly deteriorating health, after going nearly six months on hunger strike. (August 23, 2022).For further details, click here
• Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz: Jerusalem will remain Israel’s united capital, and Israel must prevent the emergence of a state with two national identities. The Palestinians are free to establish their capital outside the city. (August 22, 2022). For further details, click here
• Israeli human rights organizations condemn the designation of Palestinian organizations as terrorist organizations and consider it a baseless accusation. (August 26, 2022). For further details, click here

Judicial decrees, decisions, positions, and orders issued by Arab, European, and international bodies

• The League of Arab States condemns the German campaign, which it calls “bullying against Palestine,” and its President, Mahmoud Abbas, for using the term Holocaust to characterize Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.(August 19, 2022).For further details, click here
• US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has urged US President Joe Biden’s administration to hold Israel accountable after the offices of seven Palestinian human rights organizations were shuttered in the occupied West Bank. (August 19, 2022).For further details, click here
• On the occasion of the 53rd anniversary of the Al-Aqsa Mosque’s burning, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) emphasizes the necessity of safeguarding Jerusalem’s Arab identity as well as the legal and historical position of Islamic and Christian sacred sites. (August 21, 2022).For further details, clickhere
• The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy expresses great concern about Israeli raids and incursions on six Palestinian civil society organizations. (August 22, 2022).For further details, click here
• The European Union’s representative in Palestine emphasizes that Ahmad Manasra must be immediately released to receive mental health care and counseling, and that Israel, as a State party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is required to fulfill its human rights and child protection obligations. (August 22, 2022).For further details, click here
• UN experts condemn the Israeli suppression of Palestinian human rights organizations and consider it “illegal and unacceptable.” (August 24, 2022). For further details, click here
• The UN Special Coordinator for the Peace Process urges the Israelis and Palestinians to take firm measures to return to serious negotiations. (August 25, 2022). For further details, click here
• The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process affirms that the question of Palestine remains on top of his agenda, and expresses his concern over the recurrent violence in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem. (August 25, 2022). For further details, click here

Publications of Human Rights NGOs

• Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns the occupation authorities’ threat to the General Director of Al-Haq Foundation, Shawan Jabarin, and his colleagues, and calls on the international community to take immediate and tangible steps to protect institutions and the safety of their workers. (August 21, 2022).For further details, click here
• Al-Haq calls on the international community to take immediate and effective actions to protect the organization and its General Director, Shawan Jabarin, and its entire staff, in addition to protecting other Palestinian civil society organizations and their staff who currently face existential threats. (August 21, 2022). For further details, click here
• The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) wrote to US Secretary of State John Kerry, requesting him to denounce Israel’s human rights crimes against Palestinian human rights organisations, and to urge Israel to allow these organisations to resume their activities. (August 22, 2022). For further details, click here
• In a statement, more than 190 international organisations urge the international community to condemn Israel’s targeting and suppression of Palestinian civil society, as well as to exert preasure on Israel to withdraw its designations of Palestinian human rights and civil society organisations as “terrorist organisations” and repeal the Anti-Terrorism Law (2016). (August 23, 2022). For further details, click here
• 19 Dutch institutions call on the international community to take action against Israel in order to protect Palestinian human rights organisations and their personnel. (August 23, 2022). For further details, click here
• Al Mezan Center for Human Rights warns of the deterioration of conditions inside the Israeli occupation prisons in a reaction to Palestinian detainees protesting punitive measures and demands respect for international law in dealing with the detainees. (August 23, 2022). For further details, click here
• The BDS movement praises artists who withdrew from the German “Pop-Kultur” festival in support of the Palestinian cause and in refusal to the Israeli occupation sponsorship of the festival. (August 24, 2022). For further details, click here
• The international academic campaign against the Israeli occupation and annexation decision presents an objection to the appointment of a “Zionist” organization as an advisory body at the United Nations. (August 25, 2022).For further details, click here