PALESTINE’S LEGAL SCENE –Issue.131

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

3 – 9 July 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 Commission of Detainees Affairs submits a petition to Haifa Magistrate’s Court requesting the martyr Saadia Farajallah body be autopsied and returned to her family. (July 3, 2022). For further details, click here
• Palestinian Prime Minister: We call on international universities to boycott Israeli universities involved in withholding Palestinians martyrs’ bodies. (July 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Public Prosecutor’s Office issues a statement in the case of Shireen Abu Akleh, declaring Israel completely responsible for her death.(July 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• Palestinian MOFA condemns the demolitions and the expulsion of Palestinian families from their lands under the pretext of conducting military trainingin in each of the Khirbet Humsa al-Tahta and Humsa al-Fawqa in the northern Jordan Valley, in addition to the ongoing demolitions and ethnic cleansing that Masafer Yatta is witnessing. (July 5, 2022). For further details, click here
• Palestinian MOFA: In order to cast doubt on the case and justify the closure of Abu Akleh’s assisination, Israel utilizes a statement released by the US Department of State.(July 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• Palestinian MOFA condemns the field execution of 32-year-old Gaza resident Ahmed Harab Ayyad, who was severely beaten by occupation forces at the opening of the apartheid wall near Tulkarm in the northern West Bank.(July 5, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority submits a report to the Special Committee to investigate Israeli violations impacting Palestinian and Arab human rights in the occupied territories.(July 5, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Head of the Palestinian Water Authority: Israel’s demolition of the Water Spring in Duma is part of a systematic policy of depriving Palestinians of their water resources.(July 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian President and the Israeli Minister of Defense underline the importance of ongoing security coordination at a meeting between the two parties in the West Bank.(July 8, 2022). For further details, click here
• In a phone call, the Palestinian President and Israeli Prime Minister highlight the need of continuing cooperation and maintaining calmness.(July 8, 2022). For further details, click here

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

• The Israeli authorities announced the postponance of the hearing to proceed with the settlement project E1 in the West Bank.(July 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Israeli Supreme Court Judge criticizes Israel’s strategy of destroying Palestinian houses as violating “Israeli values.”(July 7, 2022). For further details, click here

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

• 31 Democratic members of the House of Representatives wrote to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday, asking that the US exert pressure on Israel to ensure cancellation of the Civil Administration hearing on the plan E1 which aims to link Jerusalem with a number of Israeli settlements located east of it in the West Bank.(July 5, 2022). For further details, click here
• on the case of Shireen Abu Akleh, US State Department spokesman Ned Price, issues a statement suggesting that her death was most likely caused by Israeli fire, although he does not believe it was intentional. (July 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• Janez Lenarčič, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, supports citizens of MasferYatta and states that displacing those people to make room for military training is a violation of the International Humanitarian Law.(July 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• The French president urges the Israeli prime minister to initiate peace talks with the Palestinians, and the Israeli prime minister plays down such prospects.(July 5, 2022).For further details, click here
• The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issues a report indicating that the forcible expulsion of Palestinians from the Masafer Yatta neighborhood south of Hebron violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and constitutes a war crime.(July 6, 2022).For further details, click here
• According to the United Nations, the expulsion of Palestinian inhabitants from Masafer Yatta threatens to exacerbate humanitarian needs.(July 7, 2022).For further details, click here
• The EU envoy warns of a possible mass displacement of Palestinians from West Bank areas amid a protracted legal battle after a controversial Israeli court ruling expelling Palestinians from Masafer Yatta.(July 7, 2022).For further details, click here

Publications of Human Rights NGOs

• Al-Haq Foundation has announced that the European Commission has lifted its unlawful suspension of funding. (July 1, 2022). For further details, click here
• Al Mezan Center for Human Rights: Israel must respect the human rights of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and open an investigation into the death of Saadia Farajallah.(July 3, 2022). For further details, click here
• According to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, the US investigation into Shireen Abu Aklah’s killing failed to bring justice, and an independent international investigation is required.(July 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Federation of Arab Journalists condemns the American investigation into Shireen Abu Akleh’s killing, claiming that it is biased and seeks to “avoid holding Israel accountable.” (July 5, 2022) For further details, click here
• Al Mezan Center for Human Rights holds Israeli authorities accountable for the death of Jihad Al Qedra, a patient from the Gaza Strip, who was denied access to attend appointments to the hospital in West Bank for no apparent reason.(July 5, 2022). For further details, click here
• Physicians for Human Rights filed a complaint with the International Medical Association against the Israeli Medical Association, accusing it of violating the rights of Palestinians, participating in violence and torture, and failing to fulfill its duty to provide medical care in Israeli hospitals.(July 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the Israeli occupation authorities’ ongoing ban of the Gaza Strip’s patients from traveling for treatment to the Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and Israeli hospitals which recently resulted in the death of Jihad Al-Qedra.(July 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• Regarding the American investigations on the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights says that “the US intervention is a deliberate and suspicious attempt to mislead justice and is not binding to any party.(July 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• Al-Haq organization calls into question the findings of the investigation on the bullet by which Shireen Abu Akleh was killed. It says that the report is of a political rather than legal character, and it comes as “a desperate attempt to cover up the truth and protect the perpetrators”.(July 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• Palestinian Return Center (PRC) urges the UN Human Rights Council to take action against Israel’s religious-based discrimination.(July 7, 2022).For further details, click here
• Al-Mezan and Adalah deplore the Israeli Supreme Court’s denial of a petition submitted in the instance of a Palestinian child who was gravely injured by Israeli occupation forces, depriving all Palestinian war crimes victims in Gaza of legal remedies.(July 7, 2022).For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) testified before the United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting Human Rights of Palestinian People and Other Arabs of Territories Occupied in 1967. (July 7, 2022).For further details, click here

Human rights Conferences and Events

• The United States Presbyterian Church accepts a draft resolution labeling Israel an apartheid state and designating May 15 as Palestinian Nakba Day.(June 28, 2022).For further details, click here
• Ben & Jerry’s is suing Unilever to prevent its products from being sold in Israeli settlements.(July 5, 2022). For further details, click here
• Al-Wehdat Sport Club cancels its participation in the International Al Ain Volleyball Championship organized by the Emirati Al Ain Club which has a record of normalizing activity with Israel.(July 7, 2022). For further details, click here