PALESTINE’S LEGAL SCENE –Issue.139

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

28 Aug – 3 Sept 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.

To view this Volume of Palestine’s Legal Scene, please click here (3 minutes read)

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

• The Jerusalem Department of the PLO said that the Israeli occupation uses education as an outlet to Judaize the Holy City. (August 28, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian MOFAE called on countries to withdraw the licenses of organizations and associations that support Israeli settlements and to impose sanctions on them. (August 29, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian MOFAE called for urgent international and US intervention to release prisoners Khalil al-Awawda and Mohammad El-Halabi. (August 29, 2022). For further details, click here
• Higher Presidential Committee of Church Affairs in Palestine denounced Heuvel organization’s violations of the Palestinian Territories. (August 29, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees has issued a report stating that Nahshon special forces sexually abuse underage detainees during the inspection process and calling on international and human rights organizations to intervene immediately to protect those children. (August 29, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the criminal killings of young men Yazan Afaneh and Samer Khaled in Al-Bireh and Nablus, considering the two crimes an integral part of the series of field executions carried out by the occupation forces with the protection and approval of the Israeli political system. (September 1, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian MOFAE called for the opening of an international investigation into the circumstances of the death of the detainee Musa Abu Mahamid. (September 3, 2022). For further details. click here

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

• The Israeli Public Prosecution decided to close a case against the Jewish settler suspected of stabbing the Palestinian Ali Harb to death last June. (August 28, 2022). For further details, click here
• Following 127 sessions about prisoner Mohammad El-Halabi, the Israeli Court in BeerSheba sentenced him to 12 years in prison. (August 30, 2022). For further details, click here

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

• The Jordanian MOFAE condemned the continued incursions of Israeli extremists into Al-Aqsa Mosque, and called on Israel, as the occupying power, to immediately end these violations. (August 28, 2022). For further details, click here
• The European Union said the detainee Awawdeh who was on hunger strike in protest of his detention without charge was in danger of imminent death and, unless charged, had to be released immediately. (August 28, 2022). For further details, click here
• The OIC condemned the continued violations by Israeli extremists of the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by storming it through the Lions’ Gate for the first time since 1967, under the protection of the Israeli occupation police. (August 28, 2022). For further details, click here
• Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that Israel’s refusal to issue or renew visas for UN human rights staff working in the Occupied Palestinian Territories will not prevent the Office from monitoring and reporting on the situation on the ground. (August 30, 2022). For further details, click here
• The United Kingdom expressed concern about the ruling issued against Mohammad Halabi, former director of the World Vision Foundation in Gaza. (August 30, 2022). For further details, click here
• After attending the court ruling on Mohammad Halabi, the European Union stated that it regrets the outcome of the judicial process, which was inconsistent with fair trial standards. (August 30, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Secretary-General of the OIC sent a letter to the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross calling on the two international organizations to assume their responsibilities in holding Israel accountable for its violations of international law and to exert pressure on it to release Palestinian prisoners. (September 1, 2022). For further details, click here
• Diplomat in the European Union Sven Koopmans admits international double standards for dealing with the occupation of Palestine. (September 2, 2022). For further details, click here

Publications of human rights NGOs

• Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights holds Israel responsible for the death of 6-year-old Farouq Mohammed Abu Naja, a patient in Gaza who was denied an exit permit to access needed care in Jerusalem. (August 27,2022). For further details, click here
• The New Democratic Party of Canada issued a 13-point plan calling on the Canadian government to change its policy toward Israel and Palestine, including referring Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder to the International Criminal Court and condemning illegal settlement construction. (August 27, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Israeli organization Yesh Din issued a statement criticizing the Israeli prosecution’s decision to close the case against the settler who killed Palestinian citizen Ali Harb. It considered this decision as further evidence that the Israeli law enforcement system provides a network of immunity and protection for Israelis against considerations of justice. (August 28, 2022). For further details, click here
• Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel called on Israel to repeal government plans to increase arrests that use racial profiling to target Palestinian Bedouin citizens in Al-Naqab. (August 30,2022). For further details, click here
• The evangelical Heuvel organization, run by Americans, recently launched a fund-raising campaign to plant 3 thousand trees by the end of 2022 on Palestinian lands confiscated by the Israeli occupation in the West Bank. (August 29, 2022). For further details, click here
• International human rights organizations sent joint letters to US President Biden calling on him to take immediate measures in response to the Israeli government’s attacks on Palestinian civil society institutions. (August 29, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Independent Commission for Human Rights said Palestinians have the freedom to move and travel and condemned continued Israeli occupation atrocities against them. (August 30,2022). For further details, click here
• According to Human Rights Watch’s Israel-Palestine director, the Israeli sentence against Mohammad Al-Halabi is a “miscarriage of justice” and his six-year detention based on secret evidence is a “mockery of due process.” (August 30, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemned the Israeli occupation authorities’ ongoing use of judiciary and prison service to suppress Palestinians which has repeatedly led Palestinian prisoners to go on a hunger strike on different occasions as they had nothing left but their living cells to defend their rights. (September 1,2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemned the killing of Palestinian civilian by Israeli occupying forces. PCHR urged the ICC Prosecutor in particular to act seriously with regard to the situation in Palestine similar to its prompt action in Ukraine. (September 1,2022). For further details, click here
• Adalah and Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights object to Israel’s travel bans on Palestinian Islamic leaders Sheikh Raed Salah & Dr. Suleiman Eghabrieh. (September 1,2022). For further details, click here
• The International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School joins 290 global orgs in calling for immediate action by President Biden in response to the Israeli government’s latest authoritarian assault on Palestinian civil society. (September 1,2022). For further details, click here
• Palestinian Prisoner’s Society stated that the Israeli Court rejects the defence team of prisoner Ahmad Manasra appeals, which seek the annulment of the Committee’s decision on the categorization of the file as a “terrorist” file, and calls upon his immediate release. (September 1,2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian National Committee for the Boycott of Israel (BDS) announces its complete support for the National High Emergency Committee’s escalation of the prisoner movement’s boycott and divestment campaigns against Israel and the complicit corporations and institutions in its colonial regime. (September 1,2022). For further details, click here
• Hundreds of Palestinian, Arab and international institutions and individuals are launching an appeal to support Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli occupation prisons. (September 1, 2022). For further details, click here
• Defense for Children International – Palestine called on the United States to condemn the Israeli government’s attacks on Palestinian civil society institutions and demands immediate action to end such attacks. (September 2, 2022). For further details, click here

Academic research and studies

• Researchers Sekulow and Ash publish a study titled “Why Jewish Settlements in the So-Called ‘West Bank’ are Lawful Under International Law” (April 19, 2022).To read more, click here.
• Authors Mahaseth and Karki publish a study titled “Understanding the Israel-Palestine issue and its relation with the International Criminal Court.” (May 10, 2022). To read more, click  here.
• Researchers Masudi, Mehdi and Abbas publish a new article titled “Human Rights Violations By Israel Under International Law.” (May 29, 2022). To read more, click here.

Human rights conferences and events

• Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate announces the launch of the media and legal campaign both locally and internationally as it aims to expose the Israeli occupation practices against the administrative detainees. (August 29, 2022). For further details, click here
• Press conference and solidarity stand have been held across the ICRC responding to calls by prisoners-related institutions and national forces and aiming at presenting the updates concerning the current steps taken for helping the prisoners in Al-Birah, the West Bank. (August 29, 2022). For further details, click here
• A Google employee resigned, claiming that the company tried to silence Palestinian, Jewish, Arab, and Muslim voices who fear Google’s complicity in Palestinian human rights violations. (August 30, 2022). For further details, click here
• Google employees posted a video in which they speak against Project Nimbus and the anti-Palestinian bias in the company. (August 30, 2022). For further details, click here
• American organizations and human rights activists join Google employees to protest the company’s contract, “Project Nimbus” with the Israeli army. (September 1, 2022). For further details, click here