PALESTINE’S LEGAL SCENE –Issue.153

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

4- 10 Dec 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 condemned the occupation’s ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people and the international community’s dealing with the occupation’s violations and crimes by encouraging them to commit more and rebel against international resolutions. (December 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the execution of 22-year-old Amar Hamdi Mufaleh, from the village of Osrin in the Nablus district, as well as the execution of 22-year-old Omar Youssef Hassan Manaa, from the Dheisheh camp south of Bethlehem, as a result of Israel’s continued impunity. (December 4, 2022).For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Foreign Minister met with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, invited him to visit Palestine, and gave him a paper on Israel’s serious violations against Palestinian children, in keeping with the Attorney General’s intention to issue a policy paper on crimes against children. (December 5, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian presidential spokesman said that the State of Palestine is a member of the International Criminal Court and that any Palestinian citizen has the right to go there. This was in response to Yair Lapid’s statements that “the soldiers of the occupation army will not be allowed to be investigated by the International Criminal Court.”(December 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• According to the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the occupying power’s violations and crimes were conclusive evidence of Israel’s complete absence as a peace partner, and that the implementation of further colonial projects in the territory of the State of Palestine was a transit for successive Israeli governments that replaced peace with settlement and annexation of the apartheid regime. (December 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian President asserted that the facts mentioned in the Al-Tantura film confirm the credibility of the Palestinian narrative concerning the Israeli massacres committed against the Palestinian people in and after 1948 and disprove the ongoing Israeli narrative of denial. (December 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Nigeria said that Nigeria can use its diplomatic influence to play a role in enforcing the implementation of the United Nations resolutions to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. (December 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Foreign Ministry demands pressure be put on the international community to immediately release the sick prisoner Naser Abu Hmeid. (December 7, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Foreign Ministry calls on the international community and the US administration to interpret the Palestinian related UN attitudes, statements, and resolutions and turn them into practical, effective, and binding measures to dismantle the occupation. (December 7, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Ministry of Culture denounced the storming and vandalizing of its office in Jenin by the Israeli occupation. (December 7, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the removal of the Palestinian flag from the rooftop of Al-Laban school and substituting it with the occupation flag by the settler militias and members of their terrorist organizations. (December 7, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs denounced the Israeli violation of the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque by doing maneuvers inside the mosque and setting fire to its courtyards. (December 8, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian president said before the China-Arab Summit, “We call on not dealing with any Israeli government that doesn’t recognize international legitimacy principles.” (December 9, 2022). For further details, click here

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

• The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned Israeli occupation forces’ crimes of field murder and willful murdering of Palestinians, the most recent of which being the horrific death of Martyr Ammar Mufaleh, documented with audio and visual footage. (December 5, 2022). For further details, click here
• The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reported that the Swiss government has pledged to allocate 20 million CHF (equivalent to 21 million US dollars) to support UNRWA annually for the years 2023 and 2024. (December 5, 2022). For further details, click here
• “Visiting Palestine is one of my goals for 2023,” said the ICC Prosecutor during the 21st session of the Council of States Parties at the Court’s headquarters in the Hague as part of the court-led investigations. (December 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• The French Consulate in Jerusalem stated, when journalists asked him about the measures France intends to take in response to Israel’s deportation of French-Palestinian lawyer Salah Hamouri, “Salah Hamouri must not be expelled. He must be allowed to exercise all of his rights and live a normal life in Jerusalem, the city where he was born and where he resides.”. (December 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• The US Secretary of State asserted that he believes Palestinians and Israelis, like other people in any part of the world, deserve to enjoy the same rights and opportunities. (December 7, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the Israeli aggression against the Jenin camp and the assassination of three Palestinian citizens. (December 8. 2022). For further details, click here
• The United Nations is concerned about the repercussions of Israel’s refusal to grant visas to its staff in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and affirms that refusal will not prevent the Commission from continuing to monitor and report on the human rights situation in the field. (December 8, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates warned of the ongoing Israeli incursions and repeated attacks on Palestinian cities, the latest of which being the attack on the city of Jenin. (December 9, 2022). For further details, click here
• The final statement issued by the Supreme Council of the Arab-Chinese Gulf Summit in its forty-third session affirms the centrality of the Palestinian cause, emphasizes its support for the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over their lands and ensuring the return of refugees, and calls calling for intervention by the international community to stop targeting the Palestinians in the city of Jerusalem and change its legal character. (December 9, 2022). For further details, click here
• Egypt expressed deep concern about the rising violence in the occupied territories against Palestinians, the most recent of which being the martyrdom of three Palestinians in Jenin. (December 9, 2022). For further details, click here
• Germany signed several projects worth €31 million with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), intending to assist Palestine refugees in Lebanon and Gaza. (December 9, 2022). For further details, click here

Research and academic studies (in Arabic and English):

• Researcher Walid Salem publishes a new article titled, “Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif: Freedom of Worship and Political Sovereignty.” (2022). To find out more, click here.
• Researchers Afifah Ayumia, Putri Andini, and Raden Muhamad Mahardika published a new study titled, “Organization of Islamic Cooperation Responses on the Israel Aggression and the United States Embassy Relocation to Jerusalem.” (October 7, 2022). To read more, click here

Publications of human rights NGOs

• The Puebla Group, made up of more than 60 Latin American and Spanish leaders, issued a statement condemning all activities that violate Palestinians’ right to self-determination and their human rights. The organization urged Latin American legislatures and governments to join the worldwide fight opposing Israeli apartheid against Palestinians. (December 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Don’t Buy Into Occupation Coalition explained in its recent report, “How European financial institutions are involved in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise,” that 725 European financial institutions were involved in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise with billions of dollars in shares, bonds, loans, and IPOs between January 2019 and August 2022. (December 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Independent Commission for Human Rights condemned Israel’s ongoing arbitrary practices against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as the expansion of their killing practices by adopting a policy of excessive use of force and field executions. They also called on the International Criminal Court to open an immediate investigation into Palestinian civilian executions. (December 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian National Committee to Boycott Israel (BDS) condemned Khalil Shikaki’s continued normalization and frequent meetings with delegations of Zionist lobby groups involved in whitewashing the occupation’s crimes and defending its ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. (December 4, 2022). For further details, clickhere
• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemned the assassination of a Palestinian civilian by Israeli occupation forces after he was shot and left to bleed to death. (December 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• Al Jazeera Media Network submitted a formal appeal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute those liable for the death of the Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, confirming that she was killed by Israeli forces. Al Jazeera said, “The new evidence from eyewitness testimony and video footage reveals that Shireen and her colleagues were subjected to direct fire by the occupying troops and that the Israeli authorities alleged that she was killed in error during an exchange of fire was unfounded.” (December 6, 2022). For further details, click here
• In a speech before the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court on behalf of Palestinian human rights organizations, Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, stated, “The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court must give the same level of attention to Palestine and interact with it as he interacts greatly in the situations of other countries, to avoid perceptions of selectivity and politicization.” (December 7, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Media Forum has warned of the gravity of leader of the extremist “Otzmah Yehudit” party, Itamar Ben Gvir’s, calls for the expulsion of Al-Jazeera journalists from the occupied Palestinian territories after Al-Jazeera filed a lawsuit with the International Criminal Court over the murder of its reporter Sherine Abu Aqleh. (December 7, 2022). For further details, click here

Human rights conferences and events:

• On December 1, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and Al-Haq hosted an event in the Hague titled “Palestine in the International Criminal Court: Delaying Justice is Denying It.” The event aimed to highlight the organisations’ concerns about the lack of progress in the International Criminal Court’s investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine, as well as its silence regarding the repeated and escalating violations and crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian people. (December 4, 2022). For further details, click here
• The Palestinian Return Center conducted “RETURN WEEK III 2022,” which included five specialized seminars on Palestinian refugee issues, the right of return, and the global solidarity movement. (December 4-9, 2022). For further details, click here
• On the 70th anniversary of UNRWA’s establishment, the “302 Commission for the Defense of Refugee Rights,” in collaboration with the “Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad,” held a conference in Beirut titled “UNRWA… An International Guarantee for the Rights of Refugees.” Participants recommended the agency’s funding be protected in light of international changes and highlighted the need for financial support to be directly linked to the agency’s moral and political support. (December 10, 2022). For further details, click here

Upcoming human rights opportunities and events

• The Palestinian Al-Shabaka policy network announces its upcoming webinar entitled, “Defending Palestine Solidarity Activism in Europe.” For further details, click here