PALESTINE’S LEGAL SCENE –Issue.224

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

14 -20 Apr. 2024

Issued every Sunday by Law for Palestine

Prepared by: Razwan Issa, Nour Kharouf, Joman Al Khateeb, Arwa Abdel moniam

Translation: Sundus Al-Fararja and Sabrin Alsheikh Ahmed

Editing: Nardeen Khalid

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 Issue of Palestine’s Legal Scene, please click here (5 minutes read)

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

• During a meeting with diplomats and representatives of international organizations and institutions, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa urged the international community to take immediate and decisive measures to halt the Israeli occupation’s aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. He called for the strengthening of humanitarian efforts and taking a firm stance against settler attacks in the West Bank. Prime Minister Mustafa commended countries that have imposed sanctions on settlers and underscored the need to maintain UNRWA’s operations and support. (April 15, 2024).For further information, click here.
• The Palestinian presidency condemns and rejects the statements made by the United States representative to the UN, asserting that granting full membership of Palestine in the UN would not aid in achieving a two-state solution. It further stated that these comments are inconsistent with the American positions that advocate for a two-state solution and the establishment of a just and lasting peace in accordance with international resolutions. (April 17, 2024). For further information, click here

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

• The Israeli Minister of National Security has announced the approval of a previous proposal by the Israeli government. This proposal allows the Israeli army to construct an additional 936 prison facilities for Palestinian security prisoners, bringing the total capacity to 1,600. The aim of this construction is to alleviate the strain on Israeli prisons and accommodate a greater number of Palestinian prisoners, particularly those from the Gaza Strip. This step is seen as a partial solution to the ongoing prison crisis in Israel. The Minister added, “Implementing the death penalty for terrorists (Palestinians) is the appropriate solution to the prison issue, but until then, I am pleased that the government has agreed to the proposal I put forward.” (April 17, 2024). For further information, click here.
• Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said UNRWA was “one of the weapons” crafted by the General Assembly that was only prolonging the Middle East conflict. “UNRWA, the organization that so many of you [UN members] fund, is the UN’s single biggest obstacle to a solution,” he said. He added that the agency “is creating a sea of Palestinian refugees, millions of them, indoctrinated to believe that Israel belongs to them.”(April 17, 2024). For further information, click here.

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

• The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and The League of Arab States denounced the alarming surge in daily crimes and organized acts of terrorism committed by extremist settler gangs, shielded by Israeli occupation forces. These crimes include indiscriminate firing upon Palestinian civilians, wanton destruction of property, and the burning of homes, vehicles, and agricultural lands in various villages across the Westbank. They urgently called upon the international community, especially the United Nations Security Council, to shoulder its responsibilities and provide the Palestinian people with the necessary international protection they deserve.
• Following the attacks launched by Iran on Israel, Ambassador Nassim Qawawi, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Algeria to the UN, addressed the United Nations Security Council. He highlighted the interconnectedness of the crises in the Middle East, emphasizing that they cannot be examined in isolation from one another. He strongly emphasized the need to address the underlying causes of these crises, which primarily stem from the Israeli occupation. He underscored the imperative of not allowing recent developments to overshadow the central issue at hand, which is the assault on the vulnerable Palestinian people in Gaza, nor to serve as a pretext or cover for a ground offensive in Rafah. He asserted that achieving short-term calm in the Middle East necessitates an “immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza.”(April 14, 2024). For further details, click here.
• UN experts deplored the purported use of artificial intelligence (AI) and related military directives by Israel in occupied Gaza which led to an unprecedented toll on the civilian population, housing, vital services and infrastructure. (April 15, 2024). For further details, click here
• The Ministerial Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council issues a statement calling for an international conference in which all concerned parties would participate to discuss all issues related to the Palestinian issue. The aim is to find a solution that entails ending Israeli occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.(April 15, 2024). For further details, click here /  here
• Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi says the international community should stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from “stealing” attention away from Gaza by escalating his confrontation with Iran. “We are against escalating. Netanyahu wants to draw attention away from Gaza and focus on his confrontation with Iran,” Safadi added. (April 15, 2024). For further details, click here
• The United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights announced that nearly 1.7 million people remain forcibly displaced, living in appalling conditions and under constant threat. Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that Israel continues to impose unlawful restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian assistance, alongside carrying out widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure. Regarding the escalating violence of settlers in the West Bank, she emphasized that the Israeli Security Forces must immediately end their active participation in and support for settler attacks on Palestinians. (April 16, 2024). For further information click here, here.
• In honor of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, the Arab Parliament of the League of Arab States called for the formation of an international fact-finding commission to visit Israeli occupation prisons and identify the serious and inhumane violations experienced by Palestinian prisoners and detainees. (April 16, 2024). For further details, click here /here
• UNICEF Spokeswoman Tess Ingram said that, “The shattered bodies and fractured lives of Gaza’s children are a testament to the brutality being forced on them.” She further stated, “with one child killed or injured every ten minutes, above anything else, we need a ceasefire.” (April 16, 2024). For further details, click here / here.
• UN Women launches its latest Gender Alert on Gaza. Six months into the war in Gaza, 10,000 Palestinian women have been killed, among them an estimated 6,000 mothers, leaving 19,000 children orphaned. Women who have survived Israeli bombardment and ground operations have been displaced, widowed, and are facing starvation. This devastating differentiated impact continues to make the war on Gaza also a war on women. “The war in Gaza is no doubt a war on women, who are paying a heavy price for a war not of their making,” said Susanne Mikhail, Regional Director of UN Women in the Arab States in a media briefing in Geneva. (April 16, 2024). For further information, click here.
• Andrea De Domenico, Head of OCHA’s Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said that the UN will launch an appeal to raise $2.8 billion to aid Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank during 2024. The spokesperson added that 90% of the amount will be allocated to Gaza. (April 16, 2024). For further information, click here
• France and the UN join hands to strengthen maternal and neonatal health services in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, focusing particularly on women and children, who are the first victims of this conflict. The agreement aimed at increasing the existing support from France, through the French Development Agency (AFD), of 9 million euros for a total of 19.9 million euros. (April 16, 2024). For further details, click here. 
• The Prime Ministers of Slovenia and Spain confirmed that the two countries agree on the need to formally recognize a Palestinian state as a way to end the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The Spanish Prime Minister stressed that the two-state solution is the only political way to achieve just and lasting peace in the region (April 16, 2024). For further details, click  
• The Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called on Israel to halt its military operations in Gaza, reiterating that it was time for a ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave. He added: “Israel must stop the military operations that have massively affected the Palestinian population”.(April 16, 2024). For further details, click here
• UNRWA has released a report detailing the testimonies of detainees from Gaza, including sick and elderly people, people with disabilities, and children. The detainees reported ill-treatment during their forcible stay in Israeli custody, including beating, deprivation of food and water, and sexual violence. UNRWA has lodged a formal objection to the Israeli authorities and has yet to receive a response. (April 16, 2024). For further details, click here.
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urges all States with influence to do everything in their power to halt the increasingly horrific human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, rising violence and targeted attacks in the West Bank, and the heightened risk of wider escalation of conflict in the Middle East. (April 16, 2024). For further details, click here
• The United States Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said that she did not see a U.N. resolution recommending the Palestinian Authority become a full U.N. member helping lead to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (April 16, 2024). For further information, click here, here.
• The Foreign Ministry of France expressed its position condemning the acts of violence committed by settlers against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. Such acts were carried out in the presence of the Israeli army, which led to the death of four Palestinian civilians. The statement called on Israel, the occupying power, “to immediately bring the perpetrators of this violence to justice and to guarantee the permanent protection of all civilians in accordance with Israel’s obligations under international law.” Simultaneously, the British Foreign Office is alarmed by the violence in the West Bank. (April 17, 2024). For further details, click here
• UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the Middle East is on the brink, referring to the dangerous escalation in recent days. He added that one incident of miscalculation or misunderstanding could lead to the unimaginable — a vast regional conflict with devastating consequences for all involved in it in addition to the rest of the world (April 17, 2024). For further details, click here.
• In his speech to the Security Council, Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf announced his country’s financial contribution of 15 million dollars to support UNRWA in light of the fierce attack on it, stressing the important and pivotal role played by the Agency in supporting Palestinian refugees. He called on the international community to respond with a bold and courageous stance to protect the Agency and facilitate the continuity of its activities. (April 17, 2024). For further details, click here
• The Commissioner-General of UNRWA warned the Security Council that an insidious campaign to end UNRWA’s operations is underway, with serious implications for international peace and security. He called for an independent investigation and accountability for the flagrant disregard of the protection status guaranteed under international law for aid workers, its activities, and facilities.(April 17, 2024). For further details, click here.
• Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called on Israel to halt its military operations in Gaza. He reiterates that after the end of the war, it would be necessary to collaborate with the UN to achieve stability, reconstruct Gaza, and help the Palestinian authority. He said that Italy is considering deploying its peacekeeping forces as part of its strategies to de-escalate the situation in Gaza and if a Palestinian state is created with the support of other nations. (April 17, 2024). For further details, click here
• Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said, “The level of destruction of Gaza’s hospitals is heartbreaking. We again call for hospitals to be protected, not attacked or militarized.” He called for a ceasefire, and added, “The key medicine the people in Gaza need is peace.”(April 17, 2024). For further details, click here.
• US vetoes Palestine’s request for full UN membership. 12 out of 15 members of the Security Council voted in favor of the request, the US rejected it, and UK and Switzerland abstained.(April 18, 2024). For further details, click here.
• UN experts expressed grave concern over the pattern of attacks on schools, universities, teachers, and students in the Gaza Strip, raising serious alarm over the systematic destruction of the Palestinian education system. “Attacks on education cannot be tolerated. The international community must send a clear message that those who target schools and universities will be held responsible,” the experts said, adding that accountability for these violations includes an obligation to finance and rebuild the education system.” (April 18, 2024). For further details, click here
• The Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, Petra De Sutter, announced that her country’s government will take the lead at the EU level to re-evaluate their Association Agreement with Israel and will co-sponsor a UN resolution in favor of full Palestinian UN membership. Moreover, they will call for an EU-wide import duty on products coming from illegal Israeli settlements. (April 19, 2024). For further details, clickhere
• The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on two entities for their role in organizing fundraising campaigns for two extremist settlers in the West Bank. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said, “Mount Hebron Fund and ShlomAsiraich generated tens of thousands of dollars for extremists responsible for destroying property, assaulting civilians, and violence against Palestinians.” Sanctions were also imposed on Ben-Zion Gopstein, the founder and leader of an organization whose members have engaged in violence, including assaults on Palestinian civilians.(April 19, 2024). For further details, click here.
• The Council of the EU decided to list four persons and two entities under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. The listed individuals and entities are responsible for serious human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank, including torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. (April 19, 2024). For further information, click here.
• Barbados announces a decision to formally recognize Palestine as a state, affirming its support for a two-state solution. Foreign Minister Kerrie Symmonds reiterated while Barbados has always called for a two-state solution it never itself diplomatically recognised the State of Palestine (April 20, 2024). For further details, click  

Publications of human rights NGOs

• The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the far-right Israeli government’s attack on Palestinian families – mostly women and children – seeking to return to their homes in devastated northern Gaza. CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said: “It should be clear by now to anyone with an open mind that the far-right Israeli government’s intent from the beginning of its attack on Gaza has been to ethnically cleanse the area and to make it unlivable for anyone who seeks to remain.” (April 14, 2024). For further information, click here.
• A group of prominent academics from several universities including the University of Genoa, Harvard University, Boston University School of Medicine, King’s College, and University of London, along with healthcare professionals, have pointed out how the collapse of the hospital healthcare system in the Gaza Strip has “reinforced” Israel’s “genocidal intent.” They further pointed out the international “duty to protect the people of Gaza.” (April 15, 2024).For further information, click here.
• The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate confirmed that the Israeli occupation army has arrested approximately 100 Palestinian journalists since the start of the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year. The statement noted that many of the journalists were beaten during their arrests, despite some having medical conditions. It also added that they have not received any medical treatment or health check-ups, which puts their lives at risk. (April 16, 2024).For further information, click here.
• The Guardian published a report explaining how Israel’s government has accelerated the construction of settlements across East Jerusalem, with more than 20 projects totaling thousands of housing units having been approved or advanced since the start of the war in Gaza six months ago, planning documents show. It noted that ministries and offices within the Israeli government are behind all the largest and most contentious of the projects, sometimes in association with rightwing nationalist groups with a history of trying to evict Palestinians from their homes in parts of the city. (April 16, 2024). For further information, click here.
• Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) published a report on the escalation of Israeli attacks in the West Bank. They urged the international community, private actors and businesses, to address the widespread violent attacks against Palestinians and their property across the West Bank. This included imposing sanctions against Israeli figures, including (April 16, 2024). For further details, clickhere.
• The Palestinian Return Center sent two separate documents to UN bodies raising alarm bells over the dire condition of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention centers and the inhumane treatment they have been increasingly subjected to since October 7^th The briefing described severe mistreatment of detainees, including torture, degrading treatment, and denial of fundamental rights such as access to medical care and legal representation. (April 16, 2024). For further details, clickhere.
• Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, filed a petition to the Supreme Court on behalf of the family of deceased Palestinian Walid Daqqa, demanding the immediate release of his body for burial. Adalah argues that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) and the police are withholding Daqqa’s body unlawfully, violating both his and his family’s right to dignity, and in breach of the rule of law. (April 16, 2024). For further details, clickhere.
• Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report titled: “West Bank: Israel Responsible for Rising Settler Violence – Entire Palestinian Communities Displaced Months After Attacks.” The report stated that the Israeli army participated in violent settler attacks, or did not protect Palestinians from them. HRW stated that the systematic oppression of and inhumane acts against Palestinians, including war crimes, committed with the intent to maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians, amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution. It called on governments to suspend their military support for Israel given the risk of complicity in violations, and to ban trade with settlements in the occupied territories. (April 17, 2024). For further details, clickhere.
• The France Association – Palestinian Solidarity (AFPS) issued a press release on the International Day of Political Prisoners: Freedom for Palestinian Political Prisoners, to denounce the permanent and institutionalized violation of international law by the State of Israel. The Association also called on France to take the necessary measures to put pressure on the State of Israel to stop this illegal and undignified policy of repression against the Palestinian people. (April 17, 2024). For further details, clickhere.
• The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) warns of the continued suffering of patients in the Gaza Strip, especially those with blood diseases and genetic disorders, amid the chronic shortage of their medicines that would inflict serious life-threatening implications to their health. It noted that it recorded a number of deaths among patients who had not received their medications for several months due to Israel’s strangulating siege on the Gaza Strip. The Center reiterated its call on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to end its military aggression and siege on the Gaza Strip. (April 17, 2024). For further details, click here.
• Al-Haq, Addameer for Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, and other human rights organizations sent a joint urgent appeal to 11 United Nations (UN) Special Procedures, and the UN Commission of Inquiry (CoI). The appeal called for urgent intervention in light of the alarming increase in distressing reports of torture, and other cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment inflicted upon Palestinian prisoners and detainees by the Israeli occupying forces (IOF) since the start of the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. (April 17, 2024). For further details, clickhere.
• Adalah sent a letter to Israel’s State Attorney Amit Isman, Attorney General (AG) Gali Baharav-Miara, Commissioner of Police Yaakov Shabtai, and Minister of Justice Yariv Levin demanding an immediate investigation into potential incidents of incitement to genocide perpetrated by various public figures since the start of the war on October 7th 2023. The letter highlighted Israel’s obligations under both international and Israeli law and specifically referred to the provisional order issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 26 January 2024 in the case South Africa v. Israel. The letter also addressed thedatabase launched by Law for Palestine which included 500+ instances of Israeli incitement to genocide. (April 17, 2024). For further details, clickhere.
• Maslak – Gisha – reported at least 47 more residents of Gaza who hold Israeli citizenship or residency status are still stuck in the Strip due to delays by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) in coordinating their exit through Rafah. (April 18, 2024). For further details, clickhere.
• The Peace Now movement said that the Israeli Housing Ministry has published a tender to build 1,047 housing units in the Lower Aqueduct neighborhood, located in East Jerusalem. The movement warned that the strategic plan will severely impact the possibility of a continuous urban Palestinian connection in East Jerusalem, as in practice, the plan blocks the last corridor remaining for connecting Beit Safafa and Sur Baher with other parts of East Jerusalem. (April 18, 2024). For further details, clickhere.

Opinion Pieces and features 

• ProPublica published an article by Brett Murphy discussing the recommendations made by the staff of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding imposing sanctions and restricting arms sales to Israeli army units accused of human rights violations. The article explores how Blinken has yet to take any action, raising concerns about the extent of the United States’ commitment to international human rights standards in its relationship with Israel.(April 17, 2024). For further details, clickhere.

Upcoming human rights opportunities and events

• Columbia University Center for Palestine Studies announced its intention to hold an event entitled: “Palestine, Denialism, and the question of Genocide” with the participation of UssamaMakdisi from the University of California, Berkeley. The event aims to draw attention to a long history of the denial of Palestinian history and humanity. It charts not only how Palestinians were removed from serious ethical and political consideration, but the implications of this erasure. The event will be held on April 29 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. For further details, clickhere.
• The Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20 to Israel, will announce the results of a report they have submitted to the U.S. Government in support of mandated reporting to Congress under NSM-20. This will take place during a press conference on April 24 at 10 a.m. EST at the Zenger Room at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The conference will address the team’s methodology and findings, and how the team expects the executive branch to respond to the report’s findings in its reports to Congress. The report will be available to the public in conjunction with the press conference on April 24. For further details, clickhere.