October 2011

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UN-Based Legal Advocacy

Submissions

BADIL has submitted the following statements and reports to the UN Agencies:

July 2011, Report on “Self-determination, access to land and ongoing forcible transfer of Palestinians”, submitted  to the United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs in the Occupied Territories.

International and Local Networking, Meetings and Conferences

   BADIL has participated in several national conferences and speaking events, such as the Palestinian Refugee Week, which was organized by the Alternative Information Center in Bethlehem, a strategic workshop on President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the UN organized by the Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI).

BADIL participated in the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP) meetings (See: http://www.eccpalestine.org/) and contributed to the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) work, see the link

Furthermore, BADIL was interviewed by numerous local and international Radio and television stations regarding the Palestinian proposal at the UN to obtain recognition of a Palestinian State on 1967 borders, and advantages and disadvantages of this proposal on the basic rights of Palestinians, in particular the right to self-determination and the right to return.

 

UN Agencies and international Community in the oPt:

   * During the months of August and September, BADIL has contributed to the development of the 2011-2012 collective humanitarian and human rights strategy for the oPt, through its active participation in and contribution to the Consolidated Appeal Process. In so doing, BADIL has taken active part in the Protection preparation meetings, thematic and national workshops, and has also contributed in writing to the development of the Needs Assessment Framework and Response plan of the OCHA Protection Cluster.

  *  During the reported period BADIL has continued its active participation in the Displacement Working Group (DWG) of the Protection Cluster. In particular BADIL has played a leading role in reactivating –in close partnership with other DWG members - the work of the DWG on forced population transfer in relation to forced displacement. In so doing, BADIL prepared a Briefing note on the said topic and coordinated the inputs of the DWG members. Moreover, it represented the DWG in the discussion with the OHCHR-led Legal Advice Group, on the applicability of forced population transfer to the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinians.

BADIL General Assembly Elects New Board of Directors and

 Oversight Committee
 

On Friday September 30th, BADIL’s General Assembly held an extraordinary meeting at its offices in the city of Bethlehem. The meeting was held after the “Interim Administrative Board” completed its restructuring of BADIL’s GA and nominated and recruited new members. The GA meeting was public, supervised by representatives of the Palestinian Ministry of Interior, and was attended by BADIL staff members as well as friends and partners of BADIL. The new GA consists of both old and new members and includes Palestinians from throughout historic Palestine and those living in forced exile.

The new GA elected a new Board and Oversight Committee, representing the final steps of BADIL's management reform started earlier this year.

For the full press release, refer to BADIL's website>>
 
 

Youth Education & Activation
 

BADIL CBO partners completed the second activity/action of the program, “Why and How Has the Nakba Continued?” Over 300 refugee/IDP youth participated in the action and were asked to implement the activity through drawing and collection of 63 photos that reflected the ongoing Palestinian Nakba. After collecting photos and drawings, each CBO organized an exhibition of the children’s projects expressing the ongoing Nakba. Children and CBOs invited representatives of the refugee community and the children’s families to the exhibition and explained to them the process they used to implement this activity.

 Children are currently in the middle of implementing the third activity/action, “What Has Been Done to End the Ongoing Nakba?” Each child is asked to select a public personality of his or her choice to learn about without informing others of their choice. The entire CBO group will organize a joint session in which each youth acts out personality in question while the other children have to guess the name of his/her personality.

   

BADIL’s Summer School
 

Between July 18th and 28th, 40 participants aged between 18 and 25, half of them girls, joined BADIL’s Summer School Program. All 40 participants gathered in the Phoenix center in Dheshe refugee camp, for the 10-day program (76 training hours) and received certificates upon graduation.

The training topics in the Summer School were diverse and included training sessions on skill building, personal abilities, leadership training, communication skills, monitoring and documentation as well as a central focus on the mechanisms for the protection of Palestinian refugees and practical methods to return to their places of origin. The participants learned about the Israeli apartheid system that Israel has established on both sides of the “Green Line” and its effects on the Palestinian people. Also discussed were the mechanisms  used by Israel in the displacement and expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and land during the past 63 years as well as possibilities to address those atrocities by adhering to a rights based solution to the Palestinian “conflict”  focusing on the issue of the displaced and Palestinian refugees.

See the full report here:

   

BADIL-Zochrot Joint Action: Practical Approaches to Refugee Return
 

Work continues on BADIL and Zochrot's joint action project to discuss and draw up plans for the practical return of Palestinian refugees. Building on the report published in the latest Al Majdal, the project will now focus on using the experience gained thus far and focus on producing a practical plan for return to a particular location. This will include a comparative study visit to South Africa in mid-December 2011 to learn about the process of refugee repatriation in the post-Apartheid regime.

See the full summary of BADIL-Zochrot work here
   

BADIL Law Course at Al-Quds University

51 law students have enrolled in the BADIL course on Palestinian refugees under international law for the fall 2012 semester. Because of the large number of interested students, the director of registration at the Al Quds University School of Law planned to open two classes.

 

 
 

 

Press Releases and Statements

19 September 2011, The Palestinian Council of Human Rights Organizations (PCHRO) issued a joint letter: “Open Letter Concerning the Increase in Settler Violence Against Palestinians in the OPT”. The letter, which was initiated by Al-Haq, was addressed to, and called upon the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention, EU and the international community in general, to uphold their obligation to ensure respect for the Conventions, to pressure Israel to comply with its obligations as an Occupying Power and adopt measures aiming at preventing further violence taken by settlers against to the Palestinian civilian population.

Read the full statement online here:

16 September 2011, UK Government takes a step away from accountability: On Wednesday September the 14th, the Queen of England signed an amendment to the Police and Social Responsibility Act which changes the laws on Universal Jurisdiction enshrined in the Geneva Conventions of 1949. The move overturns legislation, in place for over 50 years, designed to ensure accountability for war crimes victims and represents a major step back in the struggle for justice and the application of the rule of law around the globe.

Read the full press release online here:

13 September 2011, BADIL demands maintenance of PLO status at the UN: Over the past few weeks and months, Palestinian civil society has attempted to raise a number of questions to the leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) regarding the proposed September initiative. Of serious concern is the possibility that the representative of the Palestinian people in the United Nations (UN) will be changed from the PLO, representing the Palestinian people in their entirety, to the State of Palestine, representing only Palestinians residing in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

Given the detrimental impact such a move would have on the ability of the Palestinian people as a whole to claim their rights, civil society has demanded the issuance of public assurances from the leadership that the PLO will retain its position as the representative of the entire Palestinian people in their seat at the UN. As of yet, no clarity has been forthcoming from the leadership of the PLO on this critical issue.

Read the full press release online here:

20 August 2011, BADIL calls for effective protection and accountability for Palestinian refugees in Syria: Sporadic reports coming out of Syria continue to paint a dire picture of the situation of Palestinian refugees in Latakia refugee camp which has been hit by fire from ground forces and from gunboats in the past few days. A number of Palestinians are reported to have been killed, although the lack of reliable access to the area means that accurate figures remains unknown. An estimated 7,500 refugees have fled the camp as a result of fighting.

Read the full press release online here:

15 July 2011, BADIL Condemns new Israeli Law prohibiting boycott and limiting the freedom of association and speech: On July 10th 2011, the Israeli Knesset passed a new law prohibiting the participation and public support for boycott against academic, cultural, or business institutions in Israel or its illegal colonial settlements by imposing heavy financial sanctions on Israeli persons or organizations who support or engage in said boycott activities.

Read the full press release online here:

 

Publications

Article 1D Update:

The Handbook Update seeks to document developments of jurisprudence regarding Article 1D of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Refugee Convention) in the five year period between 2005 and 2010. The research covers 17 of the 23 countries that were included in the 2005 Handbook. The information will be of particular use to lawyers of Palestinian refugees.

Read the full version of handbook update online here:

 

Majdal Magazine 

BADIL is pleased to announce the publication of the Summer 2011 issue of al-Majdal (issue #46), titled The Struggle for Palestinian Rights: New Strategies in a Changing Middle East. This issue of Al Majdal takes a look at the new strategies emerging in the struggle for Palestinian rights in light of the Arab Spring and the all but declared death of peace negotiations.

The full issue can be seen online at:

 

Haq Al Awda Newspaper

BADIL is pleased to announce the release of issue #44 of Haq Al Awda. This latest issue looks at the Palestinian statehood initiative from a variety of different perspectives. Its release only a few days prior to the statehood initiative sparked a great deal of discussion in Palestinians society about the issue. It can be read online here:

 

Coming Soon:

Applying International Criminal Law to Israel’s Treatment of the Palestinian People (BADIL Working Paper No.12):

The aim of this paper is to set out the relevant legal framework for the application of international criminal law to some of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinian people. This paper will thereby supplement other papers published by BADIL in the field of criminal justice, legal accountability and remedies as well as work by lawyers and other organizations with a view to challenging the ongoing impunity of Israel and its officials.

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