United Nations

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People convened the United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People at United Nations Headquarters in New York, on 23 and 24 September 2002. The Conference was attended by 291 representatives of 113 civil society organizations. Representatives of 50 Governments, Palestine, 4 intergovernmental organizations, and 1 United Nations programme participated in the Conference as observers. Presentations were made by 21 panellists, including Palestinians and Israelis. At the close of the Conference, the participants adopted the NGO Declaration and the Plan of Action. All documents related to the Conference are available on the web site of the Division for Palestinian Rights at http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/ngo/calendar.htm. Video coverage is available on the United Nations Webcast site at http://www.un.org/webcast/. The final report of the Conference will be issued, in due course, as a publication of the Division.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will observe this year's International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 29 November, by holding a solemn meeting and related events at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Parallel events will be held at United Nations Offices at Vienna and Geneva. Invitations to attend the events in New York are being mailed to organizations on the mailing list of the Division for Palestinian Rights. In order to mobilize your community, the Committee calls on all civil society organizations to organize on this occasion local events, meetings, exhibits, or publicize related articles in the printed media. Documentation and other material on the International Day can be obtained from the Division or the United Nations Information Centres in the respective areas. For further information, contact the Division, United Nations Headquarters, Room S-3350, New York, NY 10017. Fax: +1 (212) 963-4199, E-mail: dprngo@un.org, Web site: http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/ngo.

North America

People for Just Peace, a group of Jews, Muslims and Christians, will organize a "Peace Pilgrimage to the Holy Land", from 19 to 29 December. Participants will hold a vigil in Bethlehem and march to Jerusalem. They will also meet Israeli and Palestinian activists, and visit a refugee camp and a settlement. For further information, visit http://www.freedompeace.org/page3.htm. Peace for Just Peace, E-mail: tom@freedompeace.org.

Europe

The Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and other organizations will organize a "National Lobby of Parliament" on 27 November, to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The event will call on MPs for efforts to end the Israeli occupation and to end arms trade with Israel. For further information, visit CAABU's web site at http://www.caabu.org. CAABU, 1 Gough Square, London EC4A 3DE, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7832 1310, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7832 1329, E-mail: caabu@caabu.org.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) will hold an international conference entitled "What Future for Palestine?", in London, on 30 November. For further information, visit the PSC web site at http://www.palestinecampaign.org. PSC, Box BM PSA, London WC1N 3XX, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7700 6192, E-mail: info@PalestineCampaign.org.

Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem

Bat Shalom, Ta'ayush, The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) and others organized, on 12 October, a demonstration against the building of a wall in Abu Dis near Jerusalem isolating about 60,000 Palestinians in the village from Jerusalem. A joint demonstration included 500 Palestinians. For further information, visit the web site of ICAHD at http://www.icahd.org/eng/. ICAHD, P.O. Box 2030, Jerusalem 91020, via Israel. Tel: +972 2 624 5560, Fax: +972 2 622 1530, E-mail: info@icahd.org.

B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories released a report entitled "Lethal Curfew", and a position paper on the wall separating Israel from the Occupied Palestinian Territory entitled "The Separation Barrier". The papers are available on B'Tselem's web site at http://www.btselem.org. For further information, contact B'Tselem, 8 HaTa'asiya St. (4th Floor), Jerusalem 93420. Tel: +972 2 6735599, Fax: +972 2 6749111, E-mail: mail@btselem.org.

On the initiative of The International Solidarity Movement (ISM), international activists and Palestinian villagers formed a human chain to protect Palestinian land in the village of Jayous near Qalqilia, which was being destroyed to construct a wall separating the Occupied Palestinian Territory from Israel. For further information, contact the ISM, E-mail: info@palsolidarity.org, Web site: http://www.palsolidarity.org.

Ittijah - The Union of the Arab Community Based Organizations organized a conference entitled "End to Borders: Arab Civil Society Organizations Take Up the Challenge" in Cairo from 20 to 24 October 2002. The purpose of the conference was to create working links between Arab civil society organizations inside Israel and their partners in the Arab world. For further information, visit the web site of Ittijah at http://www.ittijah.org. Ittijah, P.O.Box 9577, Haifa 31095, Israel. Tel: +972 4 850 7110, Fax: + 972 4 850 7241, E-mail: ittijah@ittijah.org.