Human Rights

20 Jan 2023; MEMO: The International Court of Justice, on Friday, confirmed it had officially received a request from the United Nations General Assembly to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's Occupation of the Palestinian Territories, Reuters reports.

20 Jan 2023; MEMO: UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lynn Hastings, called on the Israeli government to "fulfil its international obligations to ensure Palestinians can have safe access to education."

Writing on her official Twitter account, Hastings commented on the Israeli High Court's rejection of a petition to stop the demolition of the Khashm al-Karm Elementary School in Badia, in the West Bank city of Hebron.

18 Jan 2023; MEMO: Jordanian Ambassador Ghassan Majali was stopped by Israeli police at the Lion's Gate entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound yesterday. The Israelis claimed that he was stopped because of a lack of coordination with the occupation authorities.

According to Israeli public broadcaster KAN, the police pointed out that the Jordanian diplomat was not denied entry, but just delayed briefly.

18 Jan 2023; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces detained the director of Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday as he entered the Noble Sanctuary. Sheikh Omar Al-Kiswani was then searched, Wafa has reported.

Last week, the Israeli occupation forces delayed the British Minister for the Middle East, Lord Tariq Ahmed, for more than half an hour while he was visiting Al-Aqsa.

Lord Ahmed, who is a Muslim, was subjected to a prolonged security check at the Lions Gate, which is known in Arabic as Bab Al-Asbat.

16 Jan 2023; MEMO: China's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qin Gang, urged Israel on Sunday to stop its "incitement" in order to avoid escalation with the Palestinians, news agencies have reported.

In a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Cairo, the Chinese minister called on Israel to "stop incitements and provocations, and to refrain from taking uniliteral actions that could worsen the situation."

16 Jan 2023; MEMO: The Israeli occupation authorities yesterday started to bulldoze a 5,000 square metre plot of land owned by the Greek Orthodox Church in occupied Jerusalem's Silwan neighbourhood, the Wadi Hilweh Information Centre has reported. The operators of the bulldozers were protected by a large number of Israeli occupation security forces and police.

16 Jan 2023; MEMO: Palestinian factions condemned, on Sunday, daily Israeli execution of Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, in separate statements issued following the execution of a Palestinian man near Ramallah.

Eyewitnesses reported by Wafa news agency said that Israeli Occupation Forces in the town of Silwad, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, forced the Palestinian man, Ahmad Kahla, 45, out of his car and shot him.

16 Jan 2023; MEMO: Relatives of those killed in the 2020 Beirut port blast say they have become targets of the Judiciary instead of senior officials who have still not been held to account for the huge explosion that devastated Lebanon's capital and killed 220 people, Reuters reports.

17 Jan 2023; MEMO: The Egyptian judiciary has issued a life sentence to political activist Muhammad Ali, Arabi21 has reported. Thirty-seven others were also charged with inciting violence, spreading false news and joining a terrorist group, in what the media call the "Joker" case.

The Supreme State Security Court sentenced sixteen of the defendants, including a girl, to five years in prison with hard labour. Five others were sentenced to ten years each. The rest were acquitted.

15 Jan 2023; MEMO: A prominent Saudi Arabian law professor has been handed a death sentence over social media usage. The pro-reform cleric is accused of using such platforms as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram to disseminate anti-government news, reported The Guardian today.