Category Archives: global

Rallies held worldwide as Israeli genocide in Gaza enters 100th day

FREE FLOW OF INFOMATION . .

An article from PressTV Iran with additions as indicated

Pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets around the world on the “day of action,” calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as the Israeli aggression reached the 100-day mark.

The global day of action on Saturday saw demonstrations take place in various international capitals, including Washington DC, London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Johannesburg, Abuja, Tokyo, Islamabad, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur.


Photo of March in Washington : AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana as published by AP News

Thousands of protesters in one of the largest pro-Palestinian demonstrations to date in the US capital, Washington, called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to stop US aid to Israel, as more than three months of Israeli offensive is killing 250 Palestinians per day.

Large crowds waved Palestinian flags and chanted “Ceasefire now,” and “Free Palestine,” while carrying banners and posters that read “End the War in Gaza.” Other signs said the Israeli government is practicing apartheid and charged US President Joe Biden with genocide.

Young protesters were wearing the traditional keffiyeh in solidarity with Palestinians.

(Organizers of the march in Washington said that 400,000 took part.)


Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters wave flags and carry placards during a National March for Palestine in central London on January 13, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

London, meanwhile, saw its seventh National March for Palestine since October 7 as demonstrators called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and demanded that the British government stop arming the Israeli regime.

(According to a mail received at CPNN from the London-based Stop the War Coalition, in London there were almost half a million protesters demanding an immediate ceasefire, led by the anti-war movement in the UK.)

Little Amal, a giant puppet of a Syrian child refugee, representing refugees and displaced people, joining a group of Palestinian children, attended the demonstration.

“While the British public largely supports a ceasefire in Gaza, the UK’s politicians have continued to fund and support the genocide,” Jeanine Hourani, a member of the Palestine Youth Movement attending the march in London said.
UK ‘complicit’ in Israel’s crimes

Palestine’s ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, also joined the protesters calling for a ceasefire. He slammed the UK government for “complicity” with Israel.

“I stand before you with a broken heart but not a broken spirit,” Zomlot said addressing pro-Palestinian protesters in London as he described Palestine as a “nation of freedom fighters.”

He also congratulated South Africa for bringing a genocide case against Israel at the UN’s International Court of Justice.

The London march was one of several others being held in European cities including Paris, Rome, Milan and Dublin, where thousands also marched along the Irish people to protest Israel’s aggression against Palestinians.

Irish Protesters waved Palestinian flags, denouncing Israel’s genocidal crimes in Gaza, chanting “Free, Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” They held placards critical of the Irish, US governments and Israeli regime.

(As reported by Common Dreams , “In Dublin, organizers of a march that saw more than 100,000 march through city streets called it the largest rally for Palestinian rights in Irish history.”)

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Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

(continued from left column)

Rome hosts new pro-Palestine rally, thousands join demonstration

In Rome, thousands of demonstrators descended on a boulevard near the famous Colosseum, with some carrying signs reading, “Stop Genocide.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters also lauded South Africa for bringing Israel’s brutal military onslaught against Gaza to the International Court of Justice.
Rome photo


Rome hosts a new rally in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Malaysia

At rallies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, people gathered at the United States embassy to send a message to Israel’s staunch ally. People carried placards that read “Stop the genocide,” as well as “Bombing children is not self-defense.”

Last month, the Malaysian government announced it would no longer allow Israeli-owned ships to dock in Malaysian ports. It also said any vessel en route to Israel would not be allowed to unload cargo at any Malaysian port.

Thousands of people also gathered outside the US embassy in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, waving Indonesian and Palestinian flags and holding signs that read “Boycott Israel” and “Ceasefire Now.”


Thousands of members from the Muslim community gathered in front of the US Embassy in Jakarta to protest against ‘genocide’ in Palestine and express their support for the Palestinian people.

South Africa protests

Similar protests took place in Johannesburg, South Africa as demonstrators gathered outside the US consulate. The crowd accused the US of complicity in the bombardment of the Palestinian people due to its military support of Israel since the war started.

The protest has been reinforced by South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The court in The Hague began hearings on Thursday over a charge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

South Africa, which filed the lawsuit at the UN court in December, asked judges Thursday to urgently declare that the Tel Aviv regime has breached its responsibilities under international law since October 7, when it launched hostilities in the besieged territory.

The relentless Israeli military aggression has so far killed at least 23,843 people in Palestine, more than 10,000 of whom are children, while 60,317 others have been wounded.

Other European protests

(In Switzerland , an estimated 15,000 held their first national protest in Basel in support of Gazans since several German-speaking cantons introduced a ban on such actions, calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the region.)

(Protests also took place in Amsterdam, Oslo, Uppsala and Tunis according to the Palestine Chronicle.

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY

“Culture of Peace” Recommendation for UN summit “Pact for the Future”

DISARMAMENT AND SECURITY .

Received at CPNN from Anne Creter, Peace Through Unity Charitable Trust

Today’s New Year’s Day opens with sharing the following “Culture of Peace “recommendation our UN NGO Global Movement for the Culture of Peace sub-group submitted yesterday (New Years Eve) as input to the big September 23-24, 2024 UN Summit of the Future “Pact for the Future” being developed now. 

The “actionable” evolutionary UN Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace A/RES/53/243 adopted by the General Assembly (GA) in 1999 must be integrated into A Pact for the Future (PACT) for greater UN innovation and synthesis, as it can provide a missing link helping the UN fulfill its mission to “end the scourge of war.” Aligned with the science of nonviolence, Culture of Peace is a comprehensive, UN established “blueprint” or “roadmap” of actions necessary at all levels of existence to manifest sustainable peace. If utilized in the PACT, Culture of Peace could provide a new, unified global structure for the UN to connect and coordinate worldwide peace actions for greater synergy and effectiveness. War will be inevitable until a better, rational, productive system is solidly in place providing the structure and platform for conflict resolution to routinely happen.

Chapter II: International peace and security:

The UN’s 75-year-old quest “to end the scourge of war” has paradoxically devolved into a worldwide culture of violence at this most dangerous inflection point in history. Thus, it is imperative that the advanced peacebuilding concept of the Culture of Peace be a focal point within this futuristic PACT, for it has received growing understanding and appreciation both at the UN and within civil society in the last 25 years. In keeping with its recently evolved history at the UN, A/RES/53/243 adds clear “actionable” guidance aligned with the relatively new field of peace studies at a time when the world is hopelessly paralyzed by the existential escalation of violence at all levels which, in becoming normalized, threatens even greater planetary peril. Examples of civil society “Infrastructures for Peace” based on A/RES/53/243 now making a difference in the world are the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission in Oregon USA and Rotary International showing great progress of peace at local city levels.

The landmark UN Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (A/RES/53/243) was adopted by the GA on 13 September 1999 after nine months of hard negotiations skillfully led by Bangladesh Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, Former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the UN; Founder of the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace, who said: “I believe this document is unique in more than one way. It is a universal document in the real sense, transcending boundaries, cultures, societies and nations. Unlike many other GA documents, it is action-oriented and encourages actions at all levels, be they at the level of the individual, the community, the nation or the region, or at the global and international levels.” It defines Culture of Peace as a set of values, attitudes, modes of behavior and ways of life that reject violence and prevent conflicts by tackling their root causes to solve problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations. Per the A/RES/53/243 mandate, the Programme of Action by its pure “action” structure speaks to the PACT’s goal of “action-oriented” recommendations, citing actions at all levels that are necessary to build the Culture of Peace within the following Eight Areas of Action:

1) Fostering a culture of peace through education
2) Promoting sustainable economic and social development
3) Promoting respect for all human rights
4) Ensuring equality between women and men
5) Fostering democratic participation
6) Advancing understanding, tolerance and solidarity
7) Supporting participatory communication & free flow of information & knowledge
8) Promoting international peace and security

UNESCO was charged with writing the “Declaration and Programme of Action” led by David Adams, Former Director, UNESCO Unit for International Year for Culture of Peace. It is not by accident that the term originated at UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and “Cultural” Organization) at a meeting in Africa in 1989. For Culture appears in the very name of UNESCO which was established as the UN’s cultural organization. Culture here is defined in the broad anthropological sense, not in the narrow popular sense restricted to music, dance, and other arts. UNESCO was not concerned with culture for its own sake, but culture for the sake of peace. It made a distinction between the old concept of peace between sovereign states and a new concept of peace between peoples. UNESCO’s constitution preamble declared in 1946: “That a peace based exclusively upon the political and economic arrangements of governments would not be a peace which could secure the unanimous, lasting and sincere support of the peoples of the world, and that the peace must therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.” As UNESCO stated: “Each of these areas of action have been priorities of the UN since its foundation; what is new is their linkage through the culture of peace and non-violence into a single coherent concept. This is the first time all these areas are interlinked so the sum of their complementarities and synergies can be developed.”

Question for this article:

What is the United Nations doing for a culture of peace?

A/RES/53/243 gives clear guidelines on a new mode of governance which calls on the entire UN system; all governments, and all peoples to work together to build a more free, fair, and peaceful global neighborhood through a positive, dynamic participatory process where dialogue is encouraged, and conflicts are solved in a spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation. It was a watershed moment when A/RES/53/243 was passed as never before had an “action-oriented” template been created based on the science of nonviolence articulating all the peacebuilding actions needed at every level from inner to international for world peace to take shape. A/RES/53/243 is innovative because it embodies this new peace knowledge by design, stating all the multi-dimensional, congruous actions that need to happen for the Culture of Peace to materialize. These preventative, multi-level actions by individuals and groups must be implemented and monitored in Member States to “end the scourge of war” – a function the UN could oversee by creating a “Culture of Peace Council” equal in status to the Security Council to balance its two main purposes of peace and security through developing national “Culture of Peace” Action Plans.

Culture of Peace is a clarion call for individual and collective transformation, indispensable for the safety, security and development of planet earth. Therefore, to make the PACT truly transformational, the concept of Culture of Peace must be integrated within it, reflective of the “new” positive view of peace. “Negative” peace is the absence of violence. Peace has traditionally been thought of simply as that. But we know now that peacebuilding is so much more. “Positive” peace is defined as the attitudes, institutions and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies, like better economic outcomes, measures of well-being, levels of inclusiveness and environmental performance. “Positive” peace is transformational in that it is a cross-cutting factor for progress. Use of the word ‘Peace’ connotes “negative” peace, old paradigm thinking whereas ‘Culture of Peace’ connotes a new-paradigm “positive” peace mindset.

Culture of Peace has a recent rich history of evolution at the UN in the last 25+ years since A/RES/53/243 was first adopted in 1999. We are told it takes between ten to twenty years from the time UN resolutions are passed for them to be fully understood and utilized. Culture of Peace is no exception. The term was hardly ever used at the UN in the first ten years of its passage (the first decade of the new millennium). It took 12 years before the major breakthrough of the first High Level Forum on the Culture of Peace took place in 2012. That big milestone was first conceived back in the year 2000 when the International Year for the Culture of Peace was declared, along with its 2000 Manifesto for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence crafted by Nobel Laureates. Then from 2001 to 2010 there was the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World, producing Mid-Decade and End-of-Decade Culture of Peace Progress Reports, including a continuously running virtual Culture of Peace News Network of actions taken each month around the world in all eight of the Culture of Peace Areas of Action. Also, a UN NGO Culture of Peace Working Group which morphed into the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace NGO Coalition, along with 12 annual Culture of Peace High Level Forums with yearly self-standing GA Culture of Peace resolutions passed. Now that these milestones have been achieved, it is time for A/RES/53/243 to be fully utilized by being integrated within this forward-looking PACT.

Integrating Culture of Peace wisdom into the PACT would make that document more UN synthesized and wholistically complete, better enabling full implementation of A/RES/53/243. Culture of Peace is a state-of-the-art concept in human consciousness aligned within the powerful new discipline of peace studies. A/RES/53/243 provides a currently missing overarching peacebuilding framework on how to construct true and lasting world peace. Rendering it essential to the PACT would endow this major futuristic document genuine “new paradigm” relevance. So let Culture of Peace (already existing in the heart of humanity) become the foundation upon which our children and their children’s children can continue building the future civilization. As unleashing the knowledge of how to cultivate world peace in this way will accelerate desperately needed UN reform and transformation.

Chapter V: Transforming global governance:

Article 5 of A/RES/43/243 states that “governments have an essential role in promoting and strengthening a culture of peace.” Per the 2023 UN New Agenda for Peace Action #3 – one recommendation is to develop national prevention strategies to address the different drivers and enablers of violence and conflict in societies and strengthen national “Infrastructures for Peace.” Further that Member States seeking to establish or strengthen national “Infrastructures for Peace” should be able to access a tailor-made package of support and expertise. Uniting these 2 UN guiding principles “Culture of Peace and “Infrastructures for Peace” together would be an impactful step forward in UN fulfillment of its peace mission. For Culture of Peace establishes this UN peace vision as normative and prescribes the roadmap of actions needed at all levels to actualize it. Governmental “Infrastructures for Peace” such as “Departments and Ministries of Peace” are the roadways or platforms of peace architecture that support essential peace actions (like diplomacy) to readily occur so peace can take root and grow. Coupled together these two constructs give shape, form, and substance to building the “capacity” for peace by operationalizing and institutionalizing peacebuilding as the missing connective layer needed to sustain peace. Both principles are designed to prevent and reduce violence thus are mutually reinforcing. Integrated within the PACT, their synergistic impact of collaborative connection would facilitate significant UN reform and transformation.

UN NGO “Global Movement for the Culture of Peace” Signatories:

Peace Through Unity: Kate Smith, Director; Iris Spellings, UN NGO Representative; Anne Creter, UN NGO Alternate Representative

Pathways to Peace: Tezikiah Gabriel, Executive Director; David Wick, President

The Good News Agency – Associazione Culturale dei Triangoli e della Buona Volontà Mondiale: Georgina Galanis, UN NGO Representative

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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY, global, United Nations,

BDS Movement: Act Now Against These Companies Profiting from the Genocide of the Palestinian People

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

An article from the BDS Movement

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition in Palestinian society that is leading the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, salutes activists, organizations and institutions worldwide that have expressed meaningful solidarity with our urgent struggle to stop Israel’s unfolding genocide in Gaza by escalating boycott and divestment campaigns. The spreading boycotts of complicit Israeli and multinational corporations can be effective if done strategically.  

Below is a detailed guide of our targeted consumer boycotts, divestment and pressure campaigns. Help us spread the word to maximize our impact!


(Click on image to enlarge)

Ending all state, corporate and institutional complicity with Israel’s genocidal regime is more urgent than ever. Our lives and livelihoods literally depend on it.

Targeted Boycotts vs. Non-targeted Boycotts

People of conscience around the world are rightfully shattered, enraged, and sometimes feeling powerless. Many feel compelled to boycott any and all products and services of companies tied in any way to Israel. The proliferation of extensive “boycott lists” on social media is an example of this. The question is how to make boycotts effective and actually have an impact in holding corporations accountable for their complicity in the suffering of Palestinians? 

The BDS movement uses the historically successful method of targeted boycotts inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the US Civil Rights movement, the Indian anti-colonial struggle, among others worldwide. 
 
We must strategically focus on a relatively smaller number of carefully selected companies and products  for maximum impact. We need to focus on companies that play a clear and direct role in Israel’s crimes and where there is real potential for winning, as was the case with, among others, G4S, Veolia, Orange, Ben & Jerry’s and Pillsbury. Compelling huge, complicit companies, through strategic and context-sensitive boycott and divestment campaigns, to end their complicity in Israeli apartheid and war crimes against Palestinians sends a very powerful message to hundreds of other complicit companies that “your time will come, so get out before it’s too late!”

Many of the prohibitively long lists going viral on social media do the exact opposite of this strategic and impactful approach. They include hundreds of companies, many without credible evidence of their connection to Israel’s regime of oppression against Palestinians, making them ineffective.

That being said, all peaceful popular efforts, including boycott and divestment, to hold all genuinely complicit corporations (and institutions) accountable for supporting Israel’s grave violations of Palestinian rights are justified and called for. It is perfectly legitimate, for instance, to boycott companies whose Israeli branch or franchise has supported Israel’s unfolding genocide in Gaza, some of which we mention below in the grassroots organic boycott targets section.

Also, a company or product may make perfect sense as a boycott target in one context or city but not another. This context-sensitivity is a key principle of our movement. Regardless, we all have limited human capacity, so we’d better use it in the most effective way to achieve meaningful, sustainable results that can truly contribute to Palestinian liberation. We therefore call on our supporters to strengthen our targeted campaigns and boycott the complicit companies named on our website to maximize our collective impact.

The following are the current top priority boycott targets of the global BDS movement.

We have split these targets into four sections:

1. Consumer boycott targets – The BDS movement calls for a complete boycott of these brands carefully selected due to the company’s proven record of complicity in Israeli apartheid.

2. Divestment targets – The BDS movement is pressuring governments, institutions and investment funds to exclude and divest from as many complicit companies as practical, especially weapons manufacturers, banks, and companies listed in the UN database  of business involved in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, as well as the WhoProfits  and AFSC Investigate  databases of companies enabling the occupation. Below we give some of the targets we are campaigning against.

3. Pressure (non-boycott) targets – The BDS movement actively calls for pressure campaigns against these brands and services due to their complicity in Israeli apartheid. We have not, on strategic grounds, called for a boycott of these brands and services, instead we strategically call on supporters and institutions to mount other forms of pressure on them until they end their complicity in Israeli apartheid.

4. Organic boycott targets – The BDS movement did not initiate these grassroots boycott campaigns but is in support of them due to these brands openly supporting Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.

1. Consumer boycott targets:

Siemens


Siemens (Germany) is the main contractor  for the Euro-Asia Interconnector, an Israel-EU submarine electricity cable that is planned to connect Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory to Europe. Siemens-branded electrical appliances are sold globally.

PUMA


Since 2018 we have called for a boycott of PUMA (Germany) due to its sponsorship  of the Israel Football Association, which governs teams in Israel’s illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land. In a major BDS win in December 2023, PUMA leaked news to the media that it will not be renewing its contract when it expires in December 2024. We continue to call for #BoycottPUMA until it ends its complicity in Israeli apartheid.

Carrefour


Carrefour (France) is a genocide enabler. Carrefour-Israel has supported Israeli soldiers partaking in the unfolding genocide of Palestinians in Gaza with gifts of personal packages. In 2022, it entered a partnership  with the Israeli company Electra Consumer Products and its subsidiary Yenot Bitan, both of which are involved in grave violations against the Palestinian people.

AXA


When Russia invaded Ukraine, insurance giant AXA (France) took targeted measures against it. Yet, as Israel, a 75-year-old regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid, wages a genocidal war on Gaza, AXA continues to invest  in Israeli banks financing war crimes and the theft of Palestinian land and natural resources.

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Question related to this article:

How can war crimes be documented, stopped, punished and prevented?

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Hewlett Packard Inc (HP Inc)


HP Inc (US) provides  services to the offices of genocide leaders, Israeli PM Netanyahu and Financial Minister Smotrich.

SodaStream


SodaStream is actively complicit in Israel’s policy of displacing the indigenous Bedouin-Palestinian citizens of Israel in the Naqab (Negev) and has a long history of racial discrimination against Palestinian workers.

Ahava


Ahava cosmetics has its production site, visitor center, and main store in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory.

RE/MAX


RE/MAX (US) markets and sells property in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land, thus enabling Israel’s colonization of the occupied West Bank.

Israeli produce in your supermarkets


Fruits, vegetables, and wines misleadingly labeled as “Product of Israel” often include products of illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land. Israeli companies do not distinguish between the two, and neither should consumers. Boycott produce  from Israel in your supermarket and demand their removal from shelves.

2. Divestment targets:

Elbit Systems
Elbit Systems  is apartheid Israel’s largest arms company. It “field-tests” its weapons on Palestinians, including in Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza. On top of building killer drones, Elbit makes surveillance technology for Israel’s apartheid wall, checkpoints and Gaza fence, enabling apartheid. The US and EU use Elbit’s technology to militarize their borders, violating refugee and indigenous peoples’ rights.
 

HD Hyundai/Volvo/CAT/JCB


Machinery from HD Hyundai (South Korea), Volvo (Sweden/China), CAT (US), and JCB (UK) has been used by Israel in the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians through the destruction of their homes, farms, and businesses, as well as the construction of illegal settlements on land stolen from them, a war crime under international law.
 
Barclays


Barclays Bank (UK) holds more than £1 billion in shares of, and provides more than £3bn in loans and underwriting to nine companies whose weapons, components and military technology have been used in Israel’s armed violence against Palestinians.

CAF


Basque transport firm, CAF, builds and services the Jerusalem Light Rail (JLR), a tram line that serves Israel’s illegal settlements in Jerusalem. CAF benefits  from Israel’s war crimes on stolen Palestinian land.

Chevron


US fossil fuel multinational Chevron is the main international corporation extracting gas  claimed by apartheid Israel in the East Mediterranean. Chevron generates billions in revenues, strengthening Israel’s war chest and apartheid system, and exacerbating the climate crisis.

HikVision


Amnesty International has documented  high-resolution CCTV cameras made by the Chinese company Hikvision installed in residential areas and mounted to Israeli military infrastructure for surveillance of Palestinians. Some of these models, according to Hikvision’s own marketing, can plug into external facial recognition software.

TKH Security


Amnesty International has identified  cameras made by the Dutch company TKH Security used by Israel for surveillance of Palestinians. TKH provides Israeli police with surveillance technology that is used to entrench apartheid. 

3. Pressure (non-boycott) targets:

Google and Amazon (US)

As the Israeli military bombed homes, clinics, and schools in Gaza and threatened to push Palestinian families from their homes in occupied Jerusalem May 2021, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud executives signed a $1.22 billion contract to provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military. By supporting Israeli apartheid with vital technologies, Amazon and Google are directly implicated in its entire system of oppression, including its unfolding genocide in Gaza. Join the #NoTechForApartheid campaign. While the campaigns targeting these corporations have not called for boycotts, other forms of pressure have been adopted to force them to end their complicity.

Airbnb/Booking/Expedia


Airbnb (US), Booking.com (Netherlands) and Expedia (US) all offer rentals in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land. While the campaigns targeting these corporations have not called for boycotts, yet, other forms of pressure have been adopted to force them to end their complicity.

Disney


The Disney-owned Marvel Studios (US) is promoting in the next Captain America film a “superhero” that personifies apartheid Israel. Both companies are therefore complicit in “anti-Palestinian racism, Israeli propaganda, and the glorification of settler-colonial violence against Indigenous people,” as Palestinian cultural organizations have stated.

4. Grassroots organic boycott targets:
McDonald’s (US), Burger King (US), Papa John’s (US), Pizza Hut (US), WIX (Israel), etc. are now being targeted in some countries by grassroots organic boycott campaigns, not initiated by the BDS movement, because these companies, or their branches or franchises in Israel, have openly supported apartheid Israel and/or provided generous in-kind donations to the Israeli military amid the current Israeli offensive against 2.3 million Palestinians in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip–described by leading international scholars of international law as an “unfolding genocide.” If these grassroots campaigns are not already organically active in your area, we suggest focusing your energies on our strategic campaigns above.

Remember, all Israeli banks and virtually all Israeli companies are complicit to some degree in Israel’s system of occupation and apartheid, and hundreds of international corporations and banks are also deeply complicit. We focus our boycotts on a small number of companies and products for maximum impact.

Additional resources: To learn more about companies complicit in Israel’s abuses of Palestinian human rights visit Who Profits, Investigate, and the UN database of companies involved in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise.

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global, HUMAN RIGHTS, Mideast,

Calendar of Resistance for Palestine 2024: update as of December 30, 2023

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION . .

An article from Samidoun, Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all Palestinian, Arab and international supporters of Palestine to escalate their organizing and struggle to stand with the heroic Palestinian resistance and confront colonial Zionist genocide and imperialist complicity and involvement. (The list below will be constantly updated at least once a day – please share the link with your friends and comrades!)

These events are organized by many groups around the world — wherever possible, we link to the original organizers so that you can be in direct contact!

NOTES:

  • This list is for action-oriented/outdoor/protest actions specifically. Check out our events listings for the webinars, discussions and meetings we’re involved in!
  • Direct actions like those by Palestine Action are some of the most important and material actions of resistance and solidarity taking place — but they are typically not announced in advance, and those that are not announced in advance are not listed here!
  • We know that these events are mainly international and that the Arab people are marching everywhere for Palestine – we will be honored to add more Arab events whenever we are informed!
  • Times and details may change. Wherever we have it, we have linked to the original organizers’ accounts, posters and pages. Please follow these for the latest information – and don’t hesitate to send us updates!
  • List below is ordered by date, then by country in alphabetical order in English, then by city in alphabetical order in English.

TO ADD YOUR EVENT TO THE CALENDAR: Email us at samidoun@samidoun.net or tag us on social media!

Monday, January 1

BAHRAIN

IRELAND

UNITED STATES

Tuesday, January 2

UNITED STATES

Wednesday, January 3

AUSTRALIA

Thursday, January 4

ENGLAND

NETHERLANDS

SPANISH STATE

UNITED STATES

Friday, January 5

AUSTRALIA

NETHERLANDS

SOUTH AFRICA

UNITED STATES

Saturday, January 6

AUSTRALIA

ENGLAND

GERMANY

(continued in right column)

Question related to this article:

Presenting the Palestinian side of the Middle East, Is it important for a culture of peace?

(continued from left column)

SWEDEN

UNITED STATES

Sunday, January 7

AUSTRALIA

CANADA AND QUEBEC

  • SECHELT, BC (CANADA) – Sun Jan 7, 11:30 am, Davis Bay Wharf (Vigil).

DENMARK

NETHERLANDS

UNITED STATES

Monday, January 8

AUSTRALIA

Tuesday, January 9

UNITED STATES

Wednesday, January 10

AUSTRALIA

UNITED STATES

  • ANNAPOLIS, MD (US) – Wed Jan 10, 6:30 pm, Lawyers Mall, State Circle (Vigil)

Friday, January 12

AUSTRALIA

UNITED STATES

  • ST PAUL, MN (US) – Fri Jan 12, 4 pm, Summit and Snelling Aves.

Saturday, January 13

AUSTRALIA

ENGLAND

IRELAND

SPANISH STATE

SWITZERLAND

UNITED STATES

Sunday, January 14

AUSTRALIA

CANADA AND QUEBEC

  • SECHELT, BC (CANADA) – Sun Jan 14, 11:30 am, Davis Bay Wharf (Vigil).

Tuesday, January 16

UNITED STATES

Sunday, January 28

HAWAI’I

Thursday, February 29

AUSTRALIA

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION, global, Mideast,

South Africa Initiates Case Against Israel at International Court of Justice

. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .

An article by Julia Conley in Common Dreams (licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

“No one knows apartheid like those who fought it before,” said  one Palestinian rights advocate on Friday in response to the news that South Africa has taken a “historic”  new step to hold Israel accountable for its relentless bombardment and violent yearslong occupation of Gaza—calling on the International Court of Justice to declare that Israel has breached its obligations under the Genocide Convention.


South Africans hold a Free Palestine March on December 16, 2023 in Eldorado Park, South Africa. (Photo by Laird Forbes/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in South Africa said  it is “gravely concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants” and called on the ICJ to take action to force Israel to “immediately cease” its current attacks on Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.

The motion was filed as the death toll in Gaza surpassed 21,500 people and tens of thousands of displaced residents fled an Israeli ground offensive, as airstrikes continued in southern Gaza.

Noting that South Africa has consistently condemned all attacks on civilians, including the assault by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, the country’s representatives at the ICJ said Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial, and [ethnic] group.”

“The acts in question include killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction,” reads the application filed at the ICJ.

South Africa took its latest action regarding Israel less than two weeks after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced  the government had submitted documents to the International Criminal Court (ICC) supporting its demand, made in November with several other countries, that the court investigate Israel for war crimes.

While the ICC prosecutes individuals and governments for committing war crimes, the ICJ operates under the United Nations to rule on disputes between countries. The ICJ’s orders are binding for Israel, as the country is a U.N. member state.

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Question related to this article:

How can war crimes be documented, stopped, punished and prevented?

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South Africa has joined international human rights experts—including the U.N.’s top expert on human rights in occupied Palestine—in saying Israel’s blockade of Gaza and violent treatment of those in the enclave and the West Bank is a form of apartheid, comparing Israeli policies to the racial segregation that was imposed for nearly five decades by the white minority that controlled South Africa.

Last month, the government voted to suspend diplomatic ties  with Israel until Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government agrees to a permanent humanitarian cease-fire.

“South Africa has continuously called for an immediate and permanent cease-fire and the resumption of talks that will end the violence arising from the continued belligerent occupation of Palestine,” the government said Friday.

Journalist Jeremy Scahill was among those who recognized the significance of South Africa’s application at the ICJ, noting  that the country “fought for its own liberation against an apartheid regime supported for decades by the U.S.,” which is backing Israel’s assault on Gaza despite international outcry and protests within the United States.

“The U.N. Genocide Convention must be upheld. Israel must be held accountable,” said former U.N. human rights official Craig Mokhiber, who resigned  from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in October in protest of the U.N.’s failure to stop Israel’s massacre of civilians. “International law must be preserved.”

At the ICJ, South Africa called  for an expedited hearing on Israel’s actions and asked the court to indicate provisional measures under the Genocide Convention to “protect against further, severe, and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people.”

Article 2 of the Genocide Convention, adopted in 1948, states that genocide includes acts committed with the “intent to destroy, either in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.”

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, pointed out  Friday that “the three leading Israeli officials have declared the intent” to wipe out Gaza’s population.

Bishara noted that Israeli President Isaac Herzog said  in October that all civilians in Gaza are “responsible” for Hamas’ attack on southern Israel, days after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said  the military would collectively punish the enclave’s population, who he called “human animals.”

Netanyahu also  said  this week that so-called “voluntary migration” of Gaza residents is the ultimate objective of Israel’s assault.

On Friday, the spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, Lior Haiat, dismissed  South Africa’s motion as “baseless” and a “despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the court.”

Despite top officials’ recent statements, Haiat said the government has “made it clear that the residents of the Gaza Strip are not the enemy.”

Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director for Human Rights Watch, called  South Africa’s move “a vital step to propel greater support for impartial justice.”

(Editor’s notes. As of January 4, South Africa was joined in their motion by Malaysia and Turkey and as of January 11 by Brazil and Colombia. As of January 11, readers are urged to watch the proceedings at United Nations Web TV.)

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Nikolai Firjubin, Founder of UNOY Youth Peace Network

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .

On December 11, CPNN was informed that Nikolai Firjubin has passed away by the facebook post that follows from Celine Del Felice:

We are sad to share that one of UNOY’s founders, Nikolai Firjubin, passed away last Friday.

On his 50th birthday, Nikolai had a dream about a general assembly hall filled with young people discussing the major challenges facing humanity. Nikolai gathered together a group of young people with a shared vision and commitment to build a world in which peace, justice, solidarity, human dignity and respect for nature prevail. In September 1989, UNOY was founded.

We are honoured to carry on Nikolai’s vision: a growing, global network of peace powered by youth.

Nikolai, thank you for your dream and belief that young people can “save the world and preserve peace on Earth”

UNOY made important contributions to the culture of peace, including advocacy campaigns in 2005 and again in 2006 at the United Nations during the International Decade for a Culture of Peace.

Here are excerpts from Firjubin’s account of the source of the idea for UNOY back in 1989:

The dream that became UNOY It was a beautiful early morning, that Saturday in July, in Geneva on the eve of my 50th anniversary. A few days before, in flagrant but very joyful violation of the ‘Rules of the Soviet Citizens working abroad’ I became a member of The Ski Club International. That was my first ever personal secret rebellion against the Communist Party and the KGB; an act of free will and for the first time in my life, I felt really free and full of joy… I boarded the train to Martigny, not suspecting that this simple act would radically change my life and make me a happy and an accomplished human being. . . . At the Alpine Club in Champex, I finally celebrated my 50th birthday at a noisy party attended by my very nice and kind fellow trekkers…

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Question related to this article:
 
Youth initiatives for a culture of peace, How can we ensure they get the attention and funding they deserve?

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The night was very short, and I slept not more than two, maybe three hours. I asked permission from the Leader to spend the day in Champex as we had to climb another mountain before returning back to Geneva. He kindly allowed me to stay for the reason of my birthday. I was very happy as I wanted to reflect on the dream which I had during that short night. In my dream I saw a large hall filled with young people with different ethnic backgrounds and having different skin colors. They were gathered together for some serious purpose. They were listening to an old man, who vaguely looked like a self portrait of Dr. Svetoslav Roerich. I was very surprised that I even remembered my dream – for the first time in my life. The old man said something like: “We brought you here to help save the world and preserve Peace on earth….”

Before taking the bus back to Martigny station, I spent a few hours on a bench of a small island in the middle of Lake Champex, in an attempt to understand the meaning of this dream, until I suddenly got a vision of a United Nations of Juniors (UNOJ) which appeared in my mind.

The week thereafter, I was looking for the address of Dr. Svetoslav Roerich in India. Quite unexpectedly, I was invited for a 5 o’clock tea by my colleague from Moscow who came for a private visit to Geneva. He helped me to contact Dr. Roerich. Soon after, I wrote a letter to Dr. Roerich about my dream and asked for an appointment in Bangalore to talk about it. In his reply he supported my UNOJ vision and agreed to meet me in India.

On the 2nd December, I left Geneva for Bangalore and on December 4th, I met Svetoslav Roerich for the first time in his office in Bangalore. That day, I talked with him for several hours about the dream. Hence, this was the beginning of the beginning of the UNOY. (During the first UNOY meeting in Handel, the Netherlands in May 1989, the youth participants renamed UNOJ ‘United Nations Of Youth’ (UNOY ).

No account of the origin of UNOY could be complete without reference to Maria Kooijman, who co-founded the organization with Firjiubin:

It was April 1989. At that time, I worked for Universal Education and its magazine Educare, promoting holistic and inclusive approaches and methods in education and child rearing. I was approached by Nikolai Firjubin (at that time a UN civil servant/ diplomat) who shared his dream and requested me to assist in organising the 1st International Working Group for the UNOY. The whole staff of Universal Education also became involved. In 6 weeks time, all was arranged and set for the participants to arrive in Handel, the Netherlands at De Weyst, a conference centre based on Ghandian principles. The event became a great success. It was a revealing and overpowering experience to see how youth from around the world bonded together as true friends and took the concept of UNOY utterly serious and as a great challenge.

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Graça Machel: Enhancing women’s participation in peacebuilding is key to building a peaceful world

. . WOMEN’S EQUALITY . .

An article from The Elders

At the 5th International Conference on Action with Women and Peace, hosted by the Republic of Korea on 30 November 2023, Graça Machel  discussed the importance of women’s leadership as an essential component of peacebuilding and called on leaders to prioritise women’s inclusion at decision-making tables. 


Photo Credit: Tlhabi Monnakgotla

Read Graça Machel’s speech

Greetings to Foreign Minister Park Jin, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am grateful to the organizing committee of the ‘5th International Conference on Action with Women and Peace’ for the invitation to address this important convening highlighting the crucial role of women as catalysts for peace. I commend the Republic of Korea for your focus on the Women, Peace and Security agenda as you take up a seat on the UN Security Council next year. 

I join you today from my native country of Mozambique, and am honoured to share a few words with you on behalf of my fellow Elders.

As we know, it has been 23 years since the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1325, which set forth a framework mandating women’s meaningful inclusion in peace processes. And yet over two decades later, women are still shockingly in a small minority at negotiating tables worldwide. This is despite the overwhelming evidence which demonstrates that women’s participation is key to ending violence as well as the success and longevity of peace processes. 

As we convene today, we see conflict and war raging around the world: from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to the brutal Israeli Occupation of Palestine and horrific siege on Gaza, to civil strife in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Myanmar, to name but a few. 

Escalating arms races, increased investments in miliary expenditure, and war mongering narratives are dominating politics on a global scale. All this alongside a deepening of toxic patriarchal norms and reversal of generational gains made in women’s rights – with gender-based violence, military aggression, and militarised responses to political problems on the rise.
 
With so many seeds of destruction being sown the world over, it may feel as though we are headed for complete self-destruction as a human family. There is a silver lining, however: Women and youth are an untapped reservoir as powerful agents for change and for peace. They are the effective force as mediators, negotiators, and peace builders we need.  A more inclusive approach to peace making and peacebuilding must be made a priority by world leaders if we are ever to stand a chance of advancing as a human family.

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Questions related to this article:

Do women have a special role to play in the peace movement?

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Let us focus on women’s agency. Women are not only victims of war, but brave survivors and often leaders of peacebuilding efforts across the dividing lines of conflict; at great risk to their own safety and security. 

I have seen over and over again—in all corners of the world—the power of women and women’s organizations to bring serenity to spaces of extreme contention.

Women are innate bridge builders. They offer a natural capacity to listen, to empathize, and to allow vulnerability to surface. They bring a unique human perspective to the hardened dynamics of war. 

I know firsthand, from my own peacebuilding work in Africa how, when given the respect and platform, women can play an influential role in shaping peace accords and their implementation. They often make sure peace agreements reach to the heart of discord, beyond the competing demands of ego-driven politics. Women mediators and negotiators play a key role in helping to understand root causes of conflict, which then leads to more comprehensive problem solving and a lasting peace.

I have witnessed how women also lay the foundation for the necessary social cohesion in peacebuilding. They think strategically with the long-term end game of a better life for our children and a brighter future for generations to come in mind.

In every corner of the globe, there are great examples of the powerful way in which women have contributed to peace building through their leadership. We must insist, again and again, on the right of women to participate fully and on equal terms with men in conflict resolution and peace-building processes. 


 It is also women who are the first to shine the spotlight on the gendered impacts of war. They raise the alarm the loudest around sexual abuse and gender-based violence and the moral imperative to end these scourges.

This includes work to prevent and address sexual violence as a weapon of war.  The Elders support a survivor-led approach, with survivors’ experiences, rights and needs at the centre of responses to this horrific practice. 
As both history and current affairs show us, it is to our own collective detriment, when women are absent from formal decision-making tables. 

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It must remain our guiding star in addressing all issues of women, peace, and security.

Let it be a reminder that prioritizing women’s inclusion in peacemaking is a global responsibility. Enhancing women’s participation in peacebuilding and conflict prevention, resolution, and post-conflict processes must be the new order of the day.

I urge us all here to find meaningful ways to develop women’s political leadership and ensure women are seated at the main negotiation and decision-making tables, in their capacities as experts, civil society leaders, scholars, lawyers, human rights advocates–in all their professional diversity. 


We have the most influential of weapons right here in our midst: the power of female leadership. The time is now to act. We must finance, defend, and protect women peace-builders to do their vital work to prevent and resolve conflict.  Any hope we have a for a peaceful and just world, for ourselves and for future generations, depends on it.

I thank you.

Watch Graça Machel’s speech online.

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Movement Milestone: Global Fossil Fuel Divestment Surpasses 1600+ Commitments

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

An article from Stand.earth

 On the heels of COP28, where world governments finally recognized the need to “transition away from fossil fuels” but failed to acknowledge the inevitable phase-out, the global fossil fuel divestment movement surpassed a major milestone, already leading the way to a fossil free world: 1600+ institutions, representing $40.6 trillion in assets, are cutting ties with the toxic energy of the past.

Swiss pension fund CPEG, the UK’s Wiltshire Pension Fund, and the largest private pension fund in the Netherlands are the latest to join the unstoppable movement. In 2023 alone, major divestment commitments were made by the Church of England, New York University, the National Academy of Medicine, and Triodos Bank.

“This 1600 commitment milestone is an undeniable proof of concept, all thanks to people-powered momentum, even in the face of climate chaos and collective grief,” said Amy Gray, Stand.earth Climate Finance Associate Director and coordinator of the Climate Safe Pensions Network. “Even in times of heartache, we are resolved in our work to hold polluters accountable for climate chaos, and to reclaim, repair, and rebuild healthy and safe communities.” 

From educational institutions and public pension funds, to faith-based and healthcare groups, to governments, nonprofits, and cultural institutions, fossil fuel divestment spans every sector of society, and continues to gain momentum with consistent reports of positive returns following fossil fuel divestment.

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Question for this article:

Divestment: is it an effective tool to promote sustainable development?

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Surpassing 1600 fossil fuel divestment commitments would not have been possible without millions of climate justice leaders around the world, countless economic, racial, and climate justice organizations, and steadfast support from Ellen Dorsey, who is stepping down from the Wallace Global Fund, as a long-time leader of the movement.

A June 2023 report from the University of Waterloo revealed that just six U.S. public pension funds would be $21 billion richer  had they divested from fossil fuels a decade ago. 

“This milestone follows years of attempted shareholder engagement, now a proven futile strategy, with fossil fuel corporations hell-bent on our destruction,” said Richard Brooks, Stand.earth Climate Finance Director. “Instead of financing climate chaos-causing fossil fuels, violence, and extraction, financial institutions like big banks and pension funds must protect people and planet alike, cutting ties with fossil fuels and reinvesting in proven community-led climate-safe solutions.”

Not only is a world beyond fossil fuels possible, millions are building it right now – it’s time for fossil fuel companies and their financiers – including major banks like Royal Bank of Canada and Citibank, and private equity firms like KKR – to stop holding us back.

The Global Fossil Fuel Commitments Divestment Database  is managed by Stand.earth, and is the world’s most comprehensive tracker of fossil fuel divestment commitments. 

Stand.earth also coordinates the Climate Safe Pensions Network, a group of 25+ grassroots campaigns across Turtle Island demanding local pension funds protect returns and our climate, phase out fossil fuel holdings, and reinvest in climate-safe solutions.

Stand.earth’s Climate Finance  program focuses on pushing the financial sector to divest from fossil fuel projects and invest in climate solutions, such as renewable energy infrastructure. We’re also pressuring major pension funds throughout North America to pull workers’ money out of fossil fuel companies that violate Indigenous rights and exacerbate the climate crisis, and reinvest in climate-safe solutions.

global, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

COP28 Fails to Deliver a Fossil Fuel Phaseout

. . SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT . .

A survey of reactions by major NGOs concerned to the final statement of COP28, United Nations Climate Change Conference

The Climate Action Network headlines “New path to transition away from fossil fuels marred by lack of finance and loopholes.” The text says “COP28 in Dubai sends an important signal on the end of fossil fuels but leaves more questions than answers on how to ensure a fair and funded transition that is based on science and equity. . . Although COP28 recognised the immense financial shortfall in tackling climate impacts, the final outcomes fall disappointingly short of compelling wealthy nations to fulfil their financial responsibilities – obligations amounting to hundreds of billions, which remain unfulfilled.”


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Friends of the Earth says “COP28 outcome undermined by dangerous distractions and lack of finance . . . (and) enormous loopholes which only serve to prolong the fossil fuel era. . . . “The COP28 deal has fallen short of delivering meaningful commitments on fossil fuel phaseout and urgently needed climate finance. The deal opens the door to dangerous distractions that will prevent a just and equitable energy transition– carbon capture utilisation and storage, hydrogen, nuclear, carbon removal technologies like geoengineering and schemes that commodify nature.”

Oxfam headlines its reaction, “COP28 outcome misses the mark on justice for the majority of the world.” “Everyone fighting against the global climate crisis has little to celebrate from this disappointing COP28. Its final outcome is grossly inadequate. Oil, coal and gas won again, but they had to struggle harder to do so and their era is nearing its end. COP28 was doubly disappointing because it put no money on the table to help poorer countries transition to renewable energies.”

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Question for this article:

Sustainable Development Summits of States, What are the results?

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The Pacific Island States (Alliance of Small Island States, AOSIS), said that the resulting deal falls severely short. ““We see a litany of loopholes,” the AOSIS statement said. “It does not deliver on a subsidy phaseout, and it does not advance us beyond the status quo. . . We do not see any commitment or even an invitation for Parties to peak emissions by 2025.”

Activists of Fridays for the Future demonstrated their displeasure with the results in a demonstration in front of the Swedish parliament. Their spokesperson, Greta Thunberg, said, “This text is toothless and it is nowhere even close to being sufficient to keep us within the 1.5 degree limit. It is a stab in the back for those most vulnerable. It was undemocratic. It was signed when many island states were not in the room. We cannot talk about climate justice without having those affected in the room.”

The Center for International Environmental Law says “COP28 was unquestionably a fossil fuel COP – not because it was hosted in a petrostate, presided over by a fossil fuel executive, and flooded by fossil fuel lobbyists, but because people power and mounting political will led by progressive governments finally put the central cause of the climate crisis at the center of the climate talks.  The test for governments was not just to talk about fossil fuels, it was to act on them, by delivering an unequivocal commitment to end the era of fossil fuels, to leave no loopholes for delay or inaction, and to ensure rich polluters move first and fastest, with real money on the table. They failed profoundly –

Greenpeace says “Although the final text made a call for a transition away from fossil fuels, the outcome of the climate talks failed to produce the words ‘fossil fuel phase out’, resulting in yet another year of lack of accountability for polluters, as the planet moves closer and closer to warming limits. . . . Both weeks of the climate negotiations were spent swatting away the polluting interests of the record high fossil fuel industry representatives in attendance, to the end. Despite rumors and hopes of an early or on time finish from weary summit goers, negotiations went into overtime through Tuesday night, the scheduled last day. The dash to a finish line resulted in a mostly disappointing final text . . .”

The press release of 350.org says “It is frustrating that thirty years of campaigning managed to get ‘transition away from fossil fuels’ in the COP text, but it is surrounded by so many loopholes that it has been rendered weak and ineffectual. The prize is finally on the table – a phaseout of fossil fuels and a world powered by renewable energy – but rather than clearing the way to it, we’ve been presented with yet another set of distracting doors that could still hold oil and gas expansion, and we don’t know just where the finance will come from.”

NGO’s were joined in their criticism by leading scientists.

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UN General Assembly Adopts Resolution Demanding Immediate Humanitarian Ceasefire in Gaza, Parties’ Compliance with International Law, Release of All Hostages

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

A meeting report from the United Nations

Demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, the General Assembly today adopted a resolution reiterating its insistence that parties to the conflict there comply with international law, all hostages be released immediately and without conditions, and humanitarian access be ensured.

The Assembly adopted the resolution titled “Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations” (document A/ES-10/L.27) by a recorded vote of 153 in favour to 10 against (Austria, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Liberia, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, United States), with 23 abstentions, during a resumption of its tenth Emergency Special Session on Illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.


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Prior to adopting the resolution, the Assembly failed, by a recorded vote of 89 in favour to 61 against, with 20 abstentions, to adopt an amendment introduced by Austria, which inserted “held by Hamas and other groups” after “hostages” and “immediate” after “ensuring” (document A/ES-10/L.28).  The Assembly also failed, by a recorded vote of 84 in favour to 62 against, with 25 abstentions, to adopt an amendment introduced by the United States, which added an unequivocal condemnation of heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas that took place in Israel starting 7 October and the taking of hostages (document A/ES-10/L.29).

In opening remarks, Dennis Francis (Trinidad and Tobago), President of the General Assembly, said it is incumbent upon the United Nations to bring an immediate end to the suffering of innocent civilians.  “Right now, what we are seeing is an onslaught on civilians, the breakdown of humanitarian systems and profound disrespect for both international law and international humanitarian law,” he said.  “The carnage must stop.”

The representative of Egypt, speaking for the Arab Group, introduced draft resolution “L.27”, describing it as simple, clear and explicit.  Israeli aggression has destroyed Gaza’s public health system, he said, characterizing the argument about the right of Israel, the occupying Power, to defend itself as a pretext.  Israel is not above international humanitarian law, he said.  By the text, the Assembly demands an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and reiterates its demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, notably regarding the protection of civilians.  Through the text, the resolution also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and ensuring of humanitarian access.

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Question(s) related to this article:

What is the United Nations doing for a culture of peace?

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Introducing “L.28”, the representative of Austria welcomed recent humanitarian pauses that enabled the release of some hostages and provision of urgently needed humanitarian aid.  Recognizing the right of Israel to defend its citizens in line with international law and international humanitarian law, he said his country’s amendment is based on agreed language from Security Council resolution 2712 (2023).

The representative of the United States, introducing “L.29”, said the last two months have been nothing short of devastating.  “Devastating for Palestinians who have lost their homes and their loved ones because of a conflict that Hamas set into motion; and devastating for Israelis who still face a barrage of rocket fire, even as they continue to reel from Hamas’ barbaric attacks on 7 October,” she said, adding that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire and requires urgent and sustained attention.

Civilians desperately need food, water, shelter and medical care, she said, noting that a distressing number of innocent people have been killed and expressing support for the release of all hostages, immediately and unconditionally.  She said Member States should speak out with one voice to condemn Hamas for the terrorist attacks on 7 October.  “Why is that so hard?”, she asked.  “It should not be that difficult.”

Israel’s delegate, speaking after the vote, said the adopted resolution will prolong death and destruction.  On 6 October there was a ceasefire, and it was violated by the Hamas attack.  “What would your country do if it were in Israel’s shoes?  What would Moscow do?  What would Beijing do?”, he asked.  Hamas is refusing to release hostages or give the Red Cross access to the hostages, he said, adding that Israel has allowed the entry of aid into Gaza, but that United Nations bodies are refusing to solve logistical difficulties to allow its entry.

A ceasefire will only benefit Hamas, he said.  “What will happen the day after the ceasefire?”, he asked.  By voting in favour of the resolution, Member States are supporting terrorists and the exploitation of Palestinians, he said.  The time has come to put the blame where it belongs.  The resolution does not even mention Hamas by name or condemn Hamas.  If States want a real ceasefire, they should call Hamas leaders and ask for a release of the Israeli hostages.  This disgraceful resolution only allows Hamas to continue its reign of terror, he said, adding that Israel believes in life and peace.

“Israel has dropped 25,000 tons of explosives on Gaza, nearly the equivalent of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” said Pakistan’s delegate.  “Israel’s goal is to erase […] the entire idea of Palestine,” he added, noting his country’s support of the adopted draft resolution.

Syria’s representative noted the Security Council on Friday failed to adopt a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza because of the United States’ veto.  “The United States insists on giving Israel the green light to continue its brutal aggression in Gaza,” he said.

Tunisia’s delegate echoed concerns about such inaction.  “The Council is clearly unable to shoulder its responsibilities, both moral and legal,” he said.  His delegation voted for the draft resolution, as it calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and end to the barbaric aggression against Palestinian civilians.  “These attacks have led to unprecedented humanitarian tragedies,” he said.

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