UN

[President of the United Nations General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid] Peace and security in the Middle East are at stake if Palestinian suffering is not brought to an end with a solution to the Palestinian issue, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, has said. “Words cannot save Palestinian people suffering from decades of occupation, arbitrary arrests, and the use of excessive force against them,” Shahid told the UNGA plenary meeting on the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East. “Words cannot restore their demolished homes or halt the proliferation of illegal settlements on their land.” He added, “These issues can only be resolved when we take action to resolve them: by providing humanitarian assistance; ending this confli...

Ali Abunimah  Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur on religious freedom, helps Israel and its lobby smear supporters of Palestinian rights. (P. Böll/Deutsche Welle) Better late than never. Or is it? Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur on religious freedom, has finally responded to my criticisms of his September 2019 report on anti-Semitism. Soon after the report was released, I wrote that it gives Israel and its lobby carte blanche to smear the movement for Palestinian rights as anti-Semitic. The report endorsed the so-called IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. This definition, promoted by Israel and its lobby groups, conflates criticism of Israel and its state ideology Zionism, on the one hand, with anti-Jewish bigotry, on the other. (Don...

GENEVA (26 October 2021) UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Israel’s decision to designate six Palestinian civil society organizations as “terrorist organizations” is an attack on human rights defenders, on freedoms of association, opinion and expression and on the right to public participation, and should be immediately revoked, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday. The organizations concerned* are some of the most reputable human rights and humanitarian groups in the occupied Palestinian territory and for decades have worked closely with the UN. The designation decisions under the Israeli Counter-Terrorism Law of 2016 are based on extremely vague or unsubstantiated reasons, including entirely peaceful and legitimate hu...

UN to Ensure Stopping Israeli aggression against Palestine By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor Zaheerul Hassan Since six days, Israel continuously kept on launching intense barrage missile and multiple air strikes in Gaza. The death toll of Palestinians rose to 154 including 40 children, 20 ladies and severely injured over 1000. Seven Israelis also died, in response of Hamas 1500 rockets firing at Tel Aviv. Israeli forces hit a 13-story residential building in Gaza, in which 134 individuals got killed, in a single airstrike.  Despite prompt international concern, Israel did not stop the brutal killing of innocent Palestinians. International Media Houses Building, Al Jala Tower was also hit with four rockets on May 5, 2021 by Israel. Famous Al-Jazeera, AP and other local med...