Ref: 73/2009

Today, Sunday 20 December 2009, Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, met with the Mayor of Geneva, and Swiss civil society groups. These groups are planning to visit Gaza in January 2010. Mr. Sourani discussed the overall deterioration of the human rights situation in Gaza and Palestine, and stressed the urgent need for accountability, noting that Palestinians demands are simple, they want the rule of law to be respected and enforced.

On Saturday, 19 December 2009, Mr. Sourani participated in a conference in Lyon organized by Generacion Palestine. The event was attended by over 3,000 people and featured interventions from a number of key figures including Stephane Hessel, a prominent human rights lawyer who was involved in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Tariq Ramadan, intellectual and professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University, Naomi Klein, prominent author and activist, and Omar Al Soumi. The conference was organized in order to mark the passing of one year since Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip.

Mr. Sourani spoke of the crimes committed by Israeli forces during the offensive, and the continuing effects of the illegal closure of the Gaza Strip, a form of collective punishment which has now been in place for over two and a half years. Most significantly, Mr. Sourani highlighted the urgent need for accountability and upholding victims rights, focusing on the need to implement the recommendations contained in the Goldstone Report.

On Friday, 18 December, Mr. Sourani spoke as a guest of honour at the Sorbonne University in Paris. Also in attendance were Paul Kessler, and Prof. Heackoq of Birzeit University. The lecture was attended by over 300 academics, students, and activists. Mr. Sourani spoke of the effects of Israel’s illegal closure on the human rights situation in the Gaza Strip, and again stressed the urgent need for accountability.

While in France, Mr. Sourani also met with the French European Campaign for Gaza, and spoke at a press conference, which was attended by Nahla Shahal, Omar Al Soumi, and a number of European Parliamentarians. The organization will participate in the Gaza Freedom March, organized to highlight Israel’s illegal closure of the Gaza Strip; the March will take place at the end of this year.