Ref: 68/2011

On Wednesday,
19 October 2011, Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human
Rights (PCHR), was hosted by the
European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) of Berlin, where he
was invited to deliver a talk on the situation in Gaza and the occupied
Palestinian territory (oPt) following the UN bid for State recognition of last
September. Mr. Sourani briefed the audience on the dire situation on the ground,
and the combined effects of the illegal closure and operation Cast Lead on the
civilian population of Gaza. The talk then focused on PCHR’s work and legal
strategies for accountability and mechanisms for enforcement of the rule of law
in the oPt.

Mr.
Sourani is visiting in Germany during this week upon an invitation by the Heinrich Boell Stiftung, as part of PCHR’s
advocacy campaign for rule of law and accountability for the crimes committed in
Gaza and the oPt, also in the light
of the challenges facing the Palestinian cause after to the UN bid for State recognition
of last September. PCHR’s
advocacy mission is focused on a number of key issues, especially regarding the
urgent need to lift the illegal closure imposed on the Gaza Strip, and accountability
for war crimes committed in the oPt, in the context of the UN General
Assembly’s pending discussion of the Report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on
the Gaza Conflict (the ‘Goldstone’ Report).

During
his visit in Bonn and Berlin Mr. Sourani met with a number of German
Parliamentarians from all political fractions, and members of the German
Government. In particular, meetings took place with parliamentarians Ms. Annette
Groth, human rights speaker for die Linke; Mr. Wolfgang Neskovic, deputy
chairman of the legal committee; Mr. Ruprecht Polenz, chairman of the foreign
affairs committee for the CDU; Mr. Christoph Straesser, speaker on human rights
and humanitarian aid for the SPD; Ms. Kerstin Mueller, speaker on foreign
policy for die Gruene; Mr. Rainer Stinner, speaker on foreign policy for the
FPD; and Marina Schuster, speaker on human rights and humanitarian aid.

Meetings
took place with Dr. ElkeLoebel, Ms. Sylvia Ismail and other representatives at
the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation, and at the German Federal Foreign
Office with Mr. Hubert Jaeger, Head of the task force Palestinian territories
and Dr. Kathrin Misera-Lang, member of the same task force.

During these meetings PCHR Director highlighted the
pressing need for the Gaza closure to be lifted, enforcement of the rule of law
in Israel and the oPt, and for appropriate criminal investigations and
prosecutions to be conducted also recurring, if needed, to mechanisms of
international criminal justice. 

While in Berlin, Mr. Sourani conducted as well a
number of interviews and meetings with humanitarian and human rights
organizations, including the director of Human Rights Watch Germany, Mr. Wenzel
Michalski, and Amnesty International. On 18 October, PCHR Director was invited
by Amnesty International to discuss
about strategic human rights litigation, in the frame of an expert meeting of
AI German section focusing on the crimes committed in the context of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Also
on 18 October, Mr. Sourani appeared on the German TV Channel Deutsche Welle; he was interviewed both
for the Arabic and the English Channel about the agreed deal between Hamas and
Israel, brokered by Egypt, which lead to the liberation of captured Israeli
soldier Gilad Shalit against the expected release of approximately 1000
Palestinian prisoners.

Mr. Sourani
welcomed the successful conclusion of the agreement and remembered that almost 5600
Palestinian prisoners are still imprisoned in Israeli jails, often subjected to
torture, inhumane conditions and denied most basic rights, as family visits;
since several weeks Palestinian prisoners are on hungry strike to protest
against their unlawful detention conditions. Sourani also stressed again the
urgency that the absolute, illegal closureof Gaza be immediately lifted. As
PCHR already publicly denounced (see PCHR’s press release on 13 October 2011),
the current illegal closure of the Gaza Strip was imposed by Israel in 2006,
allegedly as a consequence and punishment for the capture of the Israeli
soldier Shalit. The closure, which amounts to collective punishment of the
civilian population, resulted in an unprecedented socio-economical degradation
and human-made disaster, with no legal or moral justification.

Mr.
Sourani is accompanied in his visit by Eyad El Alami, Deputy Director of PCHR
for Legal and Administrative Affairs and Director of the Legal Aid Unit; Rami
Abu Shaaban, PCHR’s Financial Officer; and Chantal Meloni, consultant of PCHR
International Legal Unit. The visit will
continue up to Friday, 21 October.