Embassy of the State of Palestine

Over 100 people attended a major conference in Prague this weekend to discuss an economic initiative designed to bring about transformative change and substantial growth in the Palestinian economy and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

The Initiative for the Palestinian Economy (IPE) is an ambitious, multi-year plan drafted by a team of policy advisors, external economic analysts and international domain experts under the leadership of Quartet Representative Tony Blair in support of renewed Palestinian-Israeli political negotiations.

A United Nations committee on Palestinian rights today called on the Security Council to act quickly to address “alarming” developments in East Jerusalem, including increasing incursions by Israeli extremists and political leaders on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations Ambassador Riyad Mansour sent identical letters, to the Secretary General, President of the General Assembly and President of the Security Council on the killing of Gaza youth, arrests of youth and Israeli report on settlements.

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics revealed in a recent report a 123 percent rise in construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem, relative to 2013. It went on to note that construction of a total of 2,534 settlement units was initiated in the settlements compared to 1,133 units in 2012.

Reuters) - President Barack Obama, issuing a veiled warning to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the eve of talks, said in an interview published on Sunday it would be harder for Washington to defend Israel against efforts to isolate it internationally if U.S.-led Middle East peace talks fail.

Ministers and officials from East Asian countries as well as other economies and international organizations started a conference in Jakarta on Saturday aimed at discussing ways to assist the Palestinian Authority in building its capacity.

"We look forward to the universal recognition of Palestine as an independent and sovereign state, and as a full member State of the United Nations. We can make this happen if we redouble our efforts to support them in nation and state-building," President Yudhoyono said.

Israeli forces have displayed a callous disregard for human life by killing dozens of Palestinian civilians, including children, in the occupied West Bank over the past three years with near total impunity, said Amnesty International in a report published today.

The report, Trigger-happy: Israel’s use of excessive force in the West Bank, describes mounting bloodshed and human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) as a result of the Israeli forces’ use of unnecessary, arbitrary and brutal force against Palestinians since January 2011.

PLO Executive Committee member, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, strongly condemned the passing of a new Israeli Knesset bill that was sponsored by MK Yariv Levin of the Likud Party and that explicitly distinguishes between Muslim and Christian Palestinian citizens of Israel. Furthermore, she denounced Knesset’s discussion of a proposal initiated by right-wing MK Moshe Feiglin regarding the extension of Israeli sovereignty over the Al-Aqsa Mosque:

“These moves demonstrate that Israel is transforming its military occupation into an outright religious confrontation and an ideological component of official policy as demonstrated in its insistence on the recognition of the ‘Jewishness of the state.’”

The present report is the final report of the current Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk, submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 1993/2 A and Human Rights Council decision 2/102.
In the report, the Special Rapporteur addresses Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the wall in the context of the tenth anniversary of the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and considers the policies and practices of Israel in occupied Palestine in light of the prohibition on segregation and apartheid.
He also addresses concerns in relation to the deterioration of the human rights situation of Palestinians living under the Israeli blockade in the Gaza Strip