LPHR Human Rights Blog

Airbnb settlements disengagement decision shows the way forward for companies in the emerging context of business and human rights compliance

21st November 2018

[This blog has been published by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre]

Earlier this week, the San Francisco-based company, Airbnb, announced that it will remove from its popular accommodation bookings website all properties (currently around 200 Airbnb listings) in illegal Israeli settlements built in the occupied West Bank. This positive development is a demonstration of the necessary disengagement action that responsible companies should be taking so as to comply with their business and human rights responsibilities in the context of settlement-related activities in the occupied Palestinian territory. [Read more…]

LPHR and Al Mezan’s significant new report on the systemic denial of justice for Gaza human shield survivors

5th September 2018

In the summer of 2014, during the military offensive on Gaza that Israel code-named ‘Operation Protective Edge’, at least five Palestinians in Gaza, including a child, had their lives endangered when used as human shields by Israel’s military forces. [Read more…]

A humanitarian crisis in Gaza: connecting the tightened closure with the flawed Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism

18th July 2018

At the start of last week, the Government of Israel imposed a series of severe restrictions on the movement of goods through Kerem Shalom, the main commercial crossing to and from the occupied Gaza Strip, which will remain in place until further notice.

[Read more…]

The Israeli government is moving to institutionalise the application of Israeli domestic law in the occupied West Bank with disturbing consequences

26th June 2018

The United States NGO, Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), has detailed the recent steps taken by the Israeli government to systematically apply Israeli domestic law to illegal settlements. These developments critically build upon practices already in existence that are raising deep concerns, as summed up in a statement on 1 June by the UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, that Israel’s ‘illegal settlement activity promotes the de facto annexation of the West Bank’.

[Read more…]

The Gaza Electricity Crisis Continues – June 2018 Update

20th June 2018

LPHR remain extremely concerned at the ongoing suffering which the two million residents of Gaza are experiencing due to shortages of electricity. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has just revealed that in both April and May 2018, the Gaza Strip received on average only 4 hours of electricity per day. [Read more…]

Palestine, democracy and Abbas’ speech

1st June 2018

The right to participate in free and fair elections is enshrined in every major human rights instrument:

[Read more…]

How Israel’s courts sanctioned the closure of Gaza – a report by Gisha

19th April 2018

In December 2017, the Israeli human rights organisation, Gisha, published ’10 Years 10 Judgments: How Israel’s courts sanctioned the closure of Gaza’. The report examines 10 significant Israeli High Court of Justice judgments made after Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in August 2005 and the tightening of its closure of the Strip in June 2007. [Read more…]

UK vote against accountability at the UN is a reminder that the pursuit for justice for Palestinians is being led by civil society

26th March 2018

Last Friday, at the UN Human Rights Council, the UK regrettably voted against a resolution on accountability for alleged serious international crimes committed against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory.

[Read more…]

UK makes principled and meaningful recommendations to Israel at Universal Periodic Review of its human rights record

23rd January 2018

This morning was the third Universal Periodic Review of Israel at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The UK was one of a number of states that participated in a dialogue with Israel on its human rights record.

[Read more…]

The Gaza Electricity Crisis – punitive decisions and the UK Government’s response

11th January 2018

In June 2017, the Israeli Government decided to reduce its electricity supply to Gaza by 40 per cent, upon a request from the Palestinian Authority. This decision resulted in an electricity crisis for the residents of Gaza, with households, schools and hospitals receiving only up to 4 hours of electricity per day. [Read more…]