| | CMEP Weekly Bulletin: Blocked European Funds to Palestinian Territories to Be Released A look at incoming aid, upcoming visits, and more news in this week’s bulletin. CMEP’s Bulletin is a weekly round-up of news from the Middle East and represents an array of perspectives on the issues we cover. CMEP does not necessarily agree with all the views expressed in the articles, and they do not speak on CMEP’s behalf. | | | |  | Image: President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen looks on as she speaks to the media in Ramallah, in the West Bank June 14, 2022. (Reuters/Mohamad Torokman) | | | Blocked European funds to Palestinian Territories to be released Jerusalem Post “Hundreds of millions of euros in European funds to support the Palestinian Territories can be paid out following the resolution of problems that had blocked their release, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday (June 14). Payment of the funds had been held up by a dispute over proposals by the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, to condition funding on educational reform including the content of Palestinian school textbooks. ‘I am glad to announce that the EU funds for 2021 can be disbursed rapidly,’ she said during a visit to Ramallah, in the West Bank. ‘All the difficulties are gone. We have made clear the disbursement will take place.’” | | | | | | | |  | Image: U.S. President Joe Biden arrives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Saturday, June 11, 2022. (Jim Watson/AFP) | | | Despite political crisis, Biden to visit Israel and West Bank on July 13
Haaretz “U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia on July 13-16, a senior administration official said Monday (June 13). The trip will be Biden's first visit to the Middle East as president, though he first visited Israel over 50 years ago as a senator and has been considered among Israel's most staunch U.S. political allies in its history. His visit comes as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's year-old coalition faces its most serious crisis yet, though Israel's domestic political situation is unlikely to derail the visit.” | | | | | | | |  | Image: The administration of US President Joe Biden has said it aims to reopen the consulate. (AFP/File photo) | | | US must reopen Jerusalem consulate ahead of Biden's visit, says Palestinian Authority
Middle East Eye “The Palestinian Authority has called on the Biden administration to reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem and fulfil its other promises to the Palestinians ahead of the president's visit to the region next month. A Palestinian Authority official told the Jerusalem Post that the other promises include removing the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) from Washington's foreign terror organisation (FTO) list. The administration of US President Joe Biden has said it aims to reopen the consulate, which serves Palestinians and is opposed by several officials in Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government.” | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | Action Alert: On June 1, 2022, a bi-partisan Yemen War Powers Resolution (HJRes 87) was introduced by Reps. DeFazio, Jayapal, Mace, and Schiff, with 41 total cosponsors. Right now, over 21 million people in Yemen are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. Instead of continuing to support the Saudi-led coalition, the Biden Administration must advance policies that will help bring stability and meet the humanitarian needs of the Yemeni people. If you are not able to take action and are registered to vote in the U.S., it is likely because your House member is already supporting this legislation. You can confirm whether your Representative is already a cosponsor by clicking here. | | | | |  | Webinar Series Begins Next Week: Join Churches for Middle East Peace, Embrace the Middle East, and author Colin Chapman as he presents material from his book Christian Zionism and the Restoration of Israel: how should we interpret the scriptures? This 4 part mini-course will run weekly from June 21 to July 12. | | | | |  | Upcoming Webinar Next Week: Join Churches for Middle East Peace on Thursday, June 23rd for the webinar: "Israel/Palestine and Apartheid: How Should the Church Respond?" We'll hear from guests Dr. Peter Makari, Hadar Suskin, and Dawood Hammoudeh on questions such as: "As church bodies gather this summer with the question of Israel/Palestine and Apartheid on the agenda, what is the role of U.S. Christians in the conversation? How are we to respond as Christians? As citizens of a government that provides $3.8 billion dollars a year to Israel in military aid?" | | | | |  | Public Statement: CMEP Identifies Upgrade in State Department’s Palestinian Office
as a “Good First Step”: CMEP welcomes the decision by the United States government to upgrade its Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU) to a more independent Office of Palestinian Affairs (OPA) as a good first step toward the re-establishment of a Consulate General in East Jerusalem. | | | | | | | | Support CMEP We could not continue to pursue our mission to Educate, Elevate, and Advocate for a just and holistic peace in Israel, Palestine, and the broader Middle East without your support. Consider supporting CMEP today. | | | | | | | | | |  | Image: A general view of the room hosting a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on Ukraine, in Geneva, on May 12, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP) | | | US, 21 other countries lash UN rights council for report blaming Israel for conflict
Times of Israel “The US and 21 other countries issued a harsh rebuke on Monday (June 13) to the United Nations Human Rights Council after a Commission of Inquiry formed to probe Israel released a report last week condemning the Jewish state. The report — the first submitted to the Commission of Inquiry (COI) established last year by the Human Rights Council — blamed Israel’s ‘persistent discrimination against Palestinians’ for violence between the two sides.” | | | | | | | |  | Image: Palestinian Mahmoud Najajreh points at his demolished house, in Masafer Yatta, South of Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 31, 2022. (Reuters/Mussa Qawasma) | | | Largest Palestinian displacement in decades looms after Israeli court ruling
Reuters “Some 1,200 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank region of Masafer Yatta face the risk of forced removal to make way for an army firing zone after a decades-long legal battle that ended last month in Israel's highest court. The ruling opened the way for one of the largest displacements since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Middle East war. But residents are refusing to leave, hoping their resilience and international pressure will keep Israel from carrying out the evictions.” | | | | | | | |  | Image: Mohammad Abadeen, a 53-year-old man who runs an apothecary serving affordable plant-based treatments, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tripoli, northern Lebanon June 6, 2022. (Reuters/Emilie Madi) | | | Lebanon's north turns to apothecaries as healthcare costs soar
Reuters “Once a gymnastics instructor, Mohammad Abadeen now runs a small apothecary in Lebanon's north, offering affordable plant-based treatments to clients tired of chronic medicine shortages and price hikes. The craft dates back thousands of years and is known as alternative or herbal medicine - relying on concoctions made from herbs, spices, and natural oils in an attempt to treat ailments including colds, coughs and stomach bugs.” | | | | | | | | CMEP's Bulletin is a weekly round-up of news from the Middle East and represents an array of perspectives on the issues we cover. CMEP does not necessarily agree with all the views expressed in the articles, and they do not speak on CMEP's behalf. | | | | Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP)
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