Human Rights

20 May 2022; MEMO: The Israeli occupation authorities yesterday issued stop work orders for the homes being built by a group of Palestinians in the Artas villages in southern Bethlehem district, Wafa has reported.

According to the director of the Bethlehem office of the Wall and Settlements Resistance Commission, Hassan Breijeh, armed officers handed six families notices ordering them to halt construction work on their houses, which are still in the initial building stage.

19 May 2022; MEMO: The United States will reduce its aid to Tunisia after its government's "deviation from democracy," the chief of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, warned yesterday.

"Tunisia will receive less money in the 2023 budget," Power told Congress, noting that the move had come after what it described as the Tunisian government's repression of the civil society and violation of the supremacy of law and democratic standards.

20 May 2022; MEMO: The Israeli Doctors' Union announced on Thursday the start of a comprehensive strike across the healthcare system in protest at the increasing number of cases of violence against medical staff in hospitals and other medical institutions. The relevant authorities, it is alleged, have not addressed and dealt with the issue.

19 May 2022; MEMO: A Finnish Member of Parliament has called for a boycott of Turkish kebabs, holidays and cars, as Turkiye continues to insist that Finland and Sweden should not gain NATO membership unless they cease support for groups Ankara views as terrorists.

In a statement to the media earlier this week, Finnish MP, Mikko Karna, urged "citizens to boycott Turkish holiday trips, Turkish kebab restaurants and Turkish-made cars until Turkiye has given its approval to Finland's NATO membership".

20 May 2022; MEMO: The US issued a general licence on Thursday to exempt northern Syrian territories, including those controlled by the PKK's regional branch, the YPG, from American sanctions, Anadolu has reported.

18 May 2022; MEMO: A Pentagon investigation into a US air strike that killed dozens of people in Syria in 2019 found that the initial review of the attack by the military was mishandled with reporting delays but stopped short of calling for disciplinary action.

The inquiry found that most people killed in the attack were Daesh fighters and that military officials didn't violate the laws of war or deliberately conceal casualties, reports the New York Times.

18 May 2022; MEMO: A newly-elected Lebanese Member of Parliament has come under heavy criticism over a tweet she posted in the past which called for the "genocide" of Syrians within Lebanon.

Cynthia Zarazir, who early this week won a parliamentary seat for the opposition Li Watani [For My Nation] list in the first district of Lebanon's capital, Beirut, is being criticised for her tweet in a Twitter post she wrote back in 2016, which has re-emerged following her election.

18 May 2022; MEMO: Israeli police have arrested one of the Palestinian pallbearers beaten by officers at the funeral of slain Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh, the detained man's lawyer said on Wednesday, and Reuters reports.

A police spokesperson confirmed the arrest of Amro Abu Khdair, but said it was not connected to Friday's funeral. He declined to give the reason for the man's arrest.

19 May 2022; MEMO: Some 140 senior Indian journalists have sent a joint letter to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in which they condemned the Israeli army's targeting of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

19 May 2022; MEMO: In an apparent slip of the tongue, former US President George W Bush has condemned the "brutal" and "wholly unjustified" invasion of Iraq, when he meant to say Ukraine. The gaffe-prone 75 year old made the remark yesterday during an address at the Southern Methodist University's Bush Centre in Dallas, Texas.