14.06.2022 - The Heinrich -Böll-Stiftung- Palestine and Jordan hosted MP Lamya Kaddor, member of the German Parliament, and Spokesperson on Domestic Affairs for the Greens, and Dr. Carsten Wieland, Senior Policy Advisor for the Middle East for the Greens’ Parliamentary Group, during the course of their visit to the occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt) on June 5, 2022.
The program organized by hbs included a roundtable meeting in Ramallah with hbs partner organizations and experts. The meeting addressed current political and societal developments with a special focus on the human rights situation and German-Palestinian relations in addition to regional developments such as the normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states and their ramifications for Palestine. Moreover, the meeting raised the issue of the growing challenges faced by Palestinian human rights organizations advocating for Palestinian rights through the lens of International Humanitarian Law and the many obstacles that the occupation presents for Palestinian civil society.
The delegation also visited the Palestinian neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan in Jerusalem, where they met hbs partner organizations and representatives of the local community, who gave brief updates on the geopolitical and human rights situation in Jerusalem. This included a description of ongoing and prospective Jerusalem Municipality projects such as the “Cable Car Project” along with the forcible transfer policy and home demolitions that are threatening thousands of Palestinians in Jerusalem. Accompanying these updates was a special focus on the living conditions of women and the challenges that confront them, as well as the detention of children and its impact on them and their families.
Furthermore, the delegation visited Al-Aqsa mosque and met with Sheikh Azzam Al-Khatib, Director-General of the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem, who provided the delegation with an overview on the current status quo in Al-Aqsa. The visit concluded with a meeting at the Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem with Ms. Sieglinde Weinbrenner, the representative of the Lutheran World Federation World Service, Jerusalem Program. The discussion revolved around the current financial crisis facing the hospital and its consequences for cancer patients, especially women suffering from breast cancer, and possible measures to resolve the problem.