We denounce Israel’s assault on Palestinian human rights organizations & call on Biden administration to do the sameLast week’s overnight physical assault by Israeli occupying forces on the offices and property of prominent Palestinian civil society organizations must be urgently condemned by the Biden administration in the strongest terms, with concrete actions in response to the criminalization of human rights defenders to follow. The overnight assault, in which Israeli occupying forces sealed shut their doors, taped notices ordering them closed, and seized computers and other confidential materials, must be denounced. Israeli authorities designated six Palestinian civil society organizations (Defense for Children International - Palestine, Al Haq, Addameer, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees) as “terrorists” in October of last year. The Health Work Committee (HWC) and a church, which share offices with the Palestinian organizations were also raided, with HWC receiving a similar notice of closure Since then, states and donors that have reviewed the evidence alleged to support the Israeli designation have found it baseless and, along with U.N. officials, bar associations, and local and global civil society, have issued statements affirming their support of the Palestinian organizations. Continue reading on our website. | ||
Appellate court in Louisiana rules in favor of our clients, denying Greenfield grain elevator’s appealThe Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of our clients, The Descendants Project, in their case against St. John the Baptist Parish and Greenfield Louisiana seeking to prevent the construction of a massive grain elevator proposed by Greenfield, a Colorado-based company. The appeals court denied Greenfield's request to appeal the trial court's decision allowing the case to proceed. More significant, they issued a written ruling supporting the district court's ruling. The case seeks to declare a 30-year-old zoning ordinance to be null and void because it was passed in violation of state and local laws and was part of a corrupt scheme for which the former parish president was later sent to jail. Greenfield is relying on this old ordinance in seeking to build a massive heavy industrial facility less than 300 feet away from our clients’ homes and business and next to several historic and significant sites that commemorate those enslaved on the plantations that once operated there. The Descendants Project is seeking to protect the burial sites of ancestors who were enslaved on the property. Learn more about this case on our case page. |
August 24, 2022
