JAI Eye on Palestine: March 17, 2016

JAI Eye on Palestine: March 17, 2016

The YMCA-YWCA Joint Advocacy Initiative issues this bi-weekly newsletter to keep you updated on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories related to the Israeli occupation.

Israeli cosmetics company Ahava to leave the West Bank following BDS campaign

Israeli cosmetics company Ahava is to relocate its manufacturing plant from the West Bank to inside the pre-1967 lines.

In recent years, the firm has been targeted by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, due to the location of its factory in the illegal settlement of Mitzpeh Shalem.

According to reports, the new site, like the current one, will be located on the Dead Sea shore, but no longer in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Read more

Palestinian ex-refugee Hanan al-Hroub wins $1m Global Teacher Prize for her work with refugee children

A Palestinian woman who grew up as a refugee and who now teaches refugee children has been awarded with a $1million (£707,000) global prize for reaching excellence.

Hanan al-Hroub, who teaches primary school children in the West Bank city of al-Bireh, just outside of Ramallah, was handed the second annual Global Teacher Prize which recognises an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the profession. Read more

A Kairos Perspective of Tourism and Pilgrimage: Come and See

By: Rifat Odeh Kassis

When we created the Kairos Document (launched in December 2009), we at Kairos Palestine tried to reflect on what tourism and pilgrimage really mean to us. In our advocacy, we try to see and respond to both our reality and our rights. We address churches, tourists, and pilgrims of all faiths and ethnicities in hopes they will see the injustice happening in Palestine and walk and work in solidarity with us along the path to justice. Kairos Palestine believes in facilitating the “sight” of the many people who visit our land, whether they are tourists or pilgrims. Read more