In France, la Campagne Internationale pour la Protection du Peuple Palestinien can be contacted at palestine@noos.fr.   In Italy, the Associazone per la pace can be contacted at assopace@tiscalinet.it.   In Spain,  the Associacion Al-Quds de Solidaridad con los Pueblos del Mundo Arab can also be contacted al-quds.malaga@nodo50.org or info@alqudsmalaga.org and the Comite de Solidaridad con la Causa Arabe can be contacted at csca@nodo50.org.   In Ireland, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign can be contacted at supportpalestine@ireland.com.   In the United States, the Fellowship of Reconciliation can be contacted at middleeast@forusa.org.   To include details of your organisation or for more details about solidarity groups in other countries please send an   email to pchr@pchrgaza.org.

 3. Circulate the reports PCHR produces to family, friends and throughout your local community.
Modern marketing experts are only now discovering what grassroots activists have known for years – that change comes through people communicating with other people.  Tell people about what is happening in Palestine by giving them copies of our reports. You can circulate our reports via e-mail to save paper and be more environmentally aware – ask friends and family to join our mailing list so they can read first hand the experiences of Palestinian civilians.

Where appropriate ask your local library, community centre or religious centre if you can leave copies of our reports in a prominent public area.  If you are printing out or photocopying our reports please try to use recycled paper to help the environment.

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PCHR already gets many of our reports translated into Spanish and a limited number translated into Italian and French.  However we are always keen to inform new groups of people about our work and don’t want to assume that everyone can read about what is happening in Palestine through Arabic and English.  We would be happy to receive volunteers to translate reports into any language, though our priority is to focus on languages such as French, Portuguese and German (and any other European languages), and Asian languages such as those in the Indian sub-continent, Chinese and  Japanese.  To find out how to become involved in translating PCHR documents please e-mail us at pchr@pchrgaza.org.

5. Write to your elected (or unelected) representatives asking them to take action.

PCHR believes that the question of Palestine can be resolved through the implementation of internationally agreed standards of behaviour.  Most governments have signed up to the instruments of international law, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention (which governs the behaviour of an occupying power) – this means that, according to Article 1 of the Convention, they have a binding obligation to “ensure respect” for the Convention.

Recently the International Court of Justice found that all governments had a special obligation not to recognise the attempt by Israel to annex more Palestinian land (by building the Wall in the West Bank) and that governments have a clear obligation to ensure that the Annexation Wall is dismantled. 

Please write to your government and remind them of their obligations and ask them to take firm measures, not just empty utterances, to help Palestinian civilians achieve an end to the Israeli occupation of their land.  As more people write to their governments these governments will understand that the question of Palestine is no longer one they can ignore – at home or abroad.
 

More action is required to let people in authority know the strength of feeling about this question and a very visible way of doing this is by taking to the streets in protest at the conspiracy of silence practised by governments on the question of Palestine.   However street events don’t always have to be sombre or serious events – use your imagination and organise carnivals and festivals which educate your community about Palestinian food, dress, music, poetry and other aspects of the culture.  Such events can be an opportunity to explain to people that this culture is being suffocated and eradicated by the belligerent Israeli occupation.

If you are organising a protest then try to be innovative – standing around with placards while shouting slogans is useful to a point but why not try to use costume and art to grab peoples’ attention instead.  People will appreciate the efforts you have made and become more interested in what you have to say.   If you want to see some examples of events people have already organised please click here. 
 

If you want to organise some sort of street festival or protest then please contact your local Palestine Solidarity Campaign and ask for their advice and support.  If you organise something innovative or exciting then please make sure to send us a photograph or two and we will be happy to tell people in Gaza about what you are doing to support the Palestinian right of self-determination.  Please send photographs or other information to pchr@pchrgaza.org

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As well as Solidarity Campaigns in your own locality there are many other NGOs working on the question of human rights in both Palestine and Israel.  PCHR believes that it is civil society which provides a forum for the conscience of the world.  Civil society forms a human network, supporting universal values, that even occupation can not break.  Offering support to other civil society organisations can be a way of making an impact in a wide variety of fields from traditional human rights groups to those who work on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights such as mental health or pedagogy.

To find a list of some other organisations working to improving the situation of Palestinian civilians please click here.

 8.  Invest ethically.
Recently the Methodist Church in the USA began a programme of progressive divestment from companies that were supporting human rights violations in Israel.  If you are managing a business or investing Pension Funds on behalf of a religious body, trade union or other organisation you may already be investing ethically.  Please ask your broker to ensure that companies which support the Israeli occupation and the associated human rights violations are excluded from your investment portfolio.  Companies who do this include those who operate in illegal Israeli settlements and companies who manufacture and supply equipment or provide services which support the occupation of Palestine.    

Remember even individuals can invest ethically by ensuring that your pension, or other elements of your investment portfolio, are invested with an ethical investment broker.

9.  Make a donation to PCHR.
PCHR survives on the goodwill of our partners and some select governments who fund the work we carry out.  However we welcome the support of other interested parties who wish to support human rights in Palestine.  To find out more about the PCHR programme and why you need to donate please click here.

10.  Visit Palestine.
 Not exactly a normal tourist trip: but we invite you to come and witness for yourself the shocking actions of the IOF, see the West Bank Wall or climb over the rubble from the extensive house demolitions, see the places where the Israeli military carried out its brutal policy of extra-judicial executions, see the bullet-riddled schools where children try to learn.

But you will also meet Palestine civilians, many of them refugees - people who have nothing but who will welcome you like you were a long lost family member.  One way or another we guarantee you an unforgettable experience if you visit Palestine -and a lot to talk about when you get home.

Many of the solidarity groups listed above will be able to facilitate your efforts to visit Palestine - Grassroots International Protection for the Palestinian People (GIPPP) is an umbrella organisation for Palestinian and European groups organising civilian delegations to the OPT.