“The sewage treatment facility would have served to further entrench Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, now universally considered to be a violation of international law and United Nations resolutions,” said the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk.

“It is encouraging that international corporations are taking corporate social responsibility seriously and weighing the legal consequences, financial costs and reputational risks of involvement in the maintenance and expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine.”

In a statement Royal HaskoningDHV, which is Holland’s largest engineering company, said that “in the course of the project, and after due consultation with various stakeholders, the company came to understand that future involvement in the project could be in violation of international law.”

Mr. Falk praised the decision as a major acknowledgement of the arguments made by legal experts and human rights activists about the corporate responsibility to respect human rights.

“The Dutch firm’s decision is part of a growing momentum against Israel’s failure to comply with international law in accordance with the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention governing belligerent occupation,” he said.

Mr. Falk also recalled the new European Union (EU) guidelines which establish that all agreements between Israel and the EU for grants, prizes and financial instruments funded by the EU must now explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.

“It is hoped that other companies engaged in business relationships with the illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine will follow Royal HaskoningDHV’s lead and terminate their involvement out of respect for corporate responsibility and international law,” Mr. Falk said.

The Special Rapporteur will present a report on corporate complicity in the Israeli settlement enterprise to the General Assembly next month. The report will set out a model for legal analysis of the specific ways in which business activities potentially implicate companies in international crimes.

Independent experts or special rapporteurs are appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back, in an unpaid capacity, on specific human rights themes.

This comes amid reports that Israel will release a small number of prisoners as per Palestinian condition to restart negotiations. Israeli official sources announced that 80 prisoners most of them imprisoned prior to Oslo accord will be released. This came as the Palestinian Authority (PA) demanded this step as a condition to resume frozen negotiations.

UFree, however,  calls on releasing all Palestinian prisoners and not only a limited number.

“The peace process has always proved a dishonest intention from the Israeli side as more thousands have been imprisoned since Oslo accord signed in 1993 between Israel and PA,” UFree said in a statement.

Khaled Waleed, UFree coordinator said in a press statement that Israel is demanded to release all prisoners as “a goodwill for true peace”.

“Thousands of Palestinian prisoners are in Israeli jails under made-up accusations and have been persecuted illegally. This includes women, children and sick prisoners. The continuation of detaining those segments of prisoners is illegal as per international law, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” stated Waleed.

In the same context, the family of Dirar Abu Sisi, who was kidnapped in Ukraine over 2 years ago, called on the Palestinian Authority to include Dirar within the list of names predicted to be freed. Abu sisi has been subject to constant torture and interrogation which caused him health complications.

The Settlement Subcommittee of the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration is expected to meet Wednesday to approve the plans.

Peace Now said that a government committee was expected to grant initial approval for plans to build 339 homes at Galgal and Almog settlements in the Jordan valley, Kfar Adumim northeast of Jerusalem and at Kochav Yaacov and Shilo near Ramallah, and another 732 new units in Modi’in Ilit, the West Bank’s biggest settlement, AFP reported.

“These approvals are part of an unprecedented wave of advancing settlement plans. This is yet another message by Israel to the US and the Palestinians that this government is not ready for peace,” Peace Now said in a statement.

The news came as US Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Amman at on a fresh trip to the Middle East focused to revive stalled peace talks.

Meanwhile, Israel condemned new guidelines by the European Union on Tuesday which ban EU funding and cooperation with Israeli institutions that operate in territory captured by Israel in 1967.

According to Israeli Haaretz, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to call European leaders on Wednesday and ask them to help postpone the publication of the new European Union guidelines concerning Israeli settlements.

The guidelines are expected to be officially released on Friday and go into effect on January 1, 2014.

The Palestinians are demanding that Israel stop building settlements in the West Bank as a condition for getting back to the negotiating table which have stalled since 2010. Israel says talks should restart without preconditions.

“Neither Israel nor its proxies can justify the facts on the ground in occupied Palestine,” Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, said, “so they distract, distort and defame to allow the violations to go on.”

In a news release, Mr. Falk underlined that “irresponsible and dishonest smear campaigns to discredit those who document these realities do not change the facts on the ground 46 after Israel launched the war that began its occupation of Palestine.”

According to Mr. Falk, Israel is actively confiscating Palestinian water and land, having seized an additional 60,000 square meters of land near Nablus just this week.

“Israel continues to annex Palestinian territory; Israel persists in demolishing Palestinians’ homes and populating Palestine with Israeli citizens; Israel maintains a policy of collectively punishing 1.75 million Palestinians through its imposition of a blockade on the Gaza Strip; and Israel prosecutes its occupation with impunity, refusing to accept the world’s calls to respect international law,” he said.

Israel has detained approximately 750,000 Palestinians since the occupation began 46 years ago, equalling nearly 20 per cent of the entire Palestinian population, Mr. Falk said.

“At the end of May Israel had 4,979 Palestinians, including 236 children, in its prisons. Another fact is that Israel constantly holds around 200 Palestinians in so-called administrative detention, which is a euphemism Israel uses for detention without charges.”

Turning to the situation in Gaza, Mr. Falk recalled that, in mid-June, Palestinians in Gaza will enter the seventh year of living under Israel’s blockade.

“Israel’s blockade is suffocating Palestinians in Gaza, with an incredible 70 per cent of the population dependent on international aid for survival and 90 per cent of the water unfit for human consumption,” he said. “These violations deprive Palestinians of hope and make a mockery of revived peace negotiations.”

In his latest report, Mr. Falk describes the situation in Gaza during his visit in December. He is scheduled to present his findings to the UN Human Rights Council on 10 June.

Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

In July 2012, Israel reinstated authorization for relatives to visit Palestinian prisoners and detainees from the Gaza Strip being held in Israel

Such visits were prohibited as of September 2007, shortly after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli decision to permit visits was made after some 2,000 Palestinian inmates went on a nearly six-week-long hunger strike. The media reported that the strike ended after representatives of the striking inmates reached an agreement with the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), which included an Israeli pledge to renew permission for family visits to Gazan inmates.

However, Israel set strict criteria for theses visits, allowing only parents, wives and children under eight to visit the inmates. All other relatives, including children over 8, siblings and grandparents, are not allowed to visit. Visitation rights were extended to inmates’ children under the age of eight only in May 2013, and children have taken part in three visits since.

B’Tselem, an Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, has gathered testimonies from Gazan children over the age of eight who have not seen their imprisoned fathers since 2007. In their testimonies, the children describe their longing to be reunited with their fathers as well as the difficulties they face because of the separation. The children’s only mode of communication with their fathers is written correspondence and sending pictures.

Visits are permitted very infrequently, only once a week on Mondays, and then only at one prison facility at a time: Nafha, Ramon and Eshel (Dekel). As a result, each eligible inmate receives a visit once every three or four months. In contrast, inmates from Israel or from the West Bank who are held on criminal or security grounds may receive visits once every two weeks.

At the end of April 2013, some 511 Gazans, including 14 minors, were held in Israeli prisons. Over 411 of the inmates are defined as “security inmates,” including one minor who was arrested in February 2012, B’Tselem reports.  One hundred others, including 13 minors, are defined as “criminal inmates”.

According to figures provided by the Red Cross, Gazan inmates in Israel had 830 visitors from Gaza between July 2012 and 22 April 2013. The number of visitors allowed is not constant, ranging anywhere from about 40 to about 80 on a particular scheduled visiting-day. Some inmates have received no visitors whatsoever for various reasons, including having no relatives in Gaza matching the IPS criteria or an IPS sanction on some inmates.

In advance of every visit, the IPS sends the Red Cross a list of inmates eligible for visits on that particular date and the details of the relatives permitted to come. The Red Cross ensures that the listed relatives are in the Gaza Strip and informs them of the upcoming visit. If a certain inmate’s relatives are unable to attend on the given date, they may join the next visit to that prison. The IPS does not allow relatives of other inmates to take their place.

On the day of the visit, a Red Cross bus collects the relatives from meeting points throughout the Gaza Strip and transports them to Erez Crossing. After a Red Cross representative crosschecks the passengers’ ID cards with the list provided by the IPS, they are checked at Erez Crossing. On the Israeli side, a Red Cross bus transports them to the prison.

‘Ali Abu Haneyeh, 13, of a-Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip, told B’Tselem field researcher Khaled al-‘Azayzeh how much he misses his father: “Every time I miss him, I open up the photo album and look at old photos. I keep asking my mother if he’s changed and what he looks like now.”

The visit lasts approximately 45 minutes. A glass partition separates the inmate from his visitors, and they communicate via a telephone. The visitors can give the inmates a limited amount of food and drink, but no gifts.

According to B’Tselem: “These restrictions on family visits to Gazan inmates in Israel contravene the Israel’s obligation to enable such visits. This obligation stems from the right of the inmates and of their relatives to family life, which is enshrined in both international and Israeli law. International law not only prohibits arbitrary disruption of family life, but obliges the state to actively ensure its fulfilment.”

“Israel must match visitation rights of Gazan inmates to those from Israel and the West Bank, increasing the frequency of family visits and enabling all inmates to realize their right to such visits once every two weeks, and not just once every three or four months as things now stand. Similarly, Israel must also allow Gazan inmates to receive visits from all first-degree relatives, including children of all ages,” the Israeli center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories added.

The change, introduced on 1 May, means google.ps now displays ‘Palestine’ in Arabic and English under Google’s logo.

The move on Wednesday follows the UN  decision in November to recognise Palestine as a “non-observer state” in spite of objections by the US and Israel.

The resolution on the status of Palestine in the UN was adopted by a vote of 138 in favour to nine against with 41 abstentions by the 193-member Assembly.

Google spokesman Nathan Tyler told the BBC: “We’re changing the name ‘Palestinian Territories’ to ‘Palestine’ across our products. We consult a number of sources and authorities when naming countries.

“In this case, we are following the lead of the UN, Icann [the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers], ISO [International Organisation for Standardisation] and other international organisations

Sabri Saadat, a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, welcomed the move and called it a step in the right direction

Israel however questioned the move, saying that it raised questions about the company’s involvement in international politics.

“This change raises questions about the reasons behind this surprising involvement of what is basically a private internet company in international politics, and on the controversial side,” Yigal Palmor, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, told AFP news agency.

The Israelis and Palestinians have yet to resume direct negotiations since talks stalled in September 2010, after Israel refused to extend its freeze on settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Some have interpreted the change as a small victory for Palestine.

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international mathematics and science evaluation that compares the achievement of 4th and 8th grade students in 63 other countries. The evaluation allows for the collection of extensive data on the quantity and quality of teaching all over the world.

The latest study revealed that UNRWA students in the West Bank scored better than the national average scoring 430 points in maths and 451 in science as compared to their national colleagues, with the national average achievement set at 404 in maths and 420 in science.

According to UNRWA’s education department, the achievements shown in the study are the result of hard work and coordination between students, their parents, school management and teachers.

“2011 was our first foray into TIMSS. We made it a goal and priority to achieve high scores, but high scores were not our only focus”, said school principal Ali Aseedeh. “Rather, the skills that are built in the process is what made TIMSS a central tool in our teaching strategy”.

While the hard work of students is at the heart of the high scores, UNRWA teachers have gone out of their way to help their students, the UN agency says. Maths teacher Ghassan Ismail organised private tutoring sessions in his home, after school and at weekends. School administrators created special maths and science periods every day, giving a focus and attention to the exam that would facilitate the high-scoring trend. The motivation and initiative of school staff provided the students with the support they needed to realise their potential.

According to Maan news agency Kerry offered President Mahmoud Abbas incentives to return to direct negotiations with Israel.

Kerry offered to release all Palestinian funds and to ensure Israel does not withhold Palestinian tax revenue in the future, and to extend the Palestinian Authority’s jurisdiction, particularly in Area C , according to Maan.

The 60 percent of the West Bank under exclusive Israeli control.

According to AFP, Abbas seeks a return to direct talks, but demanded that Israel must stop illegal settlement building and release Palestinian prisoners.

The last round of direct negotiations collapsed in late 2010.

Kerry is on a 10-day tour, met with Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul before meeting with Abbas.

“Turkey can be a key, an important contribution to the process of peace in so many ways,” Kerry told reporters in a joint press conference.

Meanwhile, a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip on Sunday. The rocket crashed into southern Israel as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leader.

Following the incident, Israel’s army closed a goods crossing into the Gaza Strip on Monday.Kerry is to hold separate talks on Monday with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli President Shimon Peres. On Tuesday he meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ongoing Palestinian protests against the Israeli occupation have further escalated this week following renewed anger over detention conditions of Palestinian political detainees and prisoners, including the death in custody of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, a Palestinian prisoner with cancer held by Israel since 2002.

The protests look set to continue following the deaths of two Palestinian teenagers who were killed by Israeli forces at a military post near the settlement of Enav in the northern West Bank on Wednesday.

“For years we and other human rights organizations have documented how the Israeli army has used excessive force against protesters in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, often resulting in unlawful killings and injuries,” said Ann Harrison, Amnesty |nternational’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Israel must take urgent steps to ensure its forces in the West Bank limit the use of live fire to situations when their own lives or others are genuinely in danger in order to avoid further unlawful deaths and injuries.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented more than 1,000 injuries of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces in the West Bank during January and February 2013.

Amnesty International has previously raised concerns that Israel’s military investigations fail to meet international standards and result in near-total impunity for those responsible for unlawful killings. Any killing or serious injury of a civilian by Israeli armed forces should be investigated promptly, independently, and impartially so that those responsible can be held to account and victims and their relatives can claim redress.

“While we recognize that the Israeli army, as the occupying power, has a responsibility to maintain law and order, it is also obliged to protect Palestinian civilians and must adhere to international policing standards,” said Harrison.

“Israeli forces must respect Palestinians’ right to protest peacefully, including against Israeli policies and practices such as the building of settlements on occupied land, which is a serious violation of international law and amounts to a war crime when pursued as a consistent policy, as in Israel’s case.”

“The incident is a dramatic and disturbing escalation in a series of demonstrations that have taken place over the past week,” the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a statement.

“These demonstrations affect our ability to provide much-needed service to the Palestine refugees in Gaza and – because they also targeted the Gaza headquarters building – our operations in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.”

Many of UNRWA’s other facilities had already been shut down due to demonstrations. With this additional protest, UNRWA said the safety of its staff is of crucial concern, and that it would close all its relief and distribution centres “until guarantees are given by all relevant groups that UN operations can continue unhindered.”

Thursday’s breach followed an announcement by UNRWA that it would reduce its cash assistance programme due to budget shortfalls.

The Director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza, Robert Turner, said that to mitigate the effects of the reductions, the Agency had introduced and expanded its Job Creation Programme to the poorest refugee families in Gaza.

In addition, UNRWA’s large-scale food distribution programme, with over 800,000 beneficiaries, “will continue unchanged.”

Mr. Turner said that while the Agency respects people’s right to peaceful demonstration, what happened today was “completely unacceptable.”

“The situation could very easily have resulted in serious injuries to UNRWA staff and to the demonstrators. This escalation, apparently pre-planned, was unwarranted and unprecedented.”

UNRWA called on all the groups behind today’s incident “to immediately stop inciting crowds at these demonstrations and to conduct themselves in a responsible manner.”

It also called on authorities to play their role in providing security and ensuring demonstrations remain peaceful, and encouraged donors to continue to fund UNRWA’s vital relief programmes.