Description

Photos:
Scenes (7). Published by IMEMC News and PCHR

The premises of Palestinian NGO Women's Union building in the West Bank city of Ramallah after it was raided by Israel forces, on August 18, 2022. Credit: ABBAS MOMANI - AFP Published by Haaretz
_____

by The Palestinian Center For Human Rights (PCHR)

Ref: 103/2022

Date: 18 August 2022

Time: 11:00 GMT

On Thursday dawn, 18 August 2022, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) raided and closed 7 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Ramallah, and confiscated some of its contents. The decision came few hours after the announcement of Israeli Defense Minister, Benny Gantz, 3 CSOs: Bisan Center for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC), and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association as “terrorist organizations”, for allegedly funding the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The decision was made after an appeal submitted by these organizations against a previous decision issued last October labeling 6 CSOs as terrorist organization was rejected.

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Today at dawn, large number of IOF moved into Ramallah and Al-Bireh, where they raided 7 CSOs and human rights organizations and confiscated most of their contents. Afterwards, they welded shut with locks and iron bars and affixed a military order issued by the military commander to the doors, stating “necessary for region’s security, to counter terrorism infrastructure, in all its parts, vehicles, organizations and bodies, and to thwart acts of terrorism and strike the terrorism infrastructure, I am ordering to close this place”. As a result, none of those working in these organizations was able to see the extent of sabotage there, or what was confiscated. The organizations closed are as follows: the Bisan Center for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women Committees (UPWC), Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, and the Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC).

PCHR stresses that the closure is part of IOF’s systematic policy to polish off the Palestinian civil society and undermine its role in supporting the Palestinian resilience under the occupation.

PCHR hereby emphasizes that any assault on the civil society organizations constitutes a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and violates the Israeli occupation authorities’ obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of association in Article 22.

PCHR emphasizes that IOF adopts a systematic policy to tighten the screws on the Palestinian CSOs that has started since the 2001 Durban Conference against Racism in South Africa and escalated after the State of Palestine had acceded to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2015. These restrictions included the prosecution of human rights activists, and limiting their travel and movement, raiding and shutting down leading organizations in the fields of human rights and services.

PCHR stresses that IOF’s pursuit, designation of Palestinian NGOs as “terrorist”, and smear campaign against them aims at closing down these organizations and drying up external donor funding; thus having only one narrative and hiding the truth about IOF crimes committed in the oPt.

PCHR stresses that such practices are part of an old/new campaign against the CSOs and human rights organizations because of its pioneering role in exposing IOF’s violations and its international work, particularly at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

PCHR indicates that such practices come at a time IOF’s violations against Palestinian civilians at the height as the Palestinian CSOs countered the silence about these violations with exposing IOF’s crimes and unprecedented fierce campaign against the Palestinian people during the past 20 years. For more than 6 months, those violations escalated and included outgrowing settlement expansion, seizing Palestinians’ lands, building settlement roads, constructing the annexation wall, ethnic cleansing and creating Jewish majority in occupied East Jerusalem and assaulting holy sites.

PCHR affirms that CSOs are the last resort to protect the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and to defend civilian victims from the Israeli violations. These organizations will never and even refuse to be a good victim for the occupation. CSOs are fully aware of their role and duty and will not surrender or get caught up in defending their existence, because they exist for a noble, legal, national, and humanitarian mission, which is to defend the Palestinians’ dignity, rights and rule of law.

It is worth noting that the Israeli authorities’ decision to classify 6 CSOs as terrorist organizations was broadly and internationally condemned, specifically by the United Nations bodies, Special Rapporteurs, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Also, 10 European Union (EU) Member States rejected the Israeli decision, considering it was based on unfounded accusations and affirmed in a joint statement that they will continue to work with these organization, and that having a free and strong civil society is indispensable to promote the democratic values.

PCHR stresses the Palestinian authority (PA)’s role in protecting the civil society and its organizations, especially as these organizations legally operate in the West Bank and its offices located in Palestinian Authority-controlled areas.

PCHR also calls on the EU and the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention to take immediate action in order to compel Israel to abolish the decision to close the CSOs and stop all violations against them.
____

Editorial | Another Israeli Assault on Palestinian Civil Society

Haaretz Editorial
Aug 19, 2022

Israeli security forces conducted a predawn raid Thursday on the offices of seven Palestinian civil society organizations in the West Bank, confiscating property and sealing their doors. Defense Minister Benny Gantz had earlier declared six of the groups to be terrorist organizations. Israel claims they work for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The seven organizations that were shut down are civic organizations of which any democratic society would be proud. One is a branch of an international organization that sees to children’s rights and monitors the arrests and interrogations of children. Another helps Palestinian farmers who have lost their lands. Al-Haq documents human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and collects data about detentions without trial and torture during interrogations. Addameer provides legal aid to prisoners, while Bisan Center for Research and Development is a research institution. On Thursday, they were joined by the Union of Health Work Committees, which was outlawed in 2020.

Israel has never provided concrete proof that these organizations have ties to terror. Last month, nine European Union countries issued a joint statement in which they announced that they would continue funding the six groups Gantz ordered closed because Israel hadn’t given them any evidence that would justify changing their policy toward the organizations. “A free and strong civil society is indispensable for promoting democratic values and for the two-state solution,” the statement said.

But Europe isn’t needed in order to find the defense establishment’s decision puzzling and even to be outraged by it. These organizations are not armed groups, they do not use violence and their goal is to help members of their own people who live under the Israeli occupation. Closing them says that Israel prohibits not only violent resistance to the occupation, but also any other type of Palestinian activity.

Gantz has turned their closure into something akin to a personal Flag March, perhaps for political gain and to prove to his critics on the right that he is tough on the Palestinians. This is despicable behavior for a man who seeks to become prime minister. It creates serious doubts about Gantz’s judgment and also about the leadership of his superior, Prime Minister Yair Lapid. Both of them should stop persecuting civil-society organizations and focus on Israel’s real problems.

The above article is Haaretz's lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.