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Palestinian NGOs Network

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The Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO or PNGO Net) is an umbrella organization of Palestinian non-government organisations (NGOs) in the Palestinian territories formed to enhance coordination, consultation and cooperation between member NGOs and to strengthen Palestinian civil society and contribute to the establishment of a Palestinian state.[1] PNGO was formed in September 1993, and as of January 2020, had 135 member NGOs operating in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.[2][3]

PNGO operates through committees of members working in five sectors: health, democracy and human rights, women and children, rehabilitation and agriculture. PNGO role is to establish general guidelines and coordinate the NGOs work but has no line authority on the NGOs.[1]

PNGO is a member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.[2] Individual PNGO members, such as Defense for Children International – Palestine, also promote BDS and are active participants in lobbying the UN, EU, foreign governments, and other international bodies that promote this agenda.[4]

Funding of NGOs

Each member NGO obtains separate funding for its activities and projects from donors, including foreign governments, international organisations, charities, etc., which all form part of the international aid to Palestinians.

In January 2020, the European Union (EU) inserted a clause in new EU’s grant contracts to prohibit recipients from working with and funding organizations and individuals designated on the EU’s terror lists, Article 1.5 of Annex II listed in the “General conditions applicable to European Union-financed grant contracts for external actions”.[5] The PNGO vehemently opposed the new requirement.[4][3] Media reports stated that the PNGO's position was that that Palestinian terrorist organizations are in fact “political parties.”[6] According to the PNGO, the EU sent a “clarification letter” on 30 March 2020, which specified that the EU provision only applies to persons explicitly named in its restrictive list and emphasized that no Palestinian persons are included in that list, and that the provision is limited to “financial procedures”, adding: “The EU does not ask any civil society organization to change its political position towards any Palestinian faction or to discriminate against any natural person based on his/her political affiliation”.[7][8] The EU reaffirmed its position in April 2021, saying the EU must “thoroughly verify” that its funds are not “allocated or linked to any cause or form of terrorism and/or religious and political radicalization.” Any funds that did go to any person or organization with terrorist ties must be “proactively recovered, and recipients involved are excluded from future union funding.”[9]

According to research by NGO Monitor, a pro-government Israeli monitoring group focused on the sources and uses of Palestinians civic society organizations’ funding, it is alleged that at least 70 NGO officials are affiliated with the PFLP and that between 2014 and 2021, numerous European governments gave over €200 million to the NGO network which they claim is linked to the PFLP, some of which was used to finance terrorism.[10]

Outlawing of Palestinian NGOs by Israel

The Health Workers Committee, was outlawed as affiliated with the PFLP in January 2020. Israel is charging four employees of the Health Workers Committee with membership and diversion of funds to the PFLP with a trial scheduled for November 2021.[11] On 10 November, a Spanish-Palestinian woman pleaded guilty in an Israeli military court for embezzling funds from the Health Work Committees but was unaware that funds had been transferred to the PFLP. According to Haaretz, Israeli security officials admit "that the publicly available evidence does not provide any evidence incriminating the six groups [designated unlawful in October] of financial links to the PFLP."[12][13] On 28 February 2021 Israel designated the Samidoun organization as a terrorist organization stating that it is part of the PFLP and founded by members of the PFLP in 2012.[14]

On 22 October 2021, Israel designated Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center, Defense for Children International(Palestine), Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees as terrorist organizations.[15] Amnesty and Human Rights Watch called the move an "appalling and unjust decision" and "an attack by the Israeli government on the international human rights movement".[16] The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which partners with the NGOs, said the designations were based on "extremely vague or irrelevant reasons, including entirely peaceful and legitimate activities" with Al-Haq, for example, described as "engaged on behalf of the [PFLP] in the promotion of steps against Israel in the international arena."[17][18] On 26 October 2021, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said "Israel must ensure that human rights defenders are not detained, charged and convicted in relation to their legitimate work to protect and promote human rights. I call on the Israeli authorities to revoke their designations against Palestinian human rights and humanitarian organisations as terrorist organizations, as well as their declarations against those they deem to be "unlawful","[19] An EU statement on 25 October 2021, said "Past allegations of the misuse of EU funds in relation to certain number of our Palestinian civil society organizations' partners have not been substantiated," adding that the "EU remains engaged with the Israeli authorities on this issue."[20] There were negative reactions from the PLO, the Arab League as well as other human rights groups and activists.[21][22] The designation applied within Israel[23] and as of 7 November 2021 was extended to the West Bank by military order of the IDF (the Union of Agricultural Work Committees was already outlawed in the West Bank in 2020).[24]

Joshua Zarka, the deputy director-general of strategic affairs in the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said that representatives of Shin Bet and the Foreign Ministry will visit the US and provide intelligence proving the relationship between the NGOs and the PFLP.[25][26] As of 3 November, according to Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, no credible evidence has been provided to Ireland or the European Union.[27] Documents presented by Israel had previously been presented to European diplomats in May and were presented in the US. Despite Israeli insistence that they have provided "concrete and unambiguous information", there are claims that the information is "circumstantial and inadequate" with at least five of the European countries saying that there is no "concrete evidence".[28][11] On 5 November 2021, Finnish Christian missionary group Felm announced that while Felm had seen no evidence its funding had been misused, it cut ties with Defense for Children International(Palestine) due to concerns about possible banking sanctions as a result of the Israeli designation.[29][30] On 8 November 2021, according to Front Line Defenders, Israeli NSO Group spyware was used to monitor the cellphones of six Palestinian activists and human rights workers three of whom are members of the outlawed NGOs.[31][32]

According to Just Security, the Israeli designation on 22 October 2021, of six West Bank Palestinian civil society organizations as "terrorist organizations" under Israel’s counterterrorism law of 2016 highlights the flawed nature of the law and says that "In 2021, it should be clear to everyone that criminalizing human rights groups on the basis of classified intelligence is absolutely unacceptable."[33] Human Rights Watch says that the 2016 law is in the category of countries with "Overbroad or Vague Definitions of "Terrorism"" and includes expressing support for a listed group such as waving a flag or singing its anthem, punishable by up to three years in prison.[34]

According to a United Nations statement, as of 9 November 2021, "These allegations are taken very seriously. To date, none of the UN agencies nor AIDA organisations have received written documentation which could serve as a basis for the allegations." The statement also criticized the scope of Israeli 2016 Anti-Terrorism legislation.[35][36] According to Mondoweiss, the U.S. State Department said on 8 November "We had a constructive discussion with an Israeli delegation that was visiting last week. The delegation provided a verbal briefing on information that they had on certain groups. They also provided written materials. We’ve provided those written materials to our counterparts in the administration. We’re going to take a very close look at them [and] from that we’ll form an informed judgment."[37]

On 17 November, speaking at a meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, Josep Borrell, the EU representative for foreign affairs said that Israel has still not provided evidence for the designations.[38] On 8 December, Gantz said the outlawed Palestinian NGOs paid terrorists who never worked for them and allowed PFLP members to meet at their offices.[39]

In July 2020, the Dutch government announced the suspension of funding to UAWC over allegations that it has links to PFLP.[40] In May 2021, the European Commission suspended EU funding to one of the affected NGOs, al-Haq, in addition to instructing Oxfam to halt funding to UWAC "until the situation has been clarified." A commission review was completed in July 2021 and identified no "breach of obligations or irregularities". At the end of 2021 the Commission confirmed the continuation of the funding suspension pending further investigations of information received from Israel.[41][42][43] In January 2022, the Dutch government announced it will stop €2.2 million worth of funding to UAWC over links between some individuals and the PFLP, although the review failed to find the sweeping financial ties alleged by Israel.[44]

In January 2022, a statement by Israeli NGOs including Adalah, Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem, Combatants for Peace, HaMoked, Human Rights Defenders Fund, Ir Amim, Ofek – The Israeli Center for Public Affairs, Parents Against Child Detention, Physicians for Human Rights–Israel and Yesh Din, urged all donors of the six designated NGOs "to maintain and, if possible, to increase their funding."[45][46]

After the previous paper failed to convince, during December 2021, Israel's Foreign Ministry circulated a new document with additional information and European leaders remain unconvinced. In January 2022, Denmark and Ireland have announced they will continue to fund the organizations and 10 other countries representatives also said that they were not convinced by the additional materials provided.[47]

Other reactions

Israeli journalist Amira Hass, in an ironical op-ed for Haaretz written in response to the law, stated that she too funded terrorism, since her taxes paid for numerous government acts, military behavior and settler violence that, in her view, constituted forms of terrorism against Palestinians.[48] Moria Shlomot, executive director of Israel NGO Parents Against Child Detention, and who has first hand knowledge of one of the banned group-the 'Palestinian branch of Defense for Children International'- likened the branding of the PDCI as a terrorist group to 'declaring Israel’s National Council for the Child to be a branch of Al-Qaida.'[49]

Members

Each member NGO has its own area of activity and is affiliated to related international organisations (which may in turn be affiliated with other entities) and attends international conferences at which it may present papers on its area of interest.

Members of PNGO include:

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network Palestine | arab.org". Archived from the original on 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  2. ^ a b Monitor, N. G. O. "Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) » ngomonitor". ngomonitor. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  3. ^ a b "EU funding criterion accused of 'criminalising Palestinian resistance'". Middle East Monitor. February 4, 2020. Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Monitor, N. G. O. "Defense for Children International - Palestine » ngomonitor". ngomonitor. Archived from the original on 2020-10-07. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  5. ^ Alsaafin, Linah. "Palestinian civil society rejects EU's conditional funding". www.aljazeera.com.
  6. ^ "Palestinian NGOs reject EU assistance over refusal to renounce ties to terrorism". JNS.org. December 31, 2019. Archived from the original on July 23, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  7. ^ "EU sends "clarification letter" to PNGO about EU funding of Palestinian NGOs". Archived from the original on 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  8. ^ "Senior EU official vows to 'look deep' into EU funding Palestinian terror". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Archived from the original on 2020-10-30. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  9. ^ "EU moves to stop funding Palestinian terrorists, inciting textbooks". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
  10. ^ "Four Palestinians to be charged with diverting European aid to terrorism". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
  11. ^ a b "In Congress, Israel Justifies Palestinian NGO Terror Tag With Evidence on Unrelated Group". Haaretz.
  12. ^ "Spanish-Palestinian woman pleads guilty to raising PFLP funds through charity". Times of Israel.
  13. ^ "Israel to Back Palestinian NGOs' Labeling as Terror Groups With Conviction of Spanish Woman". Haaretz.
  14. ^ "Israel Designates "Samidoun" As A Terrorist Organization". nbctf.mod.gov.il. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  15. ^ Kingsley, Patrick (October 22, 2021). "Israel Accuses 6 Palestinian Rights Groups of Terrorism". The New York Times.
  16. ^ Staff, The New Arab (October 22, 2021). "Amnesty, HRW slam Israel for declaring six Palestinian NGOs 'terrorist orgs'".
  17. ^ Salman, Andrew Carey and Abeer. "Israel labels six Palestinian civil society groups 'terrorist,' setting challenge for international donors". CNN.
  18. ^ Heaney, Christopher. "Statement by UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Hastings on the Israeli Designation of Civil Society Organizations in OPT".
  19. ^ "OHCHR | Israel's "terrorism" designation an unjustified attack on Palestinian civil society – Bachelet". www.ohchr.org.
  20. ^ "Critics seek proof after Israel designates Palestinian rights groups as terrorists | DW | 26.10.2021". DW.COM.
  21. ^ Staff, The New Arab (October 25, 2021). "PLO, Arab League deplore Israel designating Palestinian rights groups as 'terrorist'".
  22. ^ "Israel faces vast backlash after labeling human rights groups terrorist organizations". Mondoweiss. October 25, 2021.
  23. ^ Hagar Shezaf (November 1, 2021). "The NGOs Israel Designated as Terror Groups Remain Legal in the West Bank". Haaretz.
  24. ^ "Two Weeks On, Israeli Army Extends Palestinian NGO Terror Designation to West Bank". Haaretz.
  25. ^ "Israel Doubles Down on Notifying U.S. About Terror Labeling of Palestinian NGOs". Haaretz.
  26. ^ "Israel envoy to visit US after NGOs labelled 'terrorists'". www.aljazeera.com.
  27. ^ "Palestinian NGOs Network". November 3, 2021 – via Wikipedia.
  28. ^ Abraham, Yuval; Ziv, Oren; Rapoport, Meron (November 4, 2021). "Secret Israeli dossier provides no proof for declaring Palestinian NGOs 'terrorists'". +972 Magazine.
  29. ^ "Christian charity cuts ties with Palestinian NGO blacklisted by Israel". Jerusalem Post.
  30. ^ Lehto, Essi; Ayyub, Rami (5 November 2021). "Finnish Christian charity cuts ties with Palestinian NGO accused by Israel of aiding militants". Reuters.
  31. ^ "NSO Spyware Used Against Palestinian Activists From NGOs Israel Outlawed, Report Says". Haaretz.
  32. ^ "Palestinian activists hacked by Israeli firm NSO spyware: Report". www.aljazeera.com.
  33. ^ "Counterterrorism Off the Rails: Israel's Declaration of Palestinian Human Rights Groups as "Terrorist" Organizations". Just Security. 24 October 2021.
  34. ^ Overreach: How New Global Counterterrorism Measures Jeopardize Rights. 12 January 2017 – via Human Rights Watch.
  35. ^ "UN Agencies and the Association of International Development Agencies stand by civil society organisations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory - occupied Palestinian territory". ReliefWeb.
  36. ^ "UN Agencies[1] and the Association of International Development Agencies[2] stand by civil society organisations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" (PDF).
  37. ^ "Pressure grows on U.S. to accept or reverse Israel's 'act of tyranny' — but State Dep't ducks the question". Mondoweiss. November 9, 2021.
  38. ^ "Israel Hasn't Provided Evidence on Labeling of Palestinian NGOs, EU Foreign Minister Says". Haaretz.
  39. ^ "Gantz: Blacklisted Palestinian NGOs Paid Terrorists Who Never Worked for Them". Haaretz.
  40. ^ "Netherlands suspends aid to group that employed suspected Palestinian terrorists". The Times of Israel. 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
  41. ^ "Rights organization, Al-Haq, critical of prolonged funding suspension imposed by the European Commission". WAFA.
  42. ^ "Statement Al-Haq about funding suspension imposed by the European Commission". Al-Haq | Defending Human rights in Palestine since 1979.
  43. ^ "Parliamentary questions - EU financial support to Palestinian non‑governmental organisations declared as terrorist organisations by Israel". European parliament.
  44. ^ "Netherlands cancels €2.2 million contract with Palestinian NGO". Jerusalem Post.
  45. ^ "Joint Call by Israeli Civil Society Organizations - occupied Palestinian territory". ReliefWeb.
  46. ^ "11 Israeli CSOs issue call to donors of designated Palestinian NGOs to maintain and even increase their funding". WAFA Agency.
  47. ^ Ziv, Oren; January 13, Yuval Abraham (January 13, 2022). "Israel's new secret document still fails to tie Palestinian NGOs to 'terrorism'". +972 Magazine.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  48. ^ "I Fund Terror Groups". Haaretz. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  49. ^ "If So, Benny Gantz, I'm a Proud Terrorist". Haaretz. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  50. ^ Monitor, N. G. O. "Health Work Committees (HWC) » ngomonitor". ngomonitor. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
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