On the morning of August 18, the Israeli army broke into the offices of leading Palestinian human rights organizations. Computers and records were confiscated, the doors sealed and the closure announced, invoking Article 319 of the 1945 Emergency Acts. These are six well-known civil society organizations, including the oldest Palestinian human rights organization, Al-Haq.
Just a few weeks earlier, nine European governments, including the federal government, announced that they would continue to support these organizations after Israel classified them as alleged terrorists in October 2021. However, the arguments did not convince the donor countries.
In doing so, the Israeli government is escalating its dealings with the Palestinian population living under occupation, also towards the EU and those European governments that support independent Palestinian civil society.
It is ironic that the EU and the international community are paying for the consequences of the occupation in the Palestinian territories. Actually, this is the responsibility of the occupying power, which in this case has no objection to the assumption of humanitarian costs, but apparently strives for the most comprehensive possible control over an independent Palestinian civil society.
In October 2021, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz declared six Palestinian human rights organizations and civil society organizations terrorist groups. They were accused of supporting the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is listed as a terrorist organization in Israel, the US and the EU. At the time, this caused a stir in various capitals, especially in Europe, because European governments had been supporting these organizations, some of whose commitment had been recognized with international awards, with public funds for years.
After the Israeli allegations, some donor countries suspended their support and spent months carefully examining dossiers on the organizations prepared by the Israeli intelligence service. According to the unanimous opinion of several EU member states, including Germany, Denmark and France, as well as the USA, Norway and Switzerland, the Israeli documents contained no evidence of the serious allegations.
An earlier version of such a secret Israeli dossier, with which the government there had already tried in May 2021 to discredit the same organizations with donors, has been published as a leak on the Internet. It is surprising in its clumsy nature, because it was operated with unsubstantiated allegations, not with evidence. Eventually, the donor countries denied the allegations and announced that they would continue funding the institutions concerned.
The decision to continue to support the attacked organizations is correct. The conditions under which they campaign against human rights abuses, campaign for the rights of political prisoners and underage prisoners and for the rights of children and young people deserve respect and solidarity. In Area C, the 60 percent of the occupied West Bank that is completely controlled by Israel and where most housing units are being built in settlements, the work revolves around access to their own resources, i.e. the land and water rights of Palestinian farmers – and pastoral families. According to Israel, all of this is just a cover to divert funds to the PFLP. The Israeli government has not presented any evidence of this, but has loudly accused the EU of terrorist financing, which Federica Mogherini, as Foreign Affairs Representative, had already firmly rejected in 2018.
The picture that emerges on the ground differs significantly from that drawn by the Israeli government: externally audited, professional organizations can be seen on a regular basis, which not only campaign against settlement policies, land grabs and breaches of international law, but also against the Abuse of power by the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah, which dominates it.
What is shown is not an Israel that sees and presents itself as the “only democracy in the Middle East”, but rather an Israeli occupation and settlement practice that harasses the residents of the areas it controls and criminalizes organizations such as the now closed farmers’ organization UAWC, which Supporting families where the Israeli state is building settlements in violation of international law.
The Israeli government is seen banning the most prominent prisoner organization Addameer in the occupied territories, while the number of Palestinian detainees being held in Israeli administrative detention without trial or trial is at an all-time high since 2008. Is this use of an instrument from the time of colonial receivership by Great Britain compatible with the claim to be a democracy? The responsible military governor can order a six-month administrative detention and extend it as often as he likes. All of this without judicial oversight or scrutiny, and without the ability to defend themselves against allegations that are often kept secret.
The escalation screw in this dispute can often and painfully be tightened by Israel. It can be assumed that the hesitant international reaction to the terror classifications in October 2021 encouraged the government of Israel to now close the offices of these organizations.
In Israel, 47 organizations have therefore publicly declared their solidarity with the attacked Palestinian colleagues. In order to prevent further reprisals, Europe and the USA would have to take decisive counter-positions towards Tel Aviv, otherwise they run the risk that meaningful work on site will hardly be possible in the future.
