THE UNITED Nations and other international organisations have condemned Israel’s military raids on the offices of Palestinian civil society and rights groups in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.
In an unprecedented escalation, Israeli forces stormed, searched, and sealed the headquarters of seven human rights organisations in Ramallah and the nearby town of al-Bireh.
The organisations raided by the occupation forces include Al-Haq, Addameer, the Bisan Centre for Research & Development, Defence for Children International Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, the Union of Health Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women.
Shawan Jabarin, director of al-Haq, said that the organisation is conducting an internal investigation to determine whether any documents were confiscated in the raid.
Israeli troops ‘came, blew up the door, got inside, and messed with the files,’ he said.
He also revealed that the raiding party had then sealed the entrance to the office.
The Union of Agricultural Work Committees circulated a video showing Israeli troops in full battle gear searching their office and ransacking equipment.
In October of last year, the Israeli regime issued a military order that declared the Palestinian human rights groups as ‘terrorist organisations,’ accusing them of having links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and funnelling donor aid to Palestinian resistance fighters.
All the allegations have been strongly denied by the groups.
Their legitimacy has been bolstered by nine European Union states rejecting the Israeli regime’s designation of the Palestinian civil society groups as terrorist, citing a lack of evidence, and saying they would continue their cooperation and strong support for them.
The United Nations said on Thursday that the Israeli raids ‘cannot be taken lightly,’ and called for the protection of Palestinian civil society and rights groups.
Farhan Haq, a deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said the world body was ‘studying’ the Israeli raids and that it had expressed concern last year after Israel’s designation of the groups as terror organisations.
‘It needs to be underscored, in every country, that the authorities need to take particular care to make sure that human rights groups and civil society organisations can go about their work without hindrance,’ Haq noted.
The UN spokesperson added that they would be investigating the charges that prompted the Israeli actions against the Palestinian groups.
‘The main thing that needs to be done is to make sure that there’s no targeting of groups for their human rights work,’ he said.
The UN Human Rights Office also said the closures ‘appear totally arbitrary,’ and that Israel had provided no evidence to support its claims that the organisations had conducted unlawful activities.
‘Human rights defenders must be immediately protected from these unjustified attacks,’ the office said.
In a statement last Thursday, the United Nations agencies and the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) working in the occupied Palestinian territories called on the Israeli regime to allow Palestinian human rights and humanitarian organisations to continue their work.
The UN agencies and AIDA said the attempted closures of these organisations’ offices represents the latest in a series of actions by Israel that limit the ability of human rights, humanitarian, and development work in the occupied territories
‘We urge … Israel to refrain from any action that would prevent these organisations from continuing their critical human rights, humanitarian and development work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, (OPT)’ their statement said.
They also stressed that the Israeli authorities had provided no compelling evidence to justify the ‘terrorist’ designations of the Palestinian organisations.
In a press statement cited by Palestine’s official Wafa news agency last Thursday, international human rights group Amnesty International called for an end to the stifling of Palestinian civil society organisations by the Israeli occupation authorities.
‘The Israeli occupation authorities must end their campaign of repression against Palestinian civil society, and let organisations carry out their work free from harassment,’ said Amna Guellali, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
‘These organisations have contributed enormously to human rights in the OPT and across the globe, yet Israeli army boots trample all over their work,’ Guellali added, urging all governments to condemn the Israeli army’s attacks on Palestinian civil society.
She said the international community ‘needs to work together not only to reopen the offices of these seven organisations, but also to honour their calls to support the International Criminal Court’s investigation into the Palestine situation and for international condemnation of Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians.’
Amnesty International also said it had spoken to partners at three of the seven raided organisations, who had conveyed their shock at the attacks and closures.
‘The occupying army has failed to silence our voice in defence of human rights.
‘The army uses military law against human rights law,’ Khaled Quzmar, director of DCI-Palestine, was quoted as saying by Amnesty International.
‘The raids show that Israel rejects the position of the European Union and the international community, and instead invests in continuing the occupation and the human rights violations that it causes.’
Meanwhile, European diplomats met with the Palestinian human rights and civil society organisations (CSOs), whose offices had been targeted by Israeli forces in Ramallah, and rejected the Israeli allegations of misuse of EU funds.
The diplomats said that ‘past allegations of misuse of EU funds in relation to certain Palestinian CSOs have not been substantiated’ after months of investigations into the Israeli allegations.
‘The EU will continue to stand by international law and support CSOs that have a role to play in promoting international law, human rights, and democratic values,’ they said in a statement.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also strongly censured Israel’s unlawful military raids.
In a statement, the ministry said that the Israeli occupation forces had looted documents, seized equipment and sealed off offices ‘in another clear attempt to repress and intimidate those documenting and pursuing accountability for Israeli crimes.
‘As Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime become further entrenched, Palestinian civil society and human rights defenders will continue to be among the prime targets, because they play a key role in monitoring and documenting Israel’s crimes and violations against the Palestinian people,’ it warned.
The ministry further said documentation, advocacy, humanitarian aid and legal work are the ‘hallmarks of democracy and essential for the protection of human rights worldwide’, adding that the work of human rights defenders must be protected.
‘Absence of political will to hold Israel accountable for its decades of crimes and violations only enables its continued war against the international human rights movement,’ the statement warned.
‘Israel’s attempts to dominate Palestinian civil society, control their functioning, and, by extension, disrupt the fabric of Palestinian, society is a political decision aimed to protect Israel’s officials from accountability,’ it added.
The ministry statement also declared ‘its full support for our civil society and commend their determination to uphold the rule of law undeterred by Israel’s lawlessness and intimidation.’
