Press Releases

Israel is behind the political funding conditions
Israel is behind the political funding conditions
PR/EN/021020/01
In a letter to Mr. Joseph Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, MK Gilad Erdan, Minister of Israeli Strategic Affairs urged the EU to implement stricter conditional measures and even cease funding to Palestinian civil society organizations. It has become apparent that Israel, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is also tasked with combatting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and Palestinian efforts to hold Israel accountable is encouraging the EU conditional funding , if not actually spearheading the approach.   
 
The letter exposes Israel’s role in pushing forward conditional funding by many international agencies, including but not limited to the EU, that criminalizes the Palestinian national struggle and undermines the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. This initiative is part of the Israeli-Zionist strategy to obliterate Palestinian civil society, particularly those organizations  that have adopted a rights-based approach that includes the rights of return, self-determination and legitimate resistance.
 
It is no surprise that the letter was published following the launch of the Palestinian Campaign to Reject Conditional Funding, as part of an ongoing Israeli strategy against Palestinian organizations that refuse the Israeli vision and European pressures to abandon the rights of the Palestinian people and submit quietly to Israeli colonialism and apartheid.  
 
It is under these circumstances, that we continue to call on Palestinian civil society to reject conditional funding and unite in the face of this strategy aiming to erase the Palestinian human rights movement from existence. It is no longer possible to adapt to or condone these funding conditions in any way. Further, we renew our call to the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian national factions and the Palestinian National Authority to make and announce firm and clear positions to reject the conditions of the European Union that undermine and criminalizes our struggle and our people. And finally, we call on international civil society and the Palestinian solidarity movement to stand with us against these measures that dehumanize, demonize and delegitimize our work.
 
The Palestinian National Campaign to Reject Conditional Funding