Press Releases

The recent designation of six Palestinian non-government organizations as terrorist entities by both the Israeli Minister of Defense and the military can only be seen as one of many actions taken within an Israeli strategy to decimate Palestinian civil society. This step to demonize Palestinian civil society is a direct consequence of the decision by the community of donors, mainly the European Union and its member states, to include anti-terrorism terminology in their granting contracts which designates Palestinian political parties as terrorist entities. Further, this Israeli strategy includes the de-legitimization of Palestinian political prisoners, renewed conditional funding to UNRWA by the United States of America, and the allegations of racism, incitement and antisemitism against the Palestinian education curriculum. It additionally includes blackmailing the Palestinian Authority and the de facto government in the Gaza Strip to give up more Palestinian rights in exchange for salaries, services and the Gaza rebuilding process, and browbeating the international solidarity movement to disengage from Palestine.

The implicit acquiesce of the International Donor Community manifested in the inclusion of the anti-terrorism clauses and conditions in granting contracts has buttressed this Israeli strategy and paved the way to not only designate those organizations already accused of terrorism, but also every single Palestinian organization. The result and ultimate goal being the de-legitimization and elimination of Palestinian civil society.

In light of the this, the Global Palestinian Refugee Network calls on the International Donor Community to immediately rescind all anti-terrorism clauses and conditions in their granting contracts with Palestinian organizations and make their position to support Palestinian civil society public knowledge.