Palestinian reactions to Israel’s decision to outlaw organizations affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

Overview

• On October 22, 2021, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz issued an order designating six Palestinian social-civilian organizations (NGOs) as terrorist organizations. The order permits the legal confiscation of the organizations’ assets and the legal sanctions to be imposed on anyone participating in their activities. The order was preceded by Israeli security force activities which exposed the connections of the organizations, some of which receive most of their funding from European countries and international institutions and organizations, with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which has been designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, the EU and Canada.
• The Israeli ministry of defense stated that the organizations were controlled by senior PFLP functionaries and employed many PFLP operatives in field and administrative roles, including operatives who participated in terrorist activities against Israel. The organizations concealed their affiliation with the PFLP out of concern measures would be taken against them by security and law-enforcement agencies in Israel and around the globe. They received large amounts of money from European countries and international organizations through fraud and forgery, and thereby helped the PFLP finance its terrorist activities and give money to the families of terrorist prisoners and the shaheeds, pay its operatives, recruit new operatives, promote terrorist activity, engage in military buildup, and disseminate their ideology (Israeli defense minister’s information unit, October 22, 2021).
• The order led to reactions from the Palestinian Authority (PA), Hamas and other terrorist organizations, as well as from many Palestinian NGOs, including those designated as terrorist organizations. Many called Israel’s action illegal and part of the State of Israel’s ongoing campaign attacking Palestinian NGOs, and especially their sources of income. They called on the international community and global NGOs to fight the order. They also stated they intended to continue to fight Israel in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and in other venues.
• In addition to issuing protests, the PA and the Palestinian NGOs considered a number of practical measures. The Palestinian leadership said it would operate in formal channels to raise the issue of the Palestinian cause wherever possible with international and legal organizations. PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh spoke about it with Josep Borrell Fontelles, representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, while visiting Belgium (Wafa, October 27, 2021).
• NGO representatives met with ambassadors and general consuls, including an EU representative. The organizations also plan to appeal to members of the American Congress, and are examining holding activities in front of Israeli legations abroad. They are also examining making appeals to the relevant legal institutions. On the popular level, they are planning to hold a national protest day and weekly demonstrations in front of Red Cross offices. NGO representatives have already met with 27 general consuls and ambassadors to the PA territories, including the EU representative.
• The organizations belonging to the PFLP represent themselves as social-civilian-humanitarian NGOs. Most of their funding comes in the form of donations from foreign organizations and countries, with a small number of local donations. The investigation conducted by the Israeli security forces from March to May 2021 exposed significant information about the organizations’ activities and the way the PFLP uses them to raise money for its organizational and military activities.
• The NGOs serve to increase the PFLP’s hold and influence over the Palestinian population by exploiting their civilian status. They enable the PFLP to locate and recruit new operatives, create obligation towards the organization from the people who receive its services, disseminate its propaganda, etc. In addition, the NGOs serve as a source of employment for PFLP operatives, including terrorist operatives, and their offices serve as bases for organization activities.

Palestinian Reactions

• The order issued by the Israeli defense minister led a series of reactions from the PA, Hamas and other organizations, as well as the many Palestinian NGOs, including those to which the order related. Many claimed the order was illegal and part of a continuing Israeli campaign to attack Palestinian social-civilian organizations,^[1] and especially their sources of funding. Many also declared they intended to keep fighting Israel in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other venues, and called on countries and NGOs around the globe to enlist in fighting the order.

The Palestinian leadership

• On October 24, 2021, a Palestinian leadership meeting was held in Ramallah where Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli declaration against the NGOs which, he claimed, operated in accordance with Palestinian law. The Palestinian leadership stressed its support for the continuation of the NGOs’ activities and their rejection of the Israeli order (Wafa, October 24, 2021).
• On October 25, 2021, Mahmoud Abbas met in his office with representatives of the six organizations designated by Israel as terrorist organizations. Other members of the Palestinian leadership attended, including Mahmoud al-‘Alul, deputy Fatah chairman; and Mahmoud al-Habash, both Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor for religious matters and a judge in the Sharia high court. Mahmoud Abbas told them he condemned and rejected the Israeli order and supported the organizations, which fulfilled their duty to expose to the world the crimes committed by Israel (“the occupation”). He promised the PA would conduct formal activities in the international arena to fight the order. He also said Israel did not have the right to intervene in the activities of organizations working within the framework of Palestinian law. He called for more Palestinian efforts to fight Israel over the order. The representatives of the organizations said they would continue their activities to criticize Israel and expose the “crimes the occupation” committed against the Palestinian people. They also said they would operate in full coordination with Mahmoud Abbas’ office and the official Palestinian institutions to fight the order (Mahmoud Abbas’ Facebook page, October 25, 2021).

• PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said he rejected the designation of the six Palestinian organizations as terrorist organizations and called on the international community and human rights organizations around the globe to reject it as well. He called it a dangerous attack on international law because the “institutions” designated by Israel as terrorist organizations operated in accordance with Palestinian law. They also had ties to international institutions, which had the duty to condemn Israel’s designation and intervene to prevent its implementation (Wafa, October 22, 2021). He posted similar sentiments to his Facebook page (Muhammad Shtayyeh’s Facebook page, October 22, 2021). Muhammad Shtayyeh also raised the issue before Josep Borrell Fontelles, EU representative for foreign affairs, during his visit to Belgium (Wafa, October 27, 2021).
• At the weekly PA government meeting, Muhammad Shtayyeh said the government would not recognize the Israeli order because the organizations in question were official PA institutions working within the law, received international support and had international cooperation (Wafa, November 23, 2021).
• Kayed al-Ghoul, a member of the PFLP’s political bureau from the Gaza Strip, claimed the objective of the Israeli order was to tighten the “siege” around the Palestinian people and its institutions. He said accusing the organizations of affiliation with the PFLP was a poor attempt to influence their functioning and their status in international circles, including the BDS movement. He claimed another objective was to prevent the organizations from pursuing their legal actions against Israel in European courts, including the ICC in The Hague, and to prevent them from receiving financial donations. He said the six organizations operated within Palestinian law and they were supervised by the relevant PA agencies (PFLP website, October 23, 2021).

Kayed al-Ghoul (PFLP website, October 23, 2021).

• The PA foreign ministry condemned the Israeli order, calling it “an insane attack of the occupation regime on Palestinian society and its institutions.” It described the order as “a hostile invention, defamation and an attack on Palestinian society and the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, which resisted [sic] the Israel occupation.” The foreign ministry called the order humiliating, and not the last such measure in the Israel’s extensive, systematic campaign against the more prominent Palestinian civilian-human rights organizations (PA foreign ministry Facebook page, October 24, 2021).
• Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian delegate to the UN, claimed the order was part of a systematic campaign against Palestinian civilians because they dared to expose the [alleged] “crimes of the occupation.” He called on the international community and UN agencies to oppose the order and defend the right of the Palestinian NGOs to continue functioning without persecution (Dunia al-Watan, October 23, 2021).
• Saleh Rafat, a Democratic Union (FIDA) member of the PLO’s Executive Committee, said the operation of the organizations in question had been formally authorized by the PA (Wafa, October 22, 2021).
• Dalal Salama, a member of Fatah’s Central Committee, said the order would not prevent the organizations from carrying out their important legal and social functions. She called on all Palestinian civilians to unite in a struggle in the international arena against the narrative of Israel (“the occupation”) and the imposition of conditions that would designate the Palestinian struggle as terrorism. She also warned against the acceptance of such orders by a number of institutions, which was liable to pave the way for Israel to attack all the Palestinian organizations (QudsN, October 23, 2021).
• Hamas officially condemned the order, claiming it was one of a series of terrorist maneuvers in Israel’s “fanatic” war against Palestinian existence. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem claimed the order of the “Israeli minister of war” classifying NGOs and human rights organizations as terrorist was one of the ways Israel was waging war against the Palestinian existence in an effort to weaken it. He called for a national campaign to fight the order and called on the international community to expose what he called “Zionist terrorism” (Hazem Qassem’s Telegram channel, October 23, 2021).
• Palestinian legal authority Majed al-Arouri claimed the order was part of an Israeli campaign against Palestinian civilian institutions because of the role they play in representing the Palestinian cause as the top legal-political priority of the international community. He said the PA had the responsibility to inform banks to object to the order and not to halt or freeze the accounts of the organizations, as ordered by Israel (Sanad, October 24, 2021).

The Palestinian social-civilian organizations and NGOs

• Representatives of the organizations designated by Israel as terrorist organizations held a joint press conference where they rejected the designation and said would keep their offices open, adding that no one could silence “the voice of truth.” Al-Haq director general Shawan Jabarin claimed the order had come as a “surprise,” made because of political rather than security considerations. He said its intention had been to defame the Palestinian organizations, hinder their activities in the international arena and reduce their international funding. He said he was certain international institutions would continue to stand with the Palestinians. He said they would continue hounding senior Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Benny Gantz because he was a [so-called] “war criminal” whose had the blood of Palestinians from Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria on his hands. He alleged it was not a coincidence that “punishment” from Israel and similar declarations were issued at the same time it became possible to open an ICC investigation against Israel (Wafa, October 24, 2021).
• Omar Hijazi, aide to the Palestinian foreign minister for bilateral relations, condemned the Israeli order and stated Israel was responsible for the lives of the employees of the designated NGOs. He stressed the organizations’ importance in the Palestinians’ efforts against Israel, adding that the PA would continue to support them. He called on international organizations not to cooperate with the Israeli order. He also said that in any case, the PA would not cease its activities against Israel in the ICC. He added that the Palestinian foreign minister had demanded the ICC’s new chief prosecutor, when he entered office, open an investigation, informing him the PA was prepared to cooperate with ICC employees. He stated that every month they delivered information about Israel’s activities against the Palestinian NGOs to the chief prosecutor’s office (QudsN website, October 23, 2021).

• On October 25, 2021, the Palestinian prisoners’ and human rights organizations held a meeting at the headquarters of the PLO’s prisoners’ commission. The meeting was also attended by lawyers and figures from the PA’s department of prisoners’ affairs. They discussed the need to unite their efforts to oppose the order, both locally and internationally. According to reports, the Palestinian leadership was investing efforts through official channels by discussing the issue with international legal organizations and by organizing a protest petition. They were also trying to put the issue on the agenda of international conferences. In the meantime, they would act through legal channels. A suggestion was made to boycott Israeli military courts for a specified time. At the popular level, a national protest day would be declared, as well as weekly protests in front of Red Cross offices. The representatives of the organizations noted that the campaign was not only for their own sake, it was for the entire Palestinian people (Watan, October 25, 2021).
• Shawan Jabarin noted the PA’s activities regarding the order, saying the organizations had asked the PA to defend their financial activities and continue funding and supporting them. He reported that the organizations continued their activities against the order through their contacts with partners and other NGOs both locally and globally. He said the representatives of the organizations had already spoken with 27 general consuls and ambassadors to the PA, including the EU representative. The organizations’ representatives asked for continuing support and for practical measures to be taken to revoke the order. They stated they were planning to appeal to the United States Congress and were also examining suggestions to hold activities in front of Israeli legations abroad, with the option of appealing to the relevant legal agencies (al-Araby al-Jadeed, October 25, 2021).
• Sahar Francis, head of the Addameer Association, noted the importance of the PA’s diplomatic activity with countries and agencies to ensure cooperation with PA organizations would continue (al-Araby, October 25, 2021).
• Samidoun, an organization outlawed in February 2021, said in an announcement that designating the six organizations as terrorist had come after it and the British-based EuroPal Forum had been designated at the beginning of the year. According to the organization, Israel had adopted the policy of designating as terrorist all organizations which challenged it and exposed its [alleged] “crimes” at the local, regional and international level (Samidoun website, October 22, 2021).
• Raji Sourani, director of the Gazan Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), claimed Israel’s objective was to put a stop to Palestinian organizations’ activities with the ICC at a sensitive time, when a serious investigation of Israel’s [alleged] “crimes” had begun. He said Israel was using the same tactic as Trump had when he said he would prosecute anyone who cooperated with an ICC investigation of the United States or Israel. Sourani claimed Israel’s order was intended to destroy the organizations by diminishing their sources of financing by linking them to terrorism. He added that they expected further measures would follow, such as closing bank accounts and preventing organization employees from traveling, and they were raising alerts to possible physical attacks (PCHR website, October 23, 2021).
• The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) said it was planning to operate at the international level against the order and to use “all the necessary legal tools and channels.” The PNGO said it would present its files to the EU and international coalitions because in the network’s opinion, the [alleged] Israeli attack was part of a broader program to end the NGOs’ operations (PNGO website, October 23, 2021).
• The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council (PHROC) said the Israeli order had come after years of persecuting the NGOs that were documenting “Israel’s [alleged] crimes” and cooperating with UN agencies and the international community. The Council appealed to all the relevant agencies to take a clear stand on the issue and to exert pressure on Israel to rescind the order (Council website, October 23, 2021).
• Omar Shakr, holder the Human Rights Watch (HRW) Israeli-Palestinian portfolio, said the order involved the six most prominent and important Palestinian NGOs which monitored not only Israel’s actions but also the actions of the PA and Hamas regarding human rights violations. He said designating the organizations as terrorist organizations put them in danger of being closed, having their equipment confiscated and their operatives detained (al-Tariq, October 23, 2021).

• The PLO’s professional unions and popular associations called the Israeli order “racist, without value and illegal, like all Israel’s other orders against the Palestinian people and its national institutions,” and designated the Israeli organizations Regavim^[2] and NGO Monitor^[3] “terrorist organizations” operating outside international law. The PLO-affiliated unions and associations called on all the international organizations to which they have ties to end all connections and cooperation with Israeli organizations because they operate by following instructions from the Israeli military and directly from the “fascist occupation government.” They claimed NGO Monitor was expert in falsifying facts and the objective of all its reports was to defame Palestinian activities in every field and define them as terrorist. As to Regavim, they claimed it specialized in supporting settlement activity, and monitoring and supervising Palestinian activity throughout Area C.
•  The professional unions said they were prepared to use all means available to them, human and financial, to exploit their connections with the Arab-international world. They also announced an international campaign to help the six organizations have the Israeli order revoked to ensure their continued international financing (PNN, October 27, 2021).

^[1] According to a ruling handed down by the Israeli supreme court and according to the 2016 anti-terrorism law, a human rights organization can be designated as a terrorist organization when it has been proved that over time it has supported a terrorist organization, affiliated with it or operates for it, even when the organization also carries out civilian humanitarian activities (Haaretz, October 25, 2021). ↑
^[2] ”Regavim is a public movement dedicated to the protection of Israel’s national lands and resources." https://www.regavim.org/about-us/ ↑
^[3] “NGO Monitor is a globally recognized research institute promoting democratic values and good governance." https://www.ngo-monitor.org 

Related Articles