[ Palestinian human rights activists and civil society groups are
not "terrorists." The effective criminalization of Palestinian
institutions and the expansion of the settlements are two sides of the
same coin.] [[link removed]]

ISRAEL MOVES TO SILENCE THE STALWARTS OF PALESTINIAN CIVIL SOCIETY  
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Zena Agha
November 5, 2021
New York Times
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_ Palestinian human rights activists and civil society groups are not
"terrorists." The effective criminalization of Palestinian
institutions and the expansion of the settlements are two sides of the
same coin. _

illustration: Anthony Russo // New York Times,

 

On Oct. 19, the Israeli Ministry of Defense singled out six of the
most prominent Palestinian human rights and civil society
organizations, using secret, and thus far insufficient, evidence
[[link removed]] to accuse
them of being “terrorist” organizations with links to a militant
group. Just days later, Israel approved
[[link removed]] the
construction of more than 3,000 new settlement units in the occupied
West Bank and announced
[[link removed]] plans
to double the Jewish-Israeli population in the Jordan Valley by 2026.

The effective criminalization of Palestinian institutions and the
expansion of the settlements are two sides of the same coin. The goal
is clear: to silence the independent monitoring of Israel’s human
rights violations that stand between total annexation of the occupied
West Bank and international accountability. Since the
1990s, Palestinian civil society has expanded to fill the role of
exposing and resisting the crimes of the Israeli occupation and the
corruption of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. It has become the
last line of defense. It will be harder to hold Israel to account if
some of the most important Palestinian rights organizers are silenced,
weakened or eliminated.

The targeted groups — Al-Haq, Defense for Children International
Palestine (D.C.I.P.), the Union of Agricultural Work Committees,
Addameer, the Bisan Center for Research and Development and the Union
of Palestinian Women’s Committees — are stalwarts of Palestinian
civil society. Their work varies widely — among other things,
D.C.I.P. highlights the detention and abuse of children in the
military court system, and Al-Haq has been providing crucial evidence
to the International Criminal Court for its investigation
[[link removed]] into
alleged war crimes perpetrated in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Together they form part of a civil society whose mandate is to
represent and provide services to the five million or more
Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation.

For over three decades, the groups’ rigorous documentation,
monitoring, data collection and international advocacy have been vital
to revealing the reality on the ground, and they are often the first
port of call for diplomats, the United Nations and the wider
international community that relies on them for assessments of
what’s happening in the occupied territories.

As a consequence of these groups’ work, the Israeli authorities have
been raiding offices and harassing the staffs of these and other
organizations for years
[[link removed]]. Just
this past July, Israeli soldiers raided
[[link removed]] D.C.I.P.’s
office in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh, seizing computers, hard
drives and client files related to the Palestinian child detainees it
represents in Israeli military courts. When such raids occur, staff
members have sometimes been arrested.

International human rights groups known for documenting Israeli rights
violations have also not been spared. In 2019, Israel deported
[[link removed]] Human
Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine director, Omar Shakir, after a
long legal battle, and that same year it imposed a travel ban
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Amnesty International’s West Bank-based campaigner Laith Abu Zeyad.

These tactics are seemingly part of a wider, continuing movement to
delegitimize, defund and permanently gut Palestinian NGOs. The
shrinking space of Palestinian civil society has been well documented
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It’s part of a campaign, spearheaded by the Israeli government (with
support from groups like NGO Monitor and UK Lawyers for Israel
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which pursue these Palestinian groups in court and have been accused
[[link removed]] by
[[link removed]] advocacy groups of
disseminating disinformation), targeting civil society organizations
that monitor and resist Israeli human rights violations, including the
continuing expansion of illegal settlements.

These attacks on civil society are not limited to organizations
operating in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. They spill out into
courtrooms, campuses and government offices across Europe and North
America through smear campaigns, the proliferation
of unconstitutional anti-boycott laws
[[link removed]] and
lawsuits meant to distract and drain nonprofit organizations providing
solidarity to Palestinian civil society.

But why label these groups “terrorist” now? Undoubtedly, the
United States and Europe are the intended audience of the designation.
It seems Israel’s goal is to weaponize the sprawling infrastructure
of antiterrorism laws created around the world after Sept. 11,
targeting Palestinian human rights defenders by labeling their
legitimate work “terror,” thus making their organizations, their
efforts and their very persons toxic, untouchable and, most important,
far harder to fund.

The full effects of the designation are yet to be borne out. In real
terms, it opens the door for further harassment of the staffs and
resources of these organizations, increasing the risk of arrest and
possible prosecution. Further, if the international community agrees
with Israel’s designation, these organizations could see their
fund-raising end.

This moment is a testament to the spirit and sustained progress of
these organizations. However, the implications — the threat to
Palestinian human rights defenders, the potential lack of scrutiny of
Israeli violations and the continuous, unchecked encroachment onto
Palestinian land — all portend darker times ahead. Further, this
designation of the groups that monitor abuses in the occupied West
Bank is a deliberate distraction from the settlement project in the
West Bank that began more than 50 years ago.

International human rights groups have issued
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statements about the authoritarian and repressive nature of such a
measure, with calls
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immediately rescind the designation. There is also already pushback in
the form of a congressional resolution
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the U.S. House of Representatives. That’s good. A robust civil
society is a key feature of a healthy democracy. It is authoritarian
regimes that silence and suppress them.

The U.S. State Department (which reportedly was not notified in
advance
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the decision) has already asked for clarification
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and the local office for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights called on Israel
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“fully respect the rights to freedom of association and expression,
without any interference or harassment against the organizations or
their staff.”

Likewise, Palestinian civil society groups and international human
rights bodies have issued calls
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rescind these designations. Anyone concerned about protecting
democratic institutions should stand with them.

_[ZENA AGHA (@Zena_Agha [[link removed]]) is a Palestinian Iraqi
writer and a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute in
Washington.]_

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