Six Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations recently designated by Israel as “terrorist” organizations sent joint letters to the UN and Representatives urging continued international pressure on Israel to cancel its decision.
Al-Haq, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association as well as five other organizations sent the letters and expressed appreciation for the United Nations statement of condemning the designations as “a frontal attack on the Palestinian human rights movement, and on human rights everywhere.”
The organizations appreciated the massive outpouring of support and also welcomed the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet’s statement that “claiming rights before a UN or other international body, advocating for the rights of women in the occupied Palestinian territory, and providing legal aid to detained Palestinians are not terrorism.”
Additionally, the organizations sent letters to the UN Secretary-General Antَonio Guterres and the Human Rights Council President Nazhat Shameem Khan urging them to condemn the Israeli designations and attempts to smear human rights work and to underline the importance of work by Palestinian civil society.
The letters said that the allegations of Israel“forms part of Israel’s strategy to maintain its apartheid regime of institutionalized racial discrimination and domination over the Palestinian people as a whole, by silencing human rights defenders.”
They said, “Targeting six of the most eminent Palestinian CSOs puts obstacles on their documentation and monitoring of human rights violations, accountability work to prosecute Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity, and legal and advocacy efforts. “
Further they remarked: “The obstacles also include a negative impact on funding from international partners due to Israel’s de-legitimization campaign, raids of the Israeli agencies on Palestinian CSOs, offices and confiscation of essential data or the arrest of the organization’s staff members, human rights defenders and advocates.”
