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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-11-06/israel-human-rights-palestine-groups-designation-terrorism">latimes.com</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Op-Ed: Israel declared our human rights work 'terrorism.' But it won't silence us <br></h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Rana and Milena - November 6, 2021<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p>We
work at Addameer, one of the biggest organizations providing direct
support to Palestinian political prisoners. Recently, our workplace and
five other leading Palestinian human rights organizations were <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/gantz-declares-six-palestinian-human-rights-groups-terrorist-organizations/" target="_blank">designated as “terrorist” groups</a> by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.</p><p>Harassment of human rights advocates by the Israeli authorities is routine. But this latest move is a blanket attack that <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/israel-outlaws-palestinian-human-rights-groups-causing-backlash-from-israeli-international-rights-organizations" target="_blank">effectively outlaws our work</a>;
puts us at risk of arbitrary arrest and prosecution and our
organizations at risk of forcible closure or defunding; and criminalizes
public expressions of support for our work.</p><p>International human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/10/israel-opt-designation-of-palestinian-civil-society-groups-as-terrorists-a-brazen-attack-on-human-rights/" target="_blank">condemned this designation</a> as “appalling and unjust.” Israeli human rights groups <a href="https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/palestinian-ngo-head-calling-us-terrorists-imperils-israeli-democracy-683300" target="_blank">are standing with us</a>. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has demanded that the designations be <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27708&LangID=E" target="_blank">revoked immediately</a>.</p><p>On
a daily basis, we at Addameer give free legal support to Palestinians
held in Israeli prisons, helping families to navigate a legal system
that was built by Israel to facilitate the settler-colonial takeover of
land. We conduct visits to hundreds of prisoners a year, documenting
cases of torture, medical negligence and other forms of violence. We
also fight for the rights of political prisoners on the international
stage, filing urgent appeals, complaints and crucial reports to the
United Nations.</p><p>This summer, we <a href="https://www.addameer.org/news/4417" target="_blank">advocated</a>
for the release of Amal Nakhleh, a 17-year-old Palestinian boy who was
arrested by Israel without charge or trial despite a rare autoimmune
disorder. We visited prisoners in solitary confinement in Israel’s
infamous Naqab prison, who told us about the torture and inhumane living
conditions they were subjected to. We visited hunger strikers
protesting their arbitrary detention in hospital beds in the Ramleh
prison clinic and submitted appeals to United Nations bodies to
intervene. We have called on the International Criminal Court to
investigate Israeli war crimes, and in Israeli military and civil
courts, we have defended Palestinian parliamentarians, students,
children, journalists, feminists, human rights defenders, academics and
thousands of everyday people who are arbitrarily arrested every year. We
also defend Palestinian political prisoners in jails run by the
Palestinian Authority.</p><p>This is the vital work that Israel is
trying to end. As Palestinians we can hardly be surprised that Israel is
trying to silence us with the claim of “terrorism.” This red herring,
with decades of anti-Arab racism behind it, is used against us every
time we try to stand up for our rights under Israel’s prolonged military
occupation, entrenched <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution" target="_blank">apartheid system</a> and ongoing settler-colonialism.</p><p>Since Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the Defense Ministry has classified <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/12/17/born-without-civil-rights/israels-use-draconian-military-orders-repress" target="_blank">more than 400</a>
Palestinian organizations as “hostile,” “unlawful,” or “terrorist.”
This criminalization extends to all aspects of Palestinian civil society
— from journalists and nongovernmental organizations to students and
human rights defenders. Working with prisoners, we have seen intimately
how any Palestinian can be criminalized and arrested. The low standard
of evidence and the <a href="https://www.btselem.org/topic/military_courts" target="_blank">politicized context of Israeli military courts</a> results in a conviction rate of <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/1.5214377" target="_blank">over 99%,</a>
making it nearly impossible for Palestinians to challenge a charge
against them. Israel’s 2016 counterterrorism law is now being used to
expand the powers of Israeli authorities <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/78732/counterterrorism-off-the-rails-israels-declaration-of-palestinian-human-rights-groups-as-terrorist-organizations/" target="_blank">to criminalize legitimate social, humanitarian, political and charitable action</a> by Palestinians.</p><p>The five other organizations targeted in Gantz’s declaration are the Palestine branch of <a href="https://www.dci-palestine.org/" target="_blank">Defense for Children International</a>, <a href="https://www.alhaq.org/" target="_blank">Al-Haq</a>, the <a href="http://upwc.org.ps/?lang=en" target="_blank">Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees</a>, <a href="https://www.bisan.org/" target="_blank">Bisan Center</a> and the <a href="http://uawc-pal.org/index.php?&lang=en" target="_blank">Union of Agricultural Work Committees</a>.
Like Addameer, they are well-known pillars of Palestinian civil
society, providing essential services and doing legal, human rights,
monitoring and advocacy work that Palestinians desperately need.</p><p>As
workers in these organizations, we routinely face the risk of arrest,
residency revocation, deportation and travel bans. The Israeli military
raided Addameer’s offices in 2002, 2012 and <a href="https://www.addameer.org/news/israeli-occupation-forces-raid-addameers-office-and-steal-its-belongings" target="_blank">most recently</a>
in September 2019, during which they ransacked our files and stole
significant equipment and data, including five laptops. Many of our
coworkers and board members have been arrested, often on <a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/special-rapporteurs-call-on-israel-to-release-or-charge-five-palestinian-hunger-strikers-press-release/" target="_blank">administrative detention orders</a>, which allow Israel to hold Palestinians without charge, trial or conviction, indefinitely.</p><p>We
call on members of civil society across the globe to stand with us.
Imagine if the young activists in your community were being targeted and
arrested. Imagine if the nonprofits providing services to the most
vulnerable among you were being outlawed and their staff punished. We
are members of Palestinian civil society, but we are also members of the
global community dedicated to social justice. We need the international
community to demand that Israel rescind the terrorist designations
immediately.</p><p><i>Rana is a programs manager at Addameer. Milena is
an international advocacy officer at Addameer. They are withholding
their last names because of risks to their safety.</i><br></p></div></div></div>
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