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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">The Six Designated Organizations Call for Urgent International Intervention to Revoke the Designations</h1>
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<p>21-04-2022
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<div><p><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>Six
months have passed since Israel’s settler-colonial and apartheid regime
outlawed six of the leading Palestinian human rights and civil society
organizations (CSOs), as “terror organizations” under its </span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.adalah.org/uploads/uploads/Adalah_Expert_Opinion_Palestinian6_Nov2021.pdf"><span><span><span>2016 Counter-Terrorism Law</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>.
This was later extended into the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)
declaring the organizations to be “unlawful associations” under</span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/19179.html"> </a><a href="https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/19179.html"><span><span><span><span>military order</span></span></span></span></a><u><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>s</span></span></span></span></u><span lang="EN"><span><span><span> published on 3 November 2021. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>Since then, the
organizations, represented by Adalah Legal Center and the offices of
Attorney Michael Sfard and Attorney Jawad Boulous, have undertaken
formal procedures challenging the evidentiary basis of the military
orders. On 16 November 2021, the organizations’ legal team</span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10504"> </a><a href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10504"><span><span><span><span>sent a letter</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN"><span><span><span> to the Israeli authorities demanding that they reveal the entirety of the “evidence” forming the basis of the designation. In </span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10515"><span><span><span><span>response,</span></span></span></span></a><u> </u><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>Israel’s
Military Attorney, stated in a letter dated 2 January 2021, that “the
core of the declarations is based on classified…information that cannot
be disclosed.” Thereafter, the organizations filed a</span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10544"> </a><a href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10544"><span><span><span><span>procedural objection</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>
against the military orders, noting the illegality of the declarations,
the absence of due process, and the lack of an evidentiary basis for
the declaration.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>The blanket
criminalization and outlawing of our organizations by Israel’s
settler-colonial apartheid regime can at any time manifest itself in
raids on our offices, seizure of all assets, arbitrary arrests of staff,
and prohibition of funding, and/or even public support for our
activities. As </span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/10473"><span><span><span>stated</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>
in the 2016 Counter-Terrorism Law, which is illegally applied in the
oPt, directors and senior staff of the organizations are at risk of
facing up to 25 years in prison, including other </span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.adalah.org/uploads/uploads/Adalah_Expert_Opinion_Palestinian6_Nov2021.pdf"><span><span><span>arbitrary measures</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN"><span><span><span> against staff and supporters. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>We understand the
decades-long smear campaigns led by Israel and its
government-affiliated bodies and proxy groups to be part of </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN"><span><span>Israel’s systematic policy of silencing opposition to maintain its apartheid system over the Palestinian people as a whole. </span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span><span>More specifically, the designation in itself amounts to acts of persecution and </span></span></span><a href="https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/19143.html"><span lang="EN-GB"><span><span>apartheid</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"><span><span> under Article 2(f) of the Apartheid Convention.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>Even under a
temporary and arbitrary designation, the six Palestinian CSOs have felt
the serious repercussions of Israel’s designations including:</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<ul><li><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>The Dutch government's</span></span></span></span><a href="https://uawc-pal.org/Files/Funding2022.pdf"> </a><a href="https://uawc-pal.org/Files/Funding2022.pdf"><span><span><span><span>decision</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN"><span><span><span> on 5 January 2022 to end its funding for the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC); </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>The European Commission’s arbitrary</span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/19424.html"> </a><a href="https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/19424.html"><span><span><span><span>funding suspension</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN"><span><span><span> of one of Al-Haq’s projects funded by the European Union (EU); </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>The </span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.addameer.org/index.php/news/4696"><span><span><span>sentencing</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN"><span><span><span> by an Israeli military judge at <span>Ofer
military court in the occupied West Bank on 13 February 2022, of the
President of the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, Khitam
Sa’afin, to </span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>16 months imprisonment<span> after nearly 15 months of arbitrary detention, for her role as a director in a designated organisation; and </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span><span>The continuous harassment and persecution of human right defender and lawyer at Addammer Salah Hamouri, </span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/19778.html"><span><span><span><span>arbitrary arrest</span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>ed</span></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span><span>
on 7 March 2022 and placed under administrative detention for three
months from 10 March till 6 June, with potential indefinite renewal of
his detention order. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></li></ul>
<p><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>The consequential
negative impact of this designation has also been acutely felt by our
organizations, including by hampering our critical work in advocating to
bring to an end Israel’s apartheid regime against the Palestinian
people, and the critical services we provide to those most marginalized
and at-risk in Palestinian communities including women, children,
agricultural workers, and political prisoners. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span>It is unacceptable that
States and actors have failed to move beyond verbal denunciations of
Israel’s criminalization of Palestinian civil society; it is intolerable
that they instead take on decisions that compound the persecution of
the six Palestinian organizations, without taking any concrete actions
to dismantle the Israeli settler-colonial and apartheid regime and hold
it accountable.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span><span>As we mark six
months since the designation, it is crucial that States and allies take a
serious stand. We are now urging you to act in your full capacity and
take serious measures to revoke the draconian designation against our
organizations. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span>As such, we call on the
international community, especially the United States, EU Member
States, and Intergovernmental Organizations to:</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<ul><li><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span>Take concrete
immediate action against Israel’s continued harassment and
criminalization of Palestinian human rights defenders and CSOs; by
calling on Israel’s Minister of “Defense” to fully rescind the
designation;</span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span>Publicly and
categorically dismiss the designation and pledge continued support to
the six Palestinian civil society organizations, including where
necessary, financial support of the Palestinian civil society
organizations;</span></span></span></span></span></span></li><li><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span>End complicity and silence in regard to the Israeli settler-colonial and apartheid regime;</span></span></span></span></span></span></li></ul>
<p><span><span><span><span lang="EN"><span><span>Further, we call on
individuals of consciousness from around the world to bring attention to
this blanket attack on Palestinian civil society and human rights and
to immediately and urgently contact their elected officials and insist
they hold Israeli authorities accountable and protect human rights in
Palestine.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
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