<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-top-anchor"></div>
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" dir="ltr" lang="en-US">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://pchrgaza.org/en/pchr-condemns-and-demands-international-community-to-intervene-promptly-after-israeli-occupation-forces-shut-down-7-csos-in-ramallah/">pchrgaza.org</a>
<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">PCHR Condemns and Demands International
Community to Intervene Promptly after Israeli Occupation Forces Shut
Down 7 CSOs in Ramallah - Palestinian Centre for Human Rights</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits"></div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">August 18, 2022<br></div>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p><img src="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/1888.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="458" height="257"></p><div><p><span><strong>Date: 18 August 2022</strong></span></p><p><span>On
Thursday dawn, 18 August 2022, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) raided
and closed 7 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Ramallah, and
confiscated some of its contents. The decision came few hours after the
announcement of Israeli Defense Minister, Benny Gantz, 3 CSOs: Bisan
Center for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women’s
Committees (UPWC), and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights
Association as “terrorist organizations”, for allegedly funding the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The decision was
made after an appeal submitted by these organizations against a previous
decision issued last October labeling 6 CSOs as terrorist organization
was rejected.</span></p><p><span>According to investigations conducted
by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Today at dawn, large
number of IOF moved into Ramallah and Al-Bireh, where they raided 7 CSOs
and human rights organizations and confiscated most of their contents.
Afterwards, they welded shut with locks and iron bars and affixed a
military order issued by the military commander to the doors, stating
“necessary for region’s security, to counter terrorism infrastructure,
in all its parts, vehicles, organizations and bodies, and to thwart acts
of terrorism and strike the terrorism infrastructure, I am ordering to
close this place”. As a result, none of those working in these
organizations was able to see the extent of sabotage there, or what was
confiscated. The organizations closed are as follows: the Bisan Center
for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women Committees
(UPWC), Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq,
the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), Union of Palestinian
Women’s Committees, and the Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC).</span></p><p><span>PCHR
stresses that the closure is part of IOF’s systematic policy to polish
off the Palestinian civil society and undermine its role in supporting
the Palestinian resilience under the occupation.</span></p><p><span>PCHR
hereby emphasizes that any assault on the civil society organizations
constitutes a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and
violates the Israeli occupation authorities’ obligations under the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees
the right to freedom of association in Article 22.</span></p><p><span>PCHR
emphasizes that IOF adopts a systematic policy to tighten the screws on
the Palestinian CSOs that has started since the 2001 Durban Conference
against Racism in South Africa and escalated after the State of
Palestine had acceded to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in
2015. These restrictions included the prosecution of human rights
activists, and limiting their travel and movement, raiding and shutting
down leading organizations in the fields of human rights and services.</span></p><p><span>PCHR
stresses that IOF’s pursuit, designation of Palestinian NGOs as
“terrorist”, and smear campaign against them aims at closing down these
organizations and drying up external donor funding; thus having only one
narrative and hiding the truth about IOF crimes committed in the oPt.</span></p><p><span>PCHR
stresses that such practices are part of an old/new campaign against
the CSOs and human rights organizations because of its pioneering role
in exposing IOF’s violations and its international work, particularly at
the International Criminal Court (ICC).</span></p><p><span>PCHR
indicates that such practices come at a time IOF’s violations against
Palestinian civilians at the height as the Palestinian CSOs countered
the silence about these violations with exposing IOF’s crimes and
unprecedented fierce campaign against the Palestinian people during the
past 20 years. For more than 6 months, those violations escalated and
included outgrowing settlement expansion, seizing Palestinians’ lands,
building settlement roads, constructing the annexation wall, ethnic
cleansing and creating Jewish majority in occupied East Jerusalem and
assaulting holy sites. </span></p><p><span>PCHR affirms that CSOs are
the last resort to protect the inalienable rights of the Palestinian
people and to defend civilian victims from the Israeli violations. These
organizations will never and even refuse to be a good victim for the
occupation. CSOs are fully aware of their role and duty and will not
surrender or get caught up in defending their existence, because they
exist for a noble, legal, national, and humanitarian mission, which is
to defend the Palestinians’ dignity, rights and rule of law.</span></p><p><span>It
is worth noting that the Israeli authorities’ decision to classify 6
CSOs as terrorist organizations was broadly and internationally
condemned, specifically by the United Nations bodies, Special
Rapporteurs, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Also, 10
European Union (EU) Member States rejected the Israeli decision,
considering it was based on unfounded accusations and affirmed in a
joint statement that they will continue to work with these organization,
and that having a free and strong civil society is indispensable to
promote the democratic values.</span></p><p><span>PCHR stresses the
Palestinian authority (PA)’s role in protecting the civil society and
its organizations, especially as these organizations legally operate in
the West Bank and its offices located in Palestinian
Authority-controlled areas.</span></p><p><span>PCHR also calls on the EU
and the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention to take
immediate action in order to compel Israel to abolish the decision to
close the CSOs and stop all violations against them.</span></p><a href="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-10.jpg"><img src="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-10.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="257"></a><a href="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-9.jpeg"><img src="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-9.jpeg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="306"></a><a href="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-5.jpg"><img src="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-5.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="349" height="458"></a><a href="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-4.jpg"><img src="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-4.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="342" height="458"></a><a href="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-3.jpg"><img src="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-3.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="385" height="458"></a><a href="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-2.jpg"><img src="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-2.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="341" height="458"></a><a href="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-1.jpg"><img src="https://pchrgaza.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/18-8-1-1024x569.jpg" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="458" height="254"></a></div></div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div></div>
</div>
</div>