JERUSALEM: The Netherlands said it will stop funding a Palestinian civil society group recently outlawed as a terrorist organization by Israel but rejected Israel’s main claims about the group following its own audit.
The Dutch government said Wednesday it found no evidence that the Union of Agricultural Work Committees had “organizational ties” to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a left-wing militant group, or was involved in funding or carrying out terrorism, as Israel has alleged.
The government nevertheless decided to stop the funding because it found evidence that individual members of the civil society group were linked to the PFLP, which has a political party as well as an armed wing, and is considered a terrorist group by Israel and Western countries.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the decision, saying UAWC and the five other Palestinian civil society groups it designated as terrorist organizations in October are an “organic part” of the PFLP. Two former UAWC employees have been arrested and accused of carrying out a bombing in the occupied West Bank in August 2019 that killed an Israeli teenager, prompting the Dutch government to suspend funding pending an independent investigation.
UAWC said the funding cut-off announced this week was “shocking and deeply troubling,” as the Dutch had been one of their main donors since 2013. The group said it has no political affiliations and does not concern itself with the private political activities of its employees.
It said the Dutch decision was a “breach of trust” at a time when “Palestinian civil society is under unprecedented attack.”
Israel has provided little evidence to support its assertions that the six NGOs are fronts for the PFLP, and critics say the move is part of a wider crackdown on Palestinian activism. The decision makes it illegal to fund or support the groups and paves the way for the military to forcibly shut them down, though it has yet to do so.
The Dutch government’s conclusions stem from an independent audit carried out by Proximities Risk Consultancy. UAWC said it cooperated with the investigation but found “multiple factual inaccuracies, including several mistaken identities” in the findings. Proximities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A letter sent from the Dutch ministers of foreign development and foreign affairs to the Dutch parliament said the audit “has made it sufficiently plausible that there have been ties at the individual level between employees and board members of UAWC and the PFLP for some time.”
“The large number of UAWC board members with a dual mandate is particularly worrisome,” it added. “For the Cabinet, the findings about individual ties between UAWC and the PFLP and the lack of openness about this from UAWC, also during the investigation, are sufficient reason to no longer fund UAWC’s activities.”
The other groups outlawed by Israel are the Al-Haq human rights group, the Addameer prisoner rights group, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Bisan Center for Research and Development and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees.
All are based in the occupied West Bank, which Israel seized in the 1967 war. The Palestinians want the West Bank to form the main part of their future state.
Dutch stop funding Palestinian NGO, question Israeli charges
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Dutch stop funding Palestinian NGO, question Israeli charges
- The Dutch government said Wednesday it found no evidence that the Union of Agricultural Work Committees had “organizational ties” to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
- The government nevertheless decided to stop the funding
UN, aid groups warn Gaza operations at risk from Israel impediments
- Dozens of international aid groups face de-registration by December 31, which then means they have to close operations within 60 days
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations and aid groups warned on Wednesday that humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, were at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include a “vague, arbitrary, and highly politicized” registration process.
Dozens of international aid groups face de-registration by December 31, which then means they have to close operations within 60 days, said the UN and more than 200 local and international aid groups in a joint statement.
“The deregistration of INGOs (international aid groups) in Gaza will have a catastrophic impact on access to essential and basic services,” the statement read.
“INGOs run or support the majority of field hospitals, primary health care centers, emergency shelter responses, water and sanitation services, nutrition stabilization centers for children with acute malnutrition, and critical mine action activities,” it said.
SUPPLIES LEFT OUT OF REACH: GROUPS
While some international aid groups have been registered under the system that was introduced in March, “the ongoing re-registration process and other arbitrary hindrances to humanitarian operations have left millions of dollars’ worth of essential supplies — including food, medical items, hygiene materials, and shelter assistance — stuck outside of Gaza and unable to reach people in need,” the statement read.
Israel’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement. Under the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, a fragile ceasefire in the two-year-old war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas began on October 10. Hamas released hostages, Israel freed detained Palestinians and more aid began flowing into the enclave where a global hunger monitor said in August famine had taken hold.
However, Hamas says fewer aid trucks are entering Gaza than was agreed. Aid agencies say there is far less aid than required, and that Israel is blocking many necessary items from coming in. Israel denies that and says it is abiding by its obligations under the truce.
“The UN will not be able to compensate for the collapse of INGOs’ operations if they are de-registered, and the humanitarian response cannot be replaced by alternative actors operating outside established humanitarian principles,” the statement by the UN and aid groups said.
The statement stressed “humanitarian access is not optional, conditional or political,” adding: “Lifesaving assistance must be allowed to reach Palestinians without further delay.”
