RAMALLAH, Analysis by Forensic Architecture working with Al-Haq’s new Forensic Architecture Investigation Unit of available CCTV footage from the premises of the human rights organization during the Israeli army raid of Al-Haq’s main Ramallah office on August 18 showed soldiers using violence in breaking into the office while others were socializing, taking trophy photos and group selfies, according to a statement by Al-Haq.
The footage showed at least nine military vehicles and at least 16 soldiers of different units taking part in the raid that also included raids on the Ramallah offices of six other Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations.
The Israeli Minister of Defense designated in October 2021 six Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations as “terrorist organizations”, and on August 18, their offices were raided and welded shut.
CCTV footage from cameras installed by Al-Haq and around its offices showed how the Israeli occupation forces spent over an hour inside Al-Haq’s office, appearing to be led by Special Reconnaissance Forces.
“While some Israeli soldiers search through Al-Haq’s organizational and administrative documents, others appear to socialize—taking trophy photos and group selfies as an act of domination, delivering a message of humiliation to staff, as a form of insult and disrespect to the work of the organization,” said Al-Haq in its statement. Before leaving, the soldiers sealed the front door of Al-Haq’s office with a welded metal sheet, attaching a military order declaring the organization an unlawful association.
“The incursion, raid, and closure are the latest in a pattern of repressive attacks by Israel, targeting Palestinian civil society organizations who advocate for human rights and international rule of law, and call for an end to Israel’s aggressive 74-year colonial and apartheid regime, that denies the collective right to self-determination of the Palestinian people and the right of refugees to return,” said Al-Haq.
“This military operation is the most recent rendition of a range of physical and digital attacks against Al-Haq and its employees, and the targeted civil society and human rights organizations. Such attacks seek to stifle the ability of Palestinian civil society to monitor and document Israeli apartheid practices, and hold Israel accountable for crimes committed against the Palestinian people,” it said.
In addition to Al-Haq, the Israeli order included Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, Bisan Center for Research and Development, and Union of Agricultural Work Committees.
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency