JERUSALEM, United Nations agencies and the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory today urged the Government of Israel to allow Palestinian human rights and humanitarian organizations to continue their work.
This morning, Israeli occupation forces broke into, searched and sealed the offices of seven Palestinian human rights and humanitarian organizations in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank it had designated as “terrorist organizations”. Their property was confiscated and destroyed and military orders closing the offices were left at the premises.
The UN agencies and AIDA said in a statement that the Israeli authorities have not given any compelling evidence to the United Nations Agencies nor its NGO partners working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to support these designations. Several Member States recently announced that the evidence which was shared with them does not justify the designations.
The attempted closures of these organization offices represent the latest in a series of actions by Israel that are further limiting the ability of human rights, humanitarian and development work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which affect all institutions working to promote human rights, development and delivering assistance, they said.
“We reiterate our November 2021 statement: counter-terrorism legislation must be in accordance with obligations under international law, in particular, international humanitarian law and human rights law, which include full respect for the rights to freedom of association and expression. It cannot be applied to legitimate human rights and humanitarian work; the breadth of the Israeli 2016 Anti-Terrorism legislation and its impact on the presumption of innocence present serious concerns under international law,” said the UN agencies and AIDA.
“We urge the Government of Israel to refrain from any action that would prevent these organizations from continuing their critical human rights, humanitarian and development work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Source: Palestine News & Info Agency