Palestinian NGOs Network

Last updated
Palestinian NGOs Network
AbbreviationPNGO  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
EstablishedSeptember 1993  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg (31 years ago)
Types non-governmental organization   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Headquarters Ramallah   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Country State of Palestine   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO or PNGO Net) is an umbrella organization of about 30 Palestinian non-government organisations (NGOs) in the Palestinian territories formed to enhance coordination, consultation and cooperation between member NGOs and to strengthen Palestinian civil society and contribute to the establishment of a Palestinian state. [1] PNGO was formed in September 1993, and as of January 2020, had 135 member NGOs operating in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. [2] [3]

Contents

PNGO operates through committees of members working in five sectors: health, democracy and human rights, women and children, rehabilitation and agriculture. PNGO role is to establish general guidelines and coordinate the NGOs work but has no line authority on the NGOs. [1]

PNGO is a member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. [2] Individual PNGO members, such as Defense for Children International – Palestine, also promote BDS and are active participants in lobbying the UN, EU, foreign governments, and other international bodies that promote this agenda. [4]

Funding of NGOs

Each member NGO obtains separate funding for its activities and projects from donors, including foreign governments, international organisations, charities, etc., which all form part of the international aid to Palestinians.

In January 2020, the European Union (EU) inserted a clause in new EU's grant contracts to prohibit recipients from working with and funding organizations and individuals designated on the EU's terror lists, Article 1.5 of Annex II listed in the "General conditions applicable to European Union-financed grant contracts for external actions". [5] The PNGO vehemently opposed the new requirement. [4] [3] Media reports stated that the PNGO's position was that Palestinian terrorist organizations are in fact "political parties." [6] According to the PNGO, the EU sent a "clarification letter" on 30 March 2020, which specified that the EU provision only applies to persons explicitly named in its restrictive list and emphasized that no Palestinian persons are included in that list, and that the provision is limited to "financial procedures", adding: "The EU does not ask any civil society organization to change its political position towards any Palestinian faction or to discriminate against any natural person based on his/her political affiliation". [7] [8] The EU reaffirmed its position in April 2021, saying the EU must "thoroughly verify" that its funds are not "allocated or linked to any cause or form of terrorism and/or religious and political radicalization." Any funds that did go to any person or organization with terrorist ties must be "proactively recovered, and recipients involved are excluded from future union funding." [9]

According to research by NGO Monitor, a pro-government Israeli monitoring group focused on the sources and uses of Palestinians civic society organizations' funding, has alleged that at least 70 NGO officials are affiliated with the PFLP and that between 2014 and 2021 and that numerous European governments gave over €200 million to the NGO network, which they claim is linked to the PFLP, some of which was used to finance terrorism. [10]

Outlawing of Palestinian NGOs by Israel

On 22 October 2021, Israel designated Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defence for Children International – Palestine, Union of Agricultural Work Committees and the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees as terrorist organizations. [11]

On 18 August 2022, Israeli forces raided the headquarters of the six along with the Union of Health Work Committees (outlawed in 2020) in Ramallah and al-Bireh, removed computers and equipment and ordered their closure. Hussein Al-Sheikh tweeted his condemnation of the action. Michael Sfard, lawyer for Al-Haq, said "Let's recall that this is all happening after the government failed to convince the European countries who one by one determined that there is no basis for the accusations against the organizations. An urgent international intervention is needed to protect Palestinian human rights defenders from the Israeli dictatorship." [12] [13] [14]

Members

Each member NGO has its own area of activity and is affiliated to related international organisations (which may in turn be affiliated with other entities) and attends international conferences at which it may present papers on its area of interest.

Members of PNGO include:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNRWA</span> United Nations agency to support Palestinian refugees

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the Nakba, the 1948 Palestine War, and subsequent conflicts, as well as their descendants, including legally adopted children. As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defence for Children International</span> Non-governmental organization for childrens rights (1979–present)

Defence for Children International (DCI) is an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) set up in 1979, during the International Year of the Child, to ensure on-going, practical, systematic and concerted international and national action specially directed towards promoting and protecting the rights of children, as articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Nigel Cantwell was one of its founders and its current president is Khaled Quzmar of Palestine.

International aid has been provided to Palestinians since at least the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. The Palestinians view the aid as keeping the Israeli–Palestinian peace process going, while Israelis and other foreign policy authorities have raised concerns that it is used to fund terrorism and removes the imperative for Palestinians to negotiate a settlement of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. As a provision of the Oslo Accords, international aid was to be provided to the Palestinians to ensure economic solvency for the Palestinian National Authority (PA). In 2004, it was reported that the PA, within the West Bank and Gaza Strip, receives one of the highest levels of aid in the world. In 2006, economic sanctions and other measures were taken by several countries against the PA, including suspension of international aid following Hamas' victory at the Palestinian Legislative Council election. Aid to the PA resumed in 2008 following the Annapolis Conference, where Hamas was not invited. Aid has been provided to the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian non-governmental organizations (PNGOs) as well as Palestinian political factions by various foreign governments, international organizations, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and charities, besides other sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shurat HaDin</span> Tel Aviv-based Israeli legal advocacy group

Shurat HaDin is an Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in Tel Aviv in 2003. Shurat HaDin has been described by some as a civil rights organization and others as a pro-Israel lawfare-waging NGO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nitsana Darshan-Leitner</span> Israeli activist and lawyer

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner is an Israeli attorney, human rights activist, and the founder of Shurat HaDin – Israeli Law Center. As the president of the Shurat HaDin, she has represented hundreds of terror victims in legal actions against terror organizations and their supporters. Darshan-Leitner initiated a legal campaign to deprive terrorists of social media resources such as Facebook and Twitter. Darshan-Leitner assisted in blocking the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem</span> Palestinian non-governmental organization

The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem is a Palestinian NGO founded in 1990 with its main office in Bethlehem in the West Bank. ARIJ is actively working on research projects in the fields of management of natural resources, water management, sustainable agriculture and political dynamics of development in the Palestinian Territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union of Agricultural Work Committees</span> Palestinian non-profit organization

The Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) is a Ramallah based Palestinian non-profit organization that was established in 1986 to improve the performance and professionalism of Palestinian farmers. The Union also aims to help Palestinian farmers market their produce and provides agricultural employment opportunities through a framework of cooperation with domestic, Arab, and international agricultural development institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shawan Jabarin</span> Palestinian human rights activist

Shawan Rateb Abdallah Jabarin is the general director of Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organization in the West Bank. From 2005 to 2009, Jabarin was a member of the board of directors of Defense for Children International – Palestine, the national section of the Geneva-based Defense for Children International, an NGO established in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salah Hamouri</span> French-Palestinian lawyer

Salah Hamouri is a French-Palestinian lawyer and field researcher for the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association. His wife – who is French – has been barred since January 2016 from entering Israel or the Israeli-occupied West Bank to visit him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine</span> Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary socialist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization, the largest being Fatah.

NGO Monitor is a right-wing non-governmental organization based in Jerusalem that reports on international NGO activity from a pro-Israel perspective.

B'Tselem is a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization whose stated goals are to document human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, combat any denial of the existence of such violations, and help to create a human rights culture in Israel. It is currently headed by Yuli Novak, who took over in June 2023 from Hagai El-Ad, who had served as its director-general since May 2014. B'Tselem also maintains a presence in Washington, D.C., where it is known as B'Tselem USA. The organization has provoked sharp reactions within Israel, ranging from harsh criticism to strong praise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Haq</span> Palestinian human rights organization

Al-Haq is an independent Palestinian human rights organization based in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank. Founded in 1979, Al-Haq monitors and documents human rights violations committed by parties to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, issuing reports on its findings and producing detailed legal studies. It is in special consultative status with ECOSOC since 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions</span>

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) is a group opposed to Israeli settlements, which describes itself as "an Israeli peace and human rights organization dedicated to ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories and achieving a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald M. Steinberg</span> Israeli political scientists and advocate

Gerald M. Steinberg, a professor of politics at Bar Ilan University, is an Israeli academic, political scientist, and political activist. He is founder and president of NGO Monitor, a policy analysis think tank focusing on non-governmental organizations.

The Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund are two funds operated by the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Foundation for the Care of the Families of Martyrs pays monthly cash stipends to the families of Palestinians killed, injured, or imprisoned while carrying out violence against Israel. The Prisoners Fund makes disbursements to Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails. In 2016, the PA paid out about NIS 1.1 billion in stipends and other benefits.

Addameer, or Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, is a Palestinian Non-Government Organization (NGO), based in Ramallah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union of Palestinian Women's Committees</span> Palestinian non-profit organization

The Union of Palestinian Women's Committees is a Palestinian non-profit organization founded in the year 1980 "to empower Palestinian women on all levels and to contribute in the Palestinian national struggle against the Israeli military illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bisan Center for Research and Development</span> Palestinian non-profit organization

The Bisan Center for Research and Development is a civil society non-profit, non-governmental organization in Ramallah. It was established in 1989 and is registered with the Palestinian Ministry of Interior.

On 19 October 2021, Israel designated six Palestinian human rights organizations—Addameer, Al-Haq, Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees—as terrorist organizations. After the ban, an Israeli official told American media that arrests of the organizations' leadership was not being pursued, the goal was to cut off funding for the targeted groups. Although the ban was justified on the basis that the organizations had links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, no evidence for such links has been made public by Israel.

References

  1. 1 2 "Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network Palestine | arab.org". Archived from the original on 2020-02-18. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  2. 1 2 Monitor, N. G. O. "Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) » ngomonitor". ngomonitor. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  3. 1 2 "EU funding criterion accused of 'criminalising Palestinian resistance'". Middle East Monitor. February 4, 2020. Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Monitor, N. G. O. "Defense for Children International - Palestine » ngomonitor". ngomonitor. Archived from the original on 2020-10-07. Retrieved 2020-02-15.
  5. ↑ Alsaafin, Linah. "Palestinian civil society rejects EU's conditional funding". www.aljazeera.com.
  6. ↑ "Palestinian NGOs reject EU assistance over refusal to renounce ties to terrorism". JNS.org. December 31, 2019. Archived from the original on July 23, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  7. ↑ "EU sends "clarification letter" to PNGO about EU funding of Palestinian NGOs". Archived from the original on 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  8. ↑ "Senior EU official vows to 'look deep' into EU funding Palestinian terror". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Archived from the original on 2020-10-30. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  9. ↑ "EU moves to stop funding Palestinian terrorists, inciting textbooks". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
  10. ↑ "Four Palestinians to be charged with diverting European aid to terrorism". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
  11. ↑ Kingsley, Patrick (October 22, 2021). "Israel Accuses 6 Palestinian Rights Groups of Terrorism". The New York Times.
  12. ↑ cite web|url=https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/130475%7Ctitle=
  13. ↑ "Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank clashes, medics say". Reuters. 18 August 2022 – via www.reuters.com.
  14. ↑ "Israel Raids Outlawed Palestinian Rights Groups' Offices in West Bank". Haaretz.
  15. ↑ Monitor, N. G. O. "Health Work Committees (HWC) » ngomonitor". ngomonitor. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.