What will happen to Palestinian communities if civil society organizations are shut down?

In the early hours of Thursday, August 18, heavily armed Israeli soldiers broke into and ransacked our offices at Addameer, one of the largest organizations providing direct support to Palestinian political prisoners. Our front door was welded shut, and a military order was taped to it demanding the immediate closure of our offices and work.

We were not alone. Six other civil society organizations were targeted in the massive Israeli raid in Ramallah, all but one of which were designated as “terrorist” organizations by the Israeli government last October. These six organizations behind the #StandWithThe6 campaign are: Addameer, Al-Haq, the Bisan Center for Research & Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Workers Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees. Health Work Committees was also raided and ordered to close. Items and information from three of the organizations were stolen, and we found military debris at the scenes of the raids — teargas canisters, sponge-grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets and live bullets — indicating that the Israeli army had attacked residents in the area or those who came out to confront their incursion. 

This frightening escalation is just the latest in a mounting attack on frontline Palestinian human rights work that has been years in the making. As workers in civil society, we have faced arrests, travel bans, interrogations, residency revocation, spyware surveillance and raids that have resulted in damage and the theft of files, equipment and private information. Addameer’s offices were raided in 2002, 2012 and 2019, and even now as we write these words, two of our coworkers — a field researcher and a lawyer — are in Israeli detention. 

When our six organizations were banned by Israeli military order last October, followed by the discovery of Pegasus spyware on several workers’ devices a few weeks later, we sounded the alarm. We urged the international community to act. We conducted diplomatic briefings and state advocacy, organized webinars, events and digital days of action, lobbied stakeholders, filed reports to UN bodies and published articles, demands and policy papers.

While we did in fact receive an immense outpouring of support from the global human rights community, with hundreds if not thousands of organizations voicing their condemnation of the designation, state-level denunciation of the Israeli attack has been lukewarm. It was only last month that nine European countries published a statement saying that they would not recognize the “terrorist” designation of our organizations. Norway followed suit, becoming the 10th European state to reject the designation. 

Many of these states already fund one or more of our organizations; they work closely with us, know the significance of our work on the ground, have seen firsthand the Israeli repression of our organizations and are fully aware of our use of funds through regular and thorough audits. Yet, it took them nearly nine months to state publicly that “we will continue our cooperation and strong support for the civil society in the [occupied Palestinian Territory].” While the statements were welcomed, they were not followed by any action that would place pressure on Israel to reverse its designation. With impunity, Israel decided to take the attack on our organizations a step further — we have been raided, ordered to close, and two of our directors (so far) have been called in for interrogation. 

Despite the designations and military orders for our closure, we in Palestinian civil society are doing everything within our means to continue our work, at great personal risk, because we know that our communities need us. Without meaningful international intervention though, Israel will not cease its attack until our organizations and wider Palestinian civil society has been fully defunded and shut down. Who would be hurt most if the Israeli regime is allowed to succeed in this effort? 

If we at Addameer are closed down, hundreds of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli and Palestinian Authority detention would lose the free legal representation we provide them with. We would be forced to stop our detention-monitoring visits, which we conduct at every Israeli interrogation center and prison, where we visit dozens of political prisoners each month. Our role as a watchdog over the violence, medical neglect and ill-treatment that detainees experience on a daily basis would be erased. We would no longer be able to file legal complaints on behalf of prisoners who face assault and torture, or who need urgent intervention to protect their health or save their lives. The news updates, in-depth reports, factsheets and analysis on pressing prisoners’ issues, which we publish in English, Arabic and Spanish, would cease, and we would no longer be able to bring the needs and cases of prisoners to international attention through filings to United Nations bodies, diplomatic advocacy, speaking tours and global ground-up campaigns. Organizers, researchers, journalists and advocacy groups around the world that are concerned with the issues of Palestinian prisoners would no longer receive information and statistics from us, which would prevent them from running timely and informed campaigns in their own countries. 

Around one-fifth of the Palestinian population have been imprisoned at some point since 1967, and thousands have been held indefinitely under administrative detention, where no charges are presented and no trial occurs. Between 2000 and 2020, some 10,000 Palestinian children have been arrested. It is rare to find a Palestinian family that has not been impacted by Israeli arrests, and we know that any Palestinian can be arrested by Israel’s occupation forces, from children and the elderly, students and professors, to journalists, doctors, parliamentarians and others. 

The Israeli regime tries most Palestinians that are detained in the West Bank or Gaza in military courts, where a low standard for evidence and a lack of fair trial standards result in a conviction rate of almost 100 percent. If Addameer was truly forced to close, we would not be able to collaborate with international partners to provide evidence for reports like UK charity War on Want’s 2021 “Judge, Jury and Occupier,” which exposed how the military court system is implicated in upholding a system of military occupation and apartheid. Nearly all Palestinian political activity is banned, and over 400 organizations have been designated as “hostile,” “unlawful,” or “terrorist” since 1967. It is evident then that the case of Palestinian prisoners is central to the Palestinian cause. The shutdown of Addameer would deal a major blow to all those dedicated to Palestinian freedom and human rights. 

Likewise, if the other StandWithThe6 organizations are forced to close, not only would Palestinian communities lose vital support on the ground, Israel would be effectively allowed to evade accountability on the international stage while isolating Palestinians from the rest of the world. 

Al-Haq has been working to protect and promote human rights and the rule of law since 1979, making it one of the first human rights organizations established in the Arab world. They document crimes and hold Israel accountable in the global arena when it violates international and humanitarian law. 

The Bisan Center for Research & Development works with Palestinian youth and women, poor and marginalized communities and workers to support their socio-economic rights. They promote knowledge production, encourage diverse research and foster cultural initiatives, all with a focus on gender equality.

Defense for Children International-Palestine is the only Palestinian human rights organization specifically focused on the rights of children. They investigate, document and expose human rights violations against children, provide legal services to those in urgent need and hold Israeli and PA authorities accountable at the local and international levels. 

The Union of Agricultural Workers Committee represents the interests of thousands of farmers in agricultural committees across the West Bank and Gaza, amid Israel’s increasing settler-colonial encroachment onto Palestinian land. The union helps Palestinian farmers develop agricultural land, supports communities facing water scarcity to develop sustainable interventions, and encourages rural women’s livelihoods.

The Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees is a progressive feminist community organization that has since 1980 worked to eradicate all forms of discrimination. Their union empowers women, encouraging their political and social participation, helping them enter the labor market through economic empowerment programs and providing psychosocial and legal support to address the most pressing issues facing Palestinian women.

If anyone is surprised that Israel would target organizations that support Palestinian women, children, prisoners, farmers and rural communities, then they have not been paying attention. We have been ordered to shut down precisely because we provide services to the victims of Israel’s violent system of occupation, apartheid and settler colonialism. As the Israeli regime works to silence our organizations, it is in fact working to silence criticism, quash dissent and impoverish and isolate Palestinians from the rest of the world. Without meaningful international intervention, Israel will continue to raid, arrest and attack our organizations, putting our staff, our communities and our future in danger. We will resist and continue our work. The international community should stand with us.