Israel shuts leading Palestinian human rights groups, citing terror links

Also: Israeli forces raid offices of six Palestinian human rights groups (The Guardian)

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Source: Washington Post

Israel shuts leading Palestinian human rights groups, citing terror links

By Miriam Berger
August 18, 2022 at 10:19 a.m. EDT

TEL AVIV — Israel shut the offices of five leading Palestinian rights organizations in an early-morning raid in Ramallah on Thursday, tightening its restrictions on civil society nearly a year after it labeled the organizations terrorist groups in an internationally criticized move.

Israel says the organizations have ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, an armed group that has carried out deadly attacks against Israel, which the rights groups deny.

They accuse Israel of targeting them because of their political activism against Israeli rule and work documenting alleged abuses in the occupied territories.

The escalation is the latest blow for Palestinians who say they have shrinking space for political expression and dissent at a time when there is little international effort to end the conflict and Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/18/israel-palestinian-haq-civil-society/

Non-paywalled link: https://wapo.st/3QVYInM

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Source: The Guardian

Israeli forces raid offices of six Palestinian human rights groups

Property confiscated in move decried as ‘appalling attack’ on Palestinian civil society in occupied West Bank

Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem
Thu 18 Aug 2022 15.14 BST
Last modified on Thu 18 Aug 2022 15.16 BST

Israeli forces have raided the offices of six Palestinian human rights groups in the occupied West Bank that it previously accused of being terrorist organisations, a move decried as an “appalling attack” on Palestinian civil society.

Property belonging to the prominent advocacy groups was confiscated and entrance doors sealed by soldiers in the early hours of Thursday.

At the offices of Al-Haq, an internationally respected human rights organisation based in Ramallah, the front door was welded shut and a Hebrew statement left saying it would remain closed for “security reasons”. The reverend of an Anglican church on the ground floor of the building, which rents the space to Al-Haq, said the house of worship was also raided and its glass doors smashed.

In October Israel outlawed Al-Haq; Addameer, which advocates for Palestinian prisoners; the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees; the Union of Agricultural Work Committees; the Bisan Center for Research and Development; and Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P).

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/18/israeli-forces-raid-palestinian-human-rights-groups-offices

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Source: Haaretz

Israel Raids Outlawed Palestinian Rights Groups' Offices in West Bank