Israel sealed the offices of seven Palestinian non-governmental organisations, including those working on human rights and child protection, months after a decision to designate them as terrorist groups sparked an international backlash.
In an early-morning operation on Thursday, Israeli soldiers arrived at the offices of the Palestinian organisations inside the West Bank city of Ramallah, welded the doors closed and left notices declaring them shut. Soldiers also confiscated materials from some of the offices.
Israel says the groups operate as fronts for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a left-wing political party based in the West Bank and Gaza. It also has an armed unit that has carried out deadly attacks against Israelis and is designated a terrorist group by Australia, the US and EU.
All the organisations deny working on behalf of the PFLP and Israel has struggled to convince allies that the groups are fronts for terrorist outfits. Rights groups say the Israeli measures are part of a long history of cracking down on Palestinian activists in the occupied territories.
The seven organisations include some of the most longstanding and highly regarded non-profits in Palestinian civil society, including al-Haq, a human rights monitor, and al-Dameer, which provides legal aid to Palestinians facing Israeli military courts. Many of the NGOs receive European funding and regularly meet with diplomats.
In October, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz designated six of the Palestinian civil society organisations terrorist groups. The classification enables Israel to jail those found to be members and sanction those who fund or assist them. Following criticism from allies, Israeli officials doubled down, insisting that evidence against the groups was iron-clad.
Read the article by Dov Lieber and Aaron Boxerman in The Australian (from The Wall Street Journal).