EU: No justification for stopping support for partner Palestinian institutions

The European Union representative to the Palestinian territories, Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff, said that the support provided by the EU to partner Palestinian institutions that were raided and closed by Israeli authorities yesterday will not stop.

During a solidarity visit by a number of European diplomats to the headquarters of the Al-Haq Foundation in Ramallah, the visitors denounced the closure of the institutions’ headquarters along with six other human rights and civil institutions, and the seizure of some of these organisations’ possessions.

Burgsdorff said that there is no reason for not continuing to cooperate with those organisations despite Israel’s allegations. “We express our solidarity with our partners, which we have beensupporting for many, many years,” he said.

Israel has labelled these civil society groups as “terrorist organisations” but the EU diplomat stressed that Israel’s allegations regarding the targeted Palestinian groups’ “misuse of funds” or links between them and “terrorist organisations” have not been substantiated.

He also praised the professionalism and efficiency of these institutions’ employees.

The European Union Delegation to the Palestinians yesterday reiterated the EU and its Member States’ solidarity with the Palestinian civil society organisations that have been raided and closed by Israel. “The EU will continue to stand by international law and support CSOs that have a role to play in promoting international law, human rights, and democratic values,” it wrote on Twitter.

2/2 Past allegations of misuse of EU funds in relation to certain Palestinian CSOs have not been substantiated. The EU will continue to stand by international law and support CSOs that have a role to play in promoting international law, human rights, and democratic values.

— EU and Palestinians (@EUpalestinians) August 18, 2022