Washington and Brussels object to Israel's closure of Palestinian civil institutions

The representative of the European Union in Palestine confirmed that allegations that Palestinian organizations misused the union's funds "have not been proven", while the US State Department condemned Israel's obstruction of the work of Palestinian civil society organizations.

The office of the European Union representative in Palestine said Thursday that allegations that Palestinian organizations misused union funds "have not been proven", pledging to continue supporting Palestinian civil society organizations.

This came in a statement issued by the office after a delegation comprising representatives of the union visited seven Palestinian organizations in the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank, which was closed by Israel on Thursday and its property was confiscated.

The statement added: "Previous allegations of misuse of EU funds in relation to some Palestinian civil society organizations have not been substantiated."

The European Union pledged, according to the statement, "to continue to stand by international law, and to support civil society organizations that play a role in promoting international law, human rights and democratic values."

He pointed out that representatives of the union, its member states and like-minded countries "met

Palestinian civil society organizations whose offices located in Area A inside Ramallah were closed by the Israeli forces, and their property was confiscated."

In addition, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a press briefing that Washington was "concerned about the Israeli forces closing the offices of Palestinian civil society organizations.

He demanded that civil society in the Palestinian territories and Israel be able to carry out its activities, Al-Hurra TV reported.

On Thursday, an Israeli military force stormed the headquarters of seven Palestinian civil institutions in the cities of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, closed them and confiscated their properties.

The seven organizations that were subjected to the raids and closures are: Addameer for Prisoner Care and Human Rights, Law for Human Rights (Al-Haq), Bisan Center for Research and Development, Union of Women’s Committees, Foundation for Health Work Committees, Union of Agricultural Work Committees and Defense for Children International - Palestine Branch.

On October 19, 2021, the Israeli authorities decided to close 6 of these institutions, claiming that they were “terrorist organizations.”

At that time, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz issued an order to close 6 institutions (which were raided Thursday, except for the Health Work Committees) on the grounds that they are "terrorist" and are affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of

Palestine.

At the time, European countries stopped working with those six institutions included in the resolution, but they returned on July 11 and announced that they would continue to work with them due to the lack of evidence against the Israeli claim.

The European countries are Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

The targeted organizations are located in an area under the control of the Palestinian Authority, in accordance with the Oslo 2 Agreement of 2015.

The agreement classified West Bank lands into 3 areas: “A” under full Palestinian control, “B”

under Israeli security, civil and Palestinian administrative control, and “C” under Israeli civil, administrative and security control, and the latter constitutes about 60% of the area of ​​the West Bank.