Spain defends the six Palestinian NGOs that Israel closed alleging terrorist links

Published
08/19/2022 22:08

The Foreign Ministries of Spain and eight other European countries have signed a declaration in which they support the six Palestinian Human Rights Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that Israel closed on Thursday in the West Bank. for alleged links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

A statement sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that Spain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden they are “deeply concerned” by the raids that took place on Thursday morning “as part of a worrying reduction of the space for civil society in the occupied Palestinian territories” and have described these actions as “not acceptable”.

The Israel Defense Forces confiscated material from the headquarters while the Israeli soldiers dispersed several protesters who threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the agents, according to the newspaper ‘Haaretz’. After these actions, the nine countries transfer in the declaration their firmness in the defense of NGOs to safeguard the right to freedom of expression and association in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“A free and strong civil society is essential to promote democratic values and for a two-state solution”, the text collects. According to the statement, the signatory countries have not received substantial information from Israel that justifies reviewing the policy towards the six Palestinian organizations on the Israeli decision to designate them as “terrorists”. If convincing evidence to the contrary were presented, we would act accordingly.”clarify the text.