The Israeli army raided and closed early Thursday, August 18, the offices of seven Palestinian NGOs based in the occupied West Bank and accused of “terrorism” by the Jewish state, said these organizations and officials.
The Israeli government announced in October 2021 that it had placed on its list of “terrorist organizations” six Palestinian NGOs linked, according to it, to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a decision castigated by human rights organizations.
On Wednesday evening, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz ratified this decision regarding three of these organizations.
And Thursday morning, the Israeli army carried out searches and closed the offices of seven NGOs in Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
These are the six NGOs designated "terrorists" in October 2021 and the organization Health Work Committees, also linked according to Israel to the PFLP, a Palestinian movement of Marxist obedience with an armed wing, much weaker however than the groups Islamists Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
These organizations all denied links with the PFLP.
Last month, nine European countries, including Germany and France, announced that they wanted to continue to “cooperate” with the six organizations targeted in October, for lack of evidence against them.
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“illegal” organizations
"This morning, Israeli occupation forces raided Al-Haq's office in Ramallah, confiscating items and sealing off the entrance by covering it with an iron gate, leaving a military order declaring the organization illegal" , the association said.
"Any activity in these offices threatens the security in this sector, the security of the forces and public order", can we read on this order written in Hebrew and consulted by an AFP journalist, who saw the remains of the tear gas canisters strewn on the ground in front of Al-Haq's offices.
"Soldiers and border police carried out an operation during the night to close down institutions used by the PFLP... The soldiers closed down seven organizations and confiscated property belonging to this terrorist organization," the official said. Israeli army in a statement.
"Stones and Molotov cocktails" were thrown at Israeli forces who used "means to disperse the crowd", the army continued.
A senior Palestinian Authority official, Hussein al-Sheikh, denounced the Israeli measures as an “attempt to silence the voice of truth and justice”.
