On Wednesday 7 July 2021, the Israeli army arrested Shatha Odeh, Director of Health Work Committees (HWC) and President of the Palestinian NGO network PNGO, at her home in Ramallah. The same night, the Israeli army also closed the headquarters of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC). The Belgian NGOs denounce the increasing number of attacks by the Israeli authorities against Palestinian civil society. They call on the Belgian government to strongly condemn these attacks and for the immediate release of Shatha Odeh.
On Tuesday night, Israeli soldiers entered Shatha Odeh's home, ransacked her house, seized her car and took her away to an as yet unknown destination. Shatha Odeh is the director of Health Work Committees (HWC), one of the largest Palestinian health care providers, supported by Operation 11.11.11 via the Belgian NGO Viva Salud. Shatha Odeh is also President of the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), which brings together most of the Palestinian NGOs and is a direct partner of CNCD-11.11.11. HWC coordinates the regional action of the People's Health Movement, a network of civil society organisations working for the right to health.
A cut in healthcare
On 9 June, HWC received a military order to close its headquarters for six months. This first attack was widely condemned, notably by Amnesty International, which highlighted the impact of this closure on the ability to provide essential health services to thousands of Palestinians, even though Israel is responsible for the Palestinians' right to health as an occupying power. At a time when they are facing a fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Israeli attacks on HWC are further weakening the Palestinians' ability to cope with the pandemic.
On Wednesday 7 July, the Israeli army also closed the headquarters of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC). Founded in 1986, this organisation plays a central role in promoting the presence of Palestinian farmers in Area C, an area under Israeli control that represents 60% of the West Bank and where some 300,000 Palestinians live - with difficulty.
An attack on civil society
These attacks are part of a well-established Israeli strategy to discredit Palestinian civil society organisations, a strategy already denounced by several reports from international organisations. In a report published in April 2021, The report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) highlights the elements of this strategy, which aims firstly to defame Palestinian civil society organisations by finding alleged links with terrorist or anti-Semitic organisations, secondly to put pressure on any organisation or individual that supports them, and thirdly to actively advocate cutting off all their sources of funding. These attempts to delegitimise Palestinian civil society were also highlighted by the Occupation and shrinking space« report published in January 2020 by the CNCD-11.11.11 and its Dutch-speaking counterpart 11.11.11.
But in the face of the Palestinian Authority's laissez-faire attitude and increasingly authoritarian excesses, we have to face up to the fact that the Palestinian Authority's actions are not the same as those of its neighbours, Palestinian civil society organisations play an essential role since they are the last bastion against the Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory and the consequences of the Israeli apartheid regime on the Palestinian population. In order to promote respect for international law as the only basis for any just solution in the Middle East, the organisations that have signed this press release call on Belgium to exert pressure on Israel for the immediate release of Shatha Odeh, to strongly condemn these Israeli attacks to preserve the space necessary for the essential work carried out by Palestinian civil society, and finally to continue to actively support Palestinian civil society organisations, both politically and financially.
Signatories :
11.11.11
Belgo-Palestinian Association
Centrale Générale FGTB
CNCD-11.11.11
De-Coloniser
Een Andere Joodse Stem
Intal
Christian Labour Movement
Palestine Solidarity
Pax Christi Flanders
SolSoc
Viva Salud
Vrede
