Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, declared that Israel had yet to send definitive proof that six recently banned Palestinian organizations were linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
“We are asking for answers from the Israeli government, and we have not yet received convincing answers,” Borrell said in a closed-door meeting of international donors to the Palestinians in Oslo earlier this week.
Borrell’s speech, like others given at the conference, was not public. The Times of Israel received a transcript of the address from another official.
Last month, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz declared six Palestinian human rights groups to be “terror organizations”, saying that they had effectively operated as an arm for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The six organizations are the Palestinian rights organization Al-Haq, Addameer, Defense for Children-International, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, the Bisan Research and Advocacy Center, and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees.
International and European financiers questioned the Israeli claims.
Haaretz daily revealed last week that the Israeli government plans to use the plea bargain reached with Juana Rashmawi as evidence to justify the latest decision.
Rashmawi was convicted for working as a fundraiser for a PFLP-affiliate institution.
She did not work with the banned organization, but Israel accuses her of fundraising for the Union of Health Work Committees, which Israel designated at the beginning of this year as an “illegal organization” in West Bank.
For their part, the Palestinians rejected the Israeli decision and announced that they will not abide by it.
Two days ago, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas informed US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield about his rejection of the decision.
“We do not accept in any way the classification of six Palestinian civil organizations as terrorists by the occupation authorities,” he told her.
