EU states reject Israeli ‘terrorist’ designation for Palestinian NGOs

Nine European Union states said yesterday they would continue working with the six Palestinian civil society groups that Israel designated terrorist associations last year, citing a lack of evidence for that claim.Israel designated the Palestinian groups as terrorist organisations and accused them of funnelling donor aid to militants, a move that drew criticism from the United Nations and human rights watchdogs. The groups include Palestinian human rights organisations Addameer and Al-Haq, which document alleged rights violations by both Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and which reject the charges.In a joint statement, the foreign ministries of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden said they had not received “substantial information” from Israel that would justify reviewing their policy.“Should evidence be made available to the contrary, we would act accordingly,” they said. “In the absence of such evidence, we will continue our co-operation and strong support for the civil society in the oPT (occupied Palestinian territories).”