Over the past two weeks, Israel has launched an unprecedented and blanket attack on Palestinian human rights defenders beginning with the designation, on 19 October 2021, of six leading Palestinian human rights organisations as “terrorist” groups.
The organisations include: Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq Law in the Service of Man (Al-Haq), Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC).
Still, despite international condemnation by the UN, international human rights groups, and government officials, the Israeli occupation has doubled down in their crackdown and issued a military order that outlaws, entirely, the six Palestinian organisations in the West Bank.
The designations target six of the most eminent Palestinian human rights defenders engaged in critical human rights work and cover all aspects of civil society in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Addameer serves as one of the biggest organizations providing direct legal support to Palestinian political prisoners.
Al-Haq, the oldest human rights organisation both in Palestine and Middle East, extensively documents international humanitarian law and international human rights law violations in the occupied territory, specialising in individual and corporate accountability. Bisan Center produces extensive research and development reports in support of the poor and marginalized communities.
DCI-P is a local affiliate of an international human rights organisation that works to protect the rights of Palestinian children. The UAWC supports thousands of Palestinian farmers and their families amid the encroachment and violence of illegal Israeli settlements. The UPWC is a feminist, progressive, and grassroots organisation that aims to empower Palestinian women.
The vital work of these six organizations to protect and empower Palestinians and hold Israel accountable for its gross human rights violations and aparthied regime of institutionlised racial discrimination is precisely the work that Israel is trying to end. Israel’s designation of these six Palestinian organisations as “terrorist” groups, and the military order that outlaws them places the safety of the organisations and their staff at imminent risk.
The military order allows for Israeli occupation forces to raid their offices, forcibly shut them down, arbitrarily arrest their staff to be tried under Israeli military courts, and institute other reprisals including travel bans and residency revocations against their members.
The threat of retaliation is real, and puts at risk not just the organizations themselves, but the entire Palestinian civil society and the tens of thousands of Palestinians they serve everyday. To this end, we call on all persons of conscience across the globe to stand with us. We call on the international community to #StandWithThe6 and protect Palestinian human rights defenders, and demand that Israel rescind the terrorist designations immediately.
Photo (c) Jamal Aruri/AFP
This statement is supported by more than 100 signatories. The full list is below:
- Kevin Macdonald, film director, UK
- Peter Gabriel, musician, founder, Womad Festival, UK
- Mike Leigh, film director, UK
- Jodie Evans, film producer, USA
- Robert Wyatt, musician, UK
- Alfreda Benge, artist, UK
- Aki Kaurismaki, film director, Finland
- Liam Cunningham, actor, Ireland
- Susan Sarandon, actor, USA
- Ece Temelkuran, author, Turkey
- Tilda Swinton, actor, UK
- Jim Jarmusch, film director, USA
- Laura Poitras, film director, USA
- Simon Fisher Turner, musician, UK
- Iciar Bollain, film director, Spain
- Kleber Mendonça Filho, film director, Brasil
- Julie Christie, actor, UK
- V (formerly known as Eve Ensler), Playwright, USA
- Mark Ruffalo, actor, USA
- Philip Pullman, author, UK
- Stephen Dillane, actor, UK
- Brian Eno, artist, UK
- Roger Waters, musician, UK
- Ken Loach, film director, UK
- Paul Laverty, writer, UK
- Yann Martel, author, Canada
- AL Kennedy, author, UK
- Naomi Klein, author, Canada
- Robert Guediguian, film director, France
- Asif Kapadia, film director, UK
- Juliet Stevenson, actor, UK
- Yanis Varoufakis, author, Greece
- Peter Kosminsky, film director, UK
- Titi Robin, musician, France
- Etienne Balibar, philosopher, France
- Harriet Walter, actor, UK
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul, film director, Thailand
- Bella Freud, artist, UK
- David Michôd, film director, Australia
- Claire Foy, actor, UK
- Mark Rylance, actor, UK
- Alfonso Cuaron, film director, Mexico
- Thurston Moore, musician, USA
- Jeremy Deller, artist, UK
- Kamila Shamsie, author, UK
- Monica Ali, author, UK
- Eric Cantona, actor, France
- Phil Manzanera, musician, UK
- Laurie Anderson, artist, USA
- Michèle Gavras, producer, France
- Annemarie Jacir, film director, Palestine
- Costa Gavras, film director, Greece
- Juan Diego Botto, actor and playwright, Spain
- Alberto San Juan, actor and playwright, Spain
- Carlos Bardem, actor and writer, Spain
- Residente (René Pérez), singer, artist, writer, film director, Puerto Rico
- Irvine Welsh, author, UK
- Tunde Adebimpe, musician, USA
- David Byrne, musician, USA
- Ohal Grietzer, musician, Israel
- Tai Shani, visual artist, UK
- Hany Abu-Assad, film director, Palestine
- Simon Pegg, actor, UK
- David Mitchell, author, UK
- Mira Nair, film director, India
- Jarvis Cocker, musician, UK
- Fisher Stevens, director, USA
- Leopoldo Gout, artist, USA
- Julio Pérez del Campo, film director, Spain
- Alain Damasio, author, France
- Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, choreographer, Belgium
- Joe Sacco, comic book artist and journalist, USA
- Mercè Sampietro, actor, Spain
- Ian McEwan, author, UK
- Colm Tóibín, author, Ireland
- Elaine Mokhtefi, translator, USA
- Madeleine Thien, author, Canada
- Eliot Weinberger, author, USA
- Sabrina Mahfouz, playwright and poet, UK
- Joel Beinin, professor, USA
- Omar Robert Hamilton, author, UK
- John Oakes, publisher, USA
- Mary Jane Nealon, poet, USA
- Rachel Kushner, author, USA
- Lina Meruane, author, Chile
- Naomi Wallace, playwright, USA
- Rashid Khalidi, author, Palestine
- Ben Ehrenreich, author, USA
- Adam Shatz, Writer, London Review of Books, USA
- Farid Matuk, poet, USA
- Michel Moushabeck, publisher, USA
- Eileen Myles, poet, USA
- Lila Abu-Lughod, Professor, USA
- Natalie Diaz, poet, USA
- Andrew Ross, New York University, USA
- Zeina Azzam, poet, USA
- Bernardine Dohrn, human rights advocate, USA
- Molly Crabapple, author, USA
- Jeffrey Sachs, University Professor at Columbia University, USA
- Bruce Robbins, author, USA
- Shuchi Saraswat, author, USA
- James Schamus, screenwriter and producer, USA
- nancy kricorian, Writer, USA
- Jacqueline Rose, author, UK
- Andrew O’Hagan, author, UK
- Hannah Khalil, playwright, Palestine
- Ritu Menon, publisher, India
- Janne Teller, author, Denmark
- Nicholas Blincoe, author, UK
- Rick Simonson, Bookseller, USA
- Brigid Keenan, author, UK
- Massive Attack, music band
- Richard Gere, actor
Do you want to be informed of DiEM25's actions? Sign up here
