The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) rejected today the decision of the Israeli occupation army’s minister, Benny Gantz, to designate six Palestinian human rights and civil society groups as “terrorist organizations.” In a statement, the Committee stressed that this decision is a flagrant violation of international law, human rights, and the human and civil rights of the Palestinian people.
The PLO Executive Committee also considered Gantz’s decision as meant to strike national institutions, and perpetuates annexation, occupation and more Israeli settlements to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
“What the occupation government and its agencies are doing is specific terrorism against the Palestinian people and civil society institutions to prevent them from playing their role in supporting the steadfastness of Palestinian society and its needs, and in exposing the crimes of the occupation against human rights,” according to the statement.
The Committee added that the six Palestinian institutions that are active in the field of human rights and development are an integral part of the institutions of Palestinian society and its social and human rights components, stressing that targeting them by the occupation confirms its inability to coexist with democratic values and human rights principles.
The PLO Executive Committee called on the international community and human rights, humanitarian and international organizations to play their role to stop this fierce attack against the Palestinian people and their institutions and to protect civil society in order to play its developmental, humanitarian and human rights role.
