Ms. Sigrid Kaag
Minister for International Trade and Development Cooperation
Rijnstraat 8
2515 XP The Hague
The Netherland
Via e-mail

Re: review of and suspension of Dutch payments for UAWC
Ramallah, 27 July 2020
Dear Minister Kaag,
I am writing to you on behalf of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network
(PNGO), an umbrella organization and coordination framework of 142 Palestinian NGOs, which is
based on the principles of democracy, social justice, rule of law and respect for human rights.
We are most grateful for the political and financial support that the Netherlands has been
providing to Palestinian civil society organisations. One of the beneficiaries of Dutch aid is the
Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), which is a member organisation of PNGO.
The immediate reason for my letter is your recent announcement to launch a review of and to
suspend further payments to UAWC. We are deeply concerned about the implications of this
decision for UAWC in particular and Palestinian civil society more broadly.
We understand the Dutch government’s need for clarifications, following the arrest by Israeli
authorities last year of two former employees of UAWC. Both men are, as you rightly noted in
answers to questions in the Dutch parliament, suspects at this stage. However, your answers
make no mention of the torture and inhumane treatment they have been exposed to in Israeli
detention. One of them, Samer Arbid, was almost tortured to death.
Acknowledging and reporting such torture is important on its own for acknowledging a
foundational rule of virtually every modern legal system: only the guilty can be punished for their
acts, and only after a fair process. This principle is valid also in relation to the status and case of
the former UAWC employees: they are innocent until proven guilty in a fair trial, in which their
rights have been fully respected. The trial awaiting the former UAWC employees in Israel’s
military court system is set to violate these basic legal standards in every way.
Your answers to parliamentary questions also failed to acknowledge “shrinking space” as the
decisive context in which UAWC has been targeted by virulent smear campaigns. These
campaigns started long before the two former UAWC employees were arrested. They have been
waged by Israeli organisations established for the sole purpose of damaging and disrupting
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NGOs that work to hold Israel accountable for its serious and systematic violations and that
challenge Israel’s efforts to entrench its military occupation, on its trajectory towards formal
annexation of large parts of Palestine.
The Dutch government funds UAWC because of its vital work in Area C of the West Bank. That
same work is the very reason why UAWC has been under such heavy attack. The organizations
leading this attack and many other NGOs are shielding and thereby facilitating Israel’s violent
occupation and its preparations for formal annexation. They should be denounced and dismissed
by the EU. Yet, Palestinian civil society organizations providing basic needs and promoting
human rights are the ones that are increasingly put on the defensive.
Within the EU, the Netherlands has been a leading promoter and defender of civic space and
human rights organisations, including in Palestine. We are deeply concerned your review and the
suspension of Dutch payments for UAWC will add momentum to the aggressive shrinking space
campaign, which the Israeli government and its affiliated predator organizations have launched
against Palestinian civil society.
In answers to parliamentary questions you explained the dual focus and wide scope of the review
of UAWC as follows: “I have decided to launch an external review into possible links between
PFLP and UAWC and how UAWC implements its own policy that employees may not be
politically active, before a decision can be taken about further cooperation with UAWC.”
We trust your good intentions, but cannot escape the conclusion: this approach will open the
door widely for escalating incitement against UAWC and manipulative interference with the
review, if not during then after its release. The peak in incitement we witnessed right after the
announcement of your review should be seen as a prelude to this scenario unfolding.
We expect such incitement will also be channelled to other donors of UAWC. If they follow your
decision to suspend payments to UAWC, this could quickly put UAWC’s operations and its
financial sustainability at risk. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Palestinian families earning a
minimal living in agriculture, depend on UAWC for vital support. Who would look after them?
Finally, we are deeply concerned about the domestic implications of a review of UAWC as
projected by your answers to the Dutch parliament. During the last months, concerns and
tensions about EU funding conditions have led to dangerous polarization within Palestinian civil
society and are undermining the trust and cohesion of Palestinian society at large.
In a letter to PNGO dated 30 March 2020, the EU clarified “a natural person affiliated to,
sympathizing with, or supporting any of the groups or entities mentioned in the EU restrictive
lists is not excluded from benefitting from EU-funded activities, unless his/her exact name and
surname (confirming his/her identity) corresponds to any of the natural persons on the EU
restrictive lists”.
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The same letter also clarified that “[t]he EU does not ask any [Palestinian] civil society
organization to change its political position towards any Palestinian faction or to discriminate
against any natural person based on his/her political affiliation.”
It is of critical importance that your review will respect these principles and standards.
Our colleagues at UAWC have informed you that they await your review with confidence and
stand ready to cooperate with it, as they have done before during reviews launched by other
donors, all of which dismissed the allegations against UAWC as unfounded. As you move
forward, we urge you to be sensitive to the concerns raised above.
Yours sincerely,
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Cc:
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