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The European Union (EU) has resumed funding of two prominent Palestinian organisations after a year-long suspension, following unfounded "terror" allegations made by Israel.
The European Commission sent letters several days ago to Al-Haq and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), informing them that their 13-month-long suspensions were lifted unconditionally and with immediate effect.
According to information provided to Al Jazeera, the emails were sent soon after Al-Haq had launched legal proceedings against the Commission.
Al-Haq said in a statement last Thursday that more than 13 months after an arbitrary suspension was imposed on the funding of Al-Haq’s EU-funded project, the Commission had “finally lifted this disgraceful suspension, which was unlawful from the start and based on Israeli propaganda and disinformation”.
“The suspension has been lifted unconditionally and with immediate effect,” Al-Haq said.
The EU suspended its funding to Al-Haq and PCHR in May 2021. That month European diplomats received a dossier from Israeli intelligence alleging that six prominent Palestine-based NGOs, including Al-Haw were using EU money to fund the Ppoulato Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). No evidence was provided by the Israeli government to substantiate its claims about the six organisations.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, described the decision as an “attack on human rights defenders, on freedoms of association, opinion and expression and on the right to public participation” and said it “should be immediately revoked”.
NGOs based in Palestine or working for Palestinian rights have long been the targets of smear, defamation, and defunding campaigns by Israeli and international lobby groups such as NGO Monitor and UK Lawyers for Israel, in cooperation with the Israeli government, with which they have close ties.
Read more at Al Jazeera
