Non-government organizations claiming to advance women's rights and gender equality in the Palestinian Authority are instead waging a campaign of incitement against Israel, according to a report issued Thursday by NGO Monitor, a research institute that tracks anti-Israel activity by non-governmental bodies.
The report, timed to coincide with International Women's Day, suggests that the funding, provided by the European Union and earmarked for the empowerment of Palestinian women and ensuring their rights, is in practice being used to advance radical narratives against Israel.
The report also names a number of female Palestinian role models in PA-controlled areas, a majority of whom are glorified for participating in terrorist activities against Israel. The report implicates the international community in this glorification of terrorism by funding radical Palestinian organizations and granting legitimacy to these organizations in international forums like the United Nations.
The stated goal of these women's organization is to empower Palestinian women, ensure their personal safety, uphold their political and economic rights, and promote women's education and health care. The most prominent of the organizations mentioned in the report are the Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, the center for Women's Studies, the Palestinian Young Women's Christian Association, the Palestinian Working Women's Society for Development and the Women's Affairs Technical Committee.
These groups and others have signed the "Palestinian NGO Code of Conduct" requiring signatories to "be in line with the [Palestinian] national agenda without any normalization activities with the occupier [Israel], neither at the political-security nor the cultural or developmental levels.
"No endeavor should be carried out if it undermines the inalienable Palestinian rights of establishing statehood and the return of the refugees to their original homes, according to the Security Council Resolution 194," the code further stipulates.
This code creates a situation in which organizations whose stated goal is to advance ethical issues, such as human and women's rights, tie their social activism with the Palestinian national struggle and promote a daily agenda rife with hatred and violence against Israeli citizens.
Olga Deutsch, the head of the Europe desk at NGO Monitor, commented on the matter after the report was published and said that "the intention of international funding to promote women's rights in Palestinian society serves to strengthen a system that effectively limits civil society's capacity to aid women."
