Five European countries expressed "serious concern" at Israel's designation of six Palestinian organizations as terrorist groups after a UN Security Council meeting on Monday and said they will be seeking more information from Israeli authorities on the reasons for their listing.
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The 15-member council took no action after the closed consultations. But a statement from Estonia, France, Ireland, Norway and Albania, which will join the council in January, said the designations "have far-reaching consequences for the organizations in political, legal and financial terms."
They said they "will study carefully" information provided by Israel on the basis for the designations.
Last month, the Defense Ministry decided to outlaw six Palestinian NGOs affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group designated a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union. The six are Al-Haq, a human rights group founded in 1979, as well as the Addameer rights group, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees, and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees.
"A thriving civil society and respect for fundamental freedoms are cornerstones of open democracies," said the statement read by Estonia's UN Ambassador Sven Jurgenson after the council discussion. "Civil society is an essential contributor to good governance, human rights, international law, democratic values and sustainable development across the world, including in Israel and Palestine.
"It also contributes to peace efforts and confidence-building between Israelis and Palestinians," the statement said.
The six groups, some of which have close ties to rights groups in Israel and abroad, deny the allegations. They say the terror designation is aimed at muzzling critics of Israel's half-century military rule over territories the Palestinians want for their future state.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian envoy at the UN, told reporters "it was a good thing" that Security Council members "are not buying the evidence of Israel" that the six Palestinian groups are terrorist organizations – and it was also "a good thing" that Israel did not succeed in "creating fear" among council members that the groups are linked to terrorists.
"We welcome the defense of civil society organizations among the Palestinian people," he said.
The five European countries also called on the Israeli government to halt settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and not to proceed with tenders for some 4,300 housing units in Israeli settlements.
Mansour said opposition to settlements from the Europeans and others on the 15-member council is "positive" but "it is not sufficient" because what is needed is the implementation of the resolution by the Security Council.
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