Political Activities of Israeli and Palestinian NGOs

NGO Monitor
May 16, 2006

Amnesty International USA, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Christian Aid and KAIROS joined other members of the NGO network in condemning U.S. and EU decisions to halt direct aid to the PA led by Hamas. See NGO Monitor's updated report.

In a press statement released on April 11, Amnesty International USA (AI) called on Israel to end its "frequent, disproportionate and excessive use of force against Palestinians" and criticized Israel for the deaths of minors in recent operations in the Gaza strip. The press release cited the death of five-year old Bilal Abu al-Ein as an example of Israel's use of "excessive force", but failed to mention that the child's father, Eyad Abu Al-Ein, a senior commander of the Popular Resistance Committees (a terrorist group) and a bomb maker, brought his son and daughter to a terrorist camp to watch training exercises. Amnesty's statement asserted that the men were not involved in "armed confrontation" when they were killed, implying that the IDF strike was gratuitous. AI also termed these attacks "extra-judicial assassinations" - repeating political claims in the guise of international law.

In a press statement released on April 21, Human Rights Watch said that by defending the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv of April 17, "the new Hamas-led Palestinian Authority put itself on the wrong side of the most fundamental principle of international humanitarian law." Joe Stork, deputy director of HRW's Middle East and North Africa division, labeled the bombing an "atrocity", stated that it was Hamas' responsibility to prevent attacks on Israeli civilians and called on the Hamas government to "respect and enforce...the most elemental principle of international humanitarian law."