Palestinian civil society rejects EU’s conditional funding

EU’s anti-terror clause in its grant proposals is political and ‘criminalises’ Palestinian resistance, civil groups say.
Palestinian civil society organisations have formed a national campaign that rejects the European Union’s conditional funding based its “anti-terror clause”.
The stipulation, which was included in EU grant proposals late last year, identifies at least seven Palestinian political parties as “terrorist groups”, and calls for Palestinian civil society organisations to vet individuals to ensure they are not affiliated with such parties. However, these organisations have described these conditions as “criminalising” the Palestinian national struggle against the Israeli occupation.
“The EU’s imposition of the clause and restrictive measures constitutes the criminalisation of the Palestinian liberation struggle and its freedom fighters based on Western criteria and standards,” said Lubnah Shomali, the spokeswoman for the anti-EU conditional funding campaign.
“It does not take into consideration the legal status of Palestine under international law – as a country and a people facing oppression and a foreign colonial domination.”
The response comes as Israel is expected to commence plans to annex areas in the West Bank and Jordan Valley on Wednesday.
Source: aljazeera.com