Over the past two weeks, Israel has launched an unprecedented and blanket attack on Palestinian human rights defenders beginning with the designation, on 19 October 2021, of six leading Palestinian human rights organisations as “terrorist” groups.

The organisations include: Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq Law in the Service of Man (Al-Haq), Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P), the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC).

Still, despite international condemnation by the UN, international human rights groups, and government officials, the Israeli occupation has doubled down in their crackdown and issued a military order that outlaws, entirely, the six Palestinian organisations in the West Bank.

The designations target six of the most eminent Palestinian human rights defenders engaged in critical human rights work and cover all aspects of civil society in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Addameer serves as one of the biggest organizations providing direct legal support to Palestinian political prisoners.

Al-Haq, the oldest human rights organisation both in Palestine and Middle East, extensively documents international humanitarian law and international human rights law violations in the occupied territory, specialising in individual and corporate accountability. Bisan Center produces extensive research and development reports in support of the poor and marginalized communities.

DCI-P is a local affiliate of an international human rights organisation that works to protect the rights of Palestinian children. The UAWC supports thousands of Palestinian farmers and their families amid the encroachment and violence of illegal Israeli settlements. The UPWC is a feminist, progressive, and grassroots organisation that aims to empower Palestinian women.

The vital work of these six organizations to protect and empower Palestinians and hold Israel accountable for its gross human rights violations and aparthied regime of institutionlised racial discrimination is precisely the work that Israel is trying to end. Israel’s designation of these six Palestinian organisations as “terrorist” groups, and the military order that outlaws them places the safety of the organisations and their staff at imminent risk.

The military order allows for Israeli occupation forces to raid their offices, forcibly shut them down, arbitrarily arrest their staff to be tried under Israeli military courts, and institute other reprisals including travel bans and residency revocations against their members.

The threat of retaliation is real, and puts at risk not just the organizations themselves, but the entire Palestinian civil society and the tens of thousands of Palestinians they serve everyday. To this end, we call on all persons of conscience across the globe to stand with us. We call on the international community to #StandWithThe6 and protect Palestinian human rights defenders, and demand that Israel rescind the terrorist designations immediately.

Photo (c) Jamal Aruri/AFP

This statement is supported by more than 100 signatories. The full list is below:

1. Kevin Macdonald, film director, UK
2. Peter Gabriel, musician, founder, Womad Festival, UK
3. Mike Leigh, film director, UK
4. Jodie Evans, film producer, USA
5. Robert Wyatt, musician, UK
6. Alfreda Benge, artist, UK
7. Aki Kaurismaki, film director, Finland
8. Liam Cunningham, actor, Ireland
9. Susan Sarandon, actor, USA
10. Ece Temelkuran, author, Turkey
11. Tilda Swinton, actor, UK
12. Jim Jarmusch, film director, USA
13. Laura Poitras, film director, USA
14. Simon Fisher Turner, musician, UK
15. Iciar Bollain, film director, Spain
16. Kleber Mendonça Filho, film director, Brasil
17. Julie Christie, actor, UK
18. V (formerly known as Eve Ensler), Playwright, USA
19. Mark Ruffalo, actor, USA
20. Philip Pullman, author, UK
21. Stephen Dillane, actor, UK
22. Brian Eno, artist, UK
23. Roger Waters, musician, UK
24. Ken Loach, film director, UK
25. Paul Laverty, writer, UK
26. Yann Martel, author, Canada
27. AL Kennedy, author, UK
28. Naomi Klein, author, Canada
29. Robert Guediguian, film director, France
30. Asif Kapadia, film director, UK
31. Juliet Stevenson, actor, UK
32. Yanis Varoufakis, author, Greece
33. Peter Kosminsky, film director, UK
34. Titi Robin, musician, France
35. Etienne Balibar, philosopher, France
36. Harriet Walter, actor, UK
37. Apichatpong Weerasethakul, film director, Thailand
38. Bella Freud, artist, UK
39. David Michôd, film director, Australia
40. Claire Foy, actor, UK
41. Mark Rylance, actor, UK
42. Alfonso Cuaron, film director, Mexico
43. Thurston Moore, musician, USA
44. Jeremy Deller, artist, UK
45. Kamila Shamsie, author, UK
46. Monica Ali, author, UK
47. Eric Cantona, actor, France
48. Phil Manzanera, musician, UK
49. Laurie Anderson, artist, USA
50. Michèle Gavras, producer, France
51. Annemarie Jacir, film director, Palestine
52. Costa Gavras, film director, Greece
53. Juan Diego Botto, actor and playwright, Spain
54. Alberto San Juan, actor and playwright, Spain
55. Carlos Bardem, actor and writer, Spain
56. Residente (René Pérez), singer, artist, writer, film director, Puerto Rico
57. Irvine Welsh, author, UK
58. Tunde Adebimpe, musician, USA
59. David Byrne, musician, USA
60. Ohal Grietzer, musician, Israel
61. Tai Shani, visual artist, UK
62. Hany Abu-Assad, film director, Palestine
63. Simon Pegg, actor, UK
64. David Mitchell, author, UK
65. Mira Nair, film director, India
66. Jarvis Cocker, musician, UK
67. Fisher Stevens, director, USA
68. Leopoldo Gout, artist, USA
69. Julio Pérez del Campo, film director, Spain
70. Alain Damasio, author, France
71. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, choreographer, Belgium
72. Joe Sacco, comic book artist and journalist, USA
73. Mercè Sampietro, actor, Spain
74. Ian McEwan, author, UK
75. Colm Tóibín, author, Ireland
76. Elaine Mokhtefi, translator, USA
77. Madeleine Thien, author, Canada
78. Eliot Weinberger, author, USA
79. Sabrina Mahfouz, playwright and poet, UK
80. Joel Beinin, professor, USA
81. Omar Robert Hamilton, author, UK
82. John Oakes, publisher, USA
83. Mary Jane Nealon, poet, USA
84. Rachel Kushner, author, USA
85. Lina Meruane, author, Chile
86. Naomi Wallace, playwright, USA
87. Rashid Khalidi, author, Palestine
88. Ben Ehrenreich, author, USA
89. Adam Shatz, Writer, London Review of Books, USA
90. Farid Matuk, poet, USA
91. Michel Moushabeck, publisher, USA
92. Eileen Myles, poet, USA
93. Lila Abu-Lughod, Professor, USA
94. Natalie Diaz, poet, USA
95. Andrew Ross, New York University, USA
96. Zeina Azzam, poet, USA
97. Bernardine Dohrn, human rights advocate, USA
98. Molly Crabapple, author, USA
99. Jeffrey Sachs, University Professor at Columbia University, USA
100. Bruce Robbins, author, USA
101. Shuchi Saraswat, author, USA
102. James Schamus, screenwriter and producer, USA
103. nancy kricorian, Writer, USA
104. Jacqueline Rose, author, UK
105. Andrew O’Hagan, author, UK
106. Hannah Khalil, playwright, Palestine
107. Ritu Menon, publisher, India
108. Janne Teller, author, Denmark
109. Nicholas Blincoe, author, UK
110. Rick Simonson, Bookseller, USA
111. Brigid Keenan, author, UK
112. Massive Attack, music band
113. Richard Gere, actor

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