Sunday 12 April 2009

Catholic NGO: Israelis poisoning Palestinian pastures and water tanks

"Participants in Associazione Comunita Papa Giovanni XXIII's project adopt the Palestinian narrative and use the rhetoric of "colonizing," "massacres," and "ghettoizing." Project publications repeat unsubstantiated allegations of Israeli violence and "poisoning pasture[s] and water tanks.""

"EC´s Partnerships for Peace 2007-8 NGO Grantees: Funding Conflict under the Façade of Peace

- Many of the "civil society" organizations funded under the European Commission's Partnership for Peace Programme (PfP) are active participants in the Durban strategy that exacerbates the conflict and promotes campaigns against Israel.

- In the most recent round, support for five projects and associated NGOs was renewed including the tendentious activities of ARIJ, Ir Amim, Associazione Comunita Papa Giovanni XXIII, and Panorama.

- After eight years of funding, support for ICAHD – a radical Israeli NGO – was not renewed. The EC had been ICAHD’s main source of support.

- The PfP website features the "Words Can Kill" project, jointly implemented by Israeli NGO Keshev and Palestinian NGO Miftah (2005-6 grant). Miftah's website is a forum for demonization of Israel and "disseminate[s] the Palestinian narrative and discourse globally," making a mockery of the EC's stated goals of a "culture of moderation, tolerance, and understanding."

- "Phase III" of an ARIJ project "aims at disseminating information on Israeli colonization by monitoring Israeli colonization activities through the collection of primary and secondary data and the analysis of colony’s land use changes." EC support contrasts with the "partnerships for peace" rhetoric, and the information appears to be used to bolster the Palestinian side "in the course of negotiations."

- Funding for Ir Amim's "Final Status in Jerusalem" project constitutes an attempt by EC officials to manipulate Israeli democracy to conform with the dominant EU "political vision." Jerusalem is the most sensitive and explosive dimension in the conflict, and this funding is particularly volatile.

- Participants in Associazione Comunita Papa Giovanni XXIII's project adopt the Palestinian narrative and use the rhetoric of "colonizing," "massacres," and "ghettoizing." Project publications repeat unsubstantiated allegations of Israeli violence and "poisoning pasture[s] and water tanks.""

Read the whole report NGO Monitor here

- Trócaire: Misdirected Catholic Aid from Ireland Fuels Conflict
- Europe's Hidden Hand: NGO Monitor study on EU funding for political NGOs in the Arab Israeli conflict

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