On July 11, 2026, numerous Palestinian NGOs published an open statement, on behalf of what they describe as “Palestinian civil society,” denouncing “People-to-People” initiatives and broader peacebuilding efforts between Israelis and Palestinians. Authors include influential European-funded NGOs: Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), Al-Haq, Al Mezan, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), MIFTAH- The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy, and Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC).

In particular, the groups condemned June 2026’s “Paris Call for the Two-State Solution” conference, alleging that it “reproduces a harmful political approach which has the effect of erasing Palestinian agency.” Instead, the NGOs endorse “resistance in all its forms to occupation, apartheid and colonisation” (emphasis added), a euphemism for justifying violence, including against civilians.

This statement once again demonstrates that these NGOs do not operate as impartial human rights organizations committed to universal principles. Rather, they function as highly politicized actors engaged in political warfare against the existence of the State of Israel. 

Disturbingly, most of the NGOs that oppose “Peacebuilding” are supported by and/or funded with millions of euros from European governments, including the European Commission, France, Germany, and Switzerland – all of which promote a two-state framework for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This raises questions about the consistency between the European donors’ stated diplomatic objectives and their funding decisions. 

Selected NGO signatories, their activities and funding

Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)

PNGO is an umbrella organization of over 140 Palestinian NGOs. PNGO sits on the Advisory Board of the UN’s Humanitarian Pooled Fund (HPF) for the West Bank and Gaza, designated for emergencies and unforeseen needs. Together with another NGO network representing international NGOs – the Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA) – PNGO helps determine the allocation of funds and assess the “technical soundness and quality of project proposals.”  

  • In October 2023,  in the aftermath of the brutal Hamas invasion and massacre, PNGO published a statement demanding “National unity to combat the challenges and to supply international protection to the Palestinian people.” According to the statement, “We in PNGO salute this honorable image that our people are sketching” (translated from the original Arabic by NGO Monitor; emphasis added).
  • PNGO, which condemned the British government for designating Hamas as a terrorist organization in 2021, has been spearheading multiple campaigns for years to undermine European anti-terrorism policies. 
  • PNGO officials have repeatedly rejected the EU’s anti-terrorism requirements regarding NGO funding, and reportedly “refused [in 2019] to sign an EU grant request that stipulates among its criteria that beneficiaries must refuse to transfer any EU aid given to terrorist groups or entities.” In a 2021 publication, PNGO declared it “will continue to work with all parties… to develop or change the European Union’s position on the [anti-terror] conditions, on the ground of dialogue and serious work in Palestine and European capitals” (emphasis added).
  • In June 2017, PNGO condemned Norway for pulling funding from a youth center named after Dalal Mughrabi, a terrorist who in 1978 murdered 37 civilians, including 12 children. PNGO referred to Mughrabi as a “Palestinian Woman Freedom Fighter,” stating that “PNGO believes this is another form of foreign domination and oppression calling Palestinian resistance a terrorist resistance against Israeli occupation…PNGO stands strong against conditional funding, especially when it threatens Palestinian right to resist foreign domination, exploitation, oppression and occupation” and that “there is a difference between freedom fighters and terrorists” (emphasis added). 
  • PNGO members include a number of designated PFLP-linked NGOs, including Al-Haq, Addameer, Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), and Bisan Center for Research and Development.
  • In October 2019, Walid Hanatsheh – a member of PNGO’s board of directors and the Financial and Administrative director for Health Work Committees, an Israeli-designated PFLP-linked NGO – was arrested for participating in a terrorist attack in which Rina Shnerb, a 17-year old was murdered.  According to the indictment against him, Hanatsheh bankrolled the bombing. Following his arrest, the PFLP labeled Hanatsheh a “leader in the Popular Front.”
  • In October 2019, Walid Hanatsheh – a member of PNGO’s board of directors and the Financial and Administrative director for Health Work Committees, an Israeli-designated PFLP-linked NGO – was arrested for participating in a terrorist attack in which Rina Shnerb, a 17-year old was murdered.  According to the indictment against him, Hanatsheh bankrolled the bombing. Following his arrest, the PFLP labeled Hanatsheh a “leader in the Popular Front.”

Funding:

PNGO does not publish financial information, reflecting a lack of transparency. Yet, according to European governments:

Al-Haq, Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan 

  • The three NGOs are closely linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group. They promote the genocide canard, and accused Israel of “employing Starvation as a Weapon” from the first days of the war. 
  • The directors of the three Palestinian NGOs – Shawan Jabarin (Al-Haq), Raji Sourani (PCHR), and Issam Younis (Al-Mezan) – appeared as advisers for the South African delegation in the South African case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
  • In parallel, in November 2023, the three groups demanded that the ICC “issue arrest warrants” against Israelis “for war crimes and crimes of genocide.”
  • Kajsa Ollongren, then EU Special Representative for Human Rights,1 referred to the three NGOs  as “key partners of my office. They provide us with vital information on the situation in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
  • In September 2025, the US State Department imposed sanctions on Al-Haq, PCHR, and Al Mezan for “directly engag[ing] in efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent.”
  • In 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared Al-Haq a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.”  

Funding:

  • According to the EU transparency register, Al Mezan received €125,561 from the European Commission in 2025.
  • According to the EU Financial Transparency System (FTS), in 2023-2024, the European Commission provided PCHR with €475,000.
  • According to Agence Française de Développement (AFD), in 2024-2028, Al-Haq is a partner (together with 21 NGOs worldwide) of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)-led €8.3 million AFD-funded project “Strengthening the intervention of the FIDH network to increase the power to act of local human rights defenders and CSOs [Civil Society Organizations]” (amount earmarked to Al-Haq is unknown).
  • According to Medico International, a Germany-based NGO recipient of German federal funding for its projects for the Palestinians, in 2025, Medico International provided Al-Haq with “core funding” (amount unknown).
    • On February 13, 2024, German news outlet Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that Germany decided to cut funding to six Israeli-designated PFLP-linked NGOs, including Al-Haq. German NGO Weltfriedensdienst (WFD) confirmed this in reference to two of the designated NGOs, stating, “at the beginning of 2024, on the instructions of the German government, we had to end our cooperation with Al-Haq and with Defense for Children International – Palestine as part of the project work in the Civil Peace Service at short notice.”    

Independent Commission for Human Rights

NGO Monitor research has identified ties between ICHR and Palestinian terrorist organizations, including Hamas.

In October 2025, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands reportedly launched investigations into their funding of ICHR, concerned that it may have been diverted to Hamas. The Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs claimed (January 29, 2026), “ICHR had not made funds or other financial assets available to organizations or individuals subject to sanctions.”

Funding:

  • In 2023-2027, Switzerland is providing ICHR with CHF 3 million (€3.24 million).
  • In 2023 – 2027, ICHR is receiving €1.86 million from the Netherlands Representative Office in Ramallah (NRO).
  • In 2023-2026, Sweden (Sida) has committed SEK 15 million (€1.37 million) to ICHR.
  • In 2021-2025, the ICHR received DKK 26.2 million (€3.5 million) from Denmark. 

MIFTAH- The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy

Funding:

  • According to the EU Financial Transparency System, MIFTAH (the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy) is a partner on a €3.5 million EU-funded project in 2024-2028, titled “Recentering the Civic Internet through Partner Engagement (ReCIPE).”   
  • In 2026-2029, MIFTAH will partner on the BMZ-funded project “Building Resilience in the communities of the West Bank (Area C) to Transform the Current Shock into a Sustainable Future” (Amount unknown).

Filastiniyat Association

Recipient of a €841,468  European Commission-funded grant (2024-2027): “ENGAGE: Media and CSOs Collective for Freedoms and Social Justice” 

Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC); Palestinian Working Woman Society for Development (PWWSD); Human Rights and Democracy Media Center “SHAMS” 

  • In a July 2023 letter addressed to members of the European Parliament and co-signed by 17 NGOs, including WCLAC, the NGOs wrote:  “For seven decades, Israel has imposed an apartheid regime over the Palestinian people, which constitutes a tool of the broader settler-colonial regime. Israel’s permanent occupation is yet another extension of the settler-colonial apartheid regime.”  Rejecting Israeli sovereignty itself, the NGOs added, “These root causes must be dismantled before any sort of good-faith negotiation can ever happen” (emphasis added). In the same letter, which took on a new light after the October 7th atrocities, the NGO signatories also claimed that “by keeping democratically elected political parties on the EU terrorist list, the EU is perpetuating the denial of self-determination of the Palestinian people. Hamas needs to be removed from the terrorist list to ensure Palestinian internal cohesion and democracy” (emphasis added). 
  • On October 8, 2023, Amal Khreishe, the General Manager of PWWSD, shared a video (the post was deleted following NGO Monitor’s exposure) lauding the October 7th attack and depicting Hamas fighters paragliding next to the Dome of the Rock. For more information, read NGO Monitor’s report, “Euromed Feminist Initiative’s board members celebrate October 7 Hamas Massacre.” 

Funding:

  • WCLAC, PWWSD, and SHAMS are implementing partners of a Agence Française de Développement-funded program (Strengthen Local CSOs to Provide Protection Services to Women and GBV Survivors in Palestine”; €1.5 million in 2025-2028) through the NGO Development Center (NDC).
  • According to the EU Financial Transparency System, in 2016-2024, PWWSD was a partner on several programs totaling  €5.77 million. 
  • In  2023-2026, PWWSD is an implementing partner for the Euromed Feminist Initiative-led €3.5 million  AFD-funded project.
  • In 2021-2025, the Swiss government provided WCLAC with CHF 1,353,337.