Introduction

Union of Agricultural Work Committee (UAWC) defines itself as a “one of the largest agricultural development institutions in Palestine as it was established in 1986 by a group of agronomists.”

The group adds that “when established, UAWC depended on volunteers completely and formed agricultural committees in the West Bank and Gaza to set the priorities of farmers and help the Union in implementing its programs and community activities.” It is “registered as a non-governmental agricultural organization according to the Palestinian Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations Law No. 1 at the Palestinian Ministry of Interior.”

UAWC is identified by Fatah as an official Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) “affiliate” and by a USAID-engaged audit as the “agricultural arm” of the PFLP. According to academic scholar Glenn E. Robinson, UAWC was founded in 1986 by “agronomists loosely affiliated with the PFLP.” On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared UAWC a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.”

UAWC rhetoric includes accusations of “ethnic cleansing,” “collective punishment,” and “apartheid,” as well as supporting a Palestinian “right of return.” UAWC also promotes BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns against Israel.

It is important to note that UAWC has offices in both the West Bank and Gaza. The two parts of the organization participate in annual meetings together, as noted in UAWC’s Facebook photo album of its 2018 meeting that shows both branches in attendance (the Gaza branch via Skype). UAWC’s West Bank and Gaza branches also share an organizational structure (see Appendix I).

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

Founded by George Habash in 1967, the PFLP is a secular Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organization, originally supported by the former Soviet Union and China. The PFLP is a terrorist organization, designated as such by the EU, the US, Canada, and Israel. The PFLP is involved in suicide bombings, shootings, and assassinations, among other terrorist activities targeting civilians, and was the first Palestinian organization to hijack airplanes in the 1960s and 1970s. 

The group was responsible for the assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rechavam Ze’evi in 2001, and its members joined with the Baader-Meinhof Gang (a West German radical group) to hijack an Air France Tel Aviv-bound flight in 1976, landing it in Entebbe, Uganda. PFLP members took credit for the house invasion and murder of the Fogel family in 2011and was responsible for the massacre at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood in 2014 where four worshipers and an Israeli Druze police officer were murdered. The terror organization also praised its “comrades” for their role in the murder of Israeli Border Police officer Hadas Malka, and wounding of four other Israelis in a June 16, 2017 attack in Jerusalem. In August 2019, a PFLP terror cell carried out a bombing against Israeli civilians, murdering 17-year-old Rina Shnerb, and injuring her father and brother.

The PFLP has never recognized the State of Israel and opposes all negotiations with Israel, instead calling for the “liberation” of all of “historical Palestine,” regularly by means of terror. 

The PFLP, a longtime ally of Hamas in Gaza, participated in the October 7, 2023 atrocities. On its website and Telegram, the PFLP proudly shared videos, images, and text celebrating the massacre and the attacks against “occupation army troops and the herds of their settlers” in southern Israel. Reportedly, the PFLP was also involved in illegally holding Israeli hostages brought back to Gaza. For more information, read NGO Monitor’s report “PFLP Involvement in the October 7 Atrocities.” 

NGO Monitor has identified a broad network of Palestinian NGOs claiming to advance human rights or humanitarian interests that have links to the PFLP terror group.  These connections include current and former NGO board members, officials, and employees who served in the PFLP or spoken on its behalf at public events and taken part in PFLP forums.

Funding

UAWC claims to “reject normalization and political conditional funding.” Yet, its donors include numerous governments and international aid organizations. 

In January 2020, UAWC vehemently opposed a new requirement in European Union grant contracts with Palestinian NGOs that prohibits grantees from working with and funding organizations and individuals designated on the EU’s terror lists.

In 2018, MasterCard, Visa, and American Express ended the transfer of funds to UAWC on their platforms.

Additionally, UAWC’s terror affiliation is antithetical to human rights norms and principles. Due to its affiliation with the PFLP, the provision of funds to UAWC is in likely violation of international, EU, and domestic terror financing and material support laws. The organization is therefore an inappropriate partner for governments and individuals seeking to further human rights in the region.

UAWC’s Organizational Ties to PFLP

  • UAWC is identified by Fatah as an official PFLP “affiliate.”
  • A May 1993 USAID-engaged audit identified UAWC as the “PFLP’s agricultural organization,” while the Palestinian Fatah party described the NGO as a “PFLP affiliate.”
  • On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared UAWC a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.”
  • According to the Israeli NGO Shurat HaDin, UAWC “was established by the PFLP; is controlled by senior PFLP operatives; makes its assets available to the PFLP; and acts in coordination with and to advance the interests of the PFLP (including active involvement in PFLP political activity).”
  • On January 5, 2022, the Netherlands announced the cancellation of a contract with UAWC citing ties to the PFLP. The report by an independent investigation commissioned by the government confirmed that 34 UAWC employees in 2007- 2020 had ties to the PFLP, some holding leadership positions in the terrorist group concurrent to their employment at UAWC. The investigation also noted that, based on “18 events that took place in the period between 2007 and 2020,” “there are indications of organizational ties between the UAWC and the PFLP as well.” 

PFLP Participation in UAWC Events

UAWC – West Bank Employees with Ties to the PFLP

Numerous UAWC staff members, founders, board members, general assembly members, and senior staff members have ties to the PFLP terror group. 

Samer Arbid

Addameer’s website listed Arbid as an accountant for several years.4 In correspondence with NGO Monitor, Swiss officials claimed that Arbid’s employment at Addameer ended in 2015 (on file with NGO Monitor). According to the Israeli-designated PFLP-linked Samidoun, yet another PFLP-linked NGO, Arbid was the “financial director of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in the West Bank” in 2016. 

Arbid is currently standing trial for allegedly commanding the PFLP terror cell that carried out a deadly bombing attack. According to his indictment, Arbid also prepared and detonated the explosive device.

PFLP Activity

  • According to Israeli security officials, on August 23, 2019, Samer Arbid commanded a PFLP terror cell that carried out a bombing against Israeli civilians, murdering 17-year old Rina Shnerb, and injuring her father and brother. According to the indictment, Arbid prepared and detonated the explosive device. A December 18, 2019 article in the Jerusalem Post notes that, allegedly, “Arbid prepared the explosive device and detonated it when he saw the Shnerb family approaching the spring.” On August 30, 2020, the PFLP issued a press release confirming that Arbid is a PFLP “commander and one of the heroes of the heroic Ein Bubin operation,” referring to the August 2019 attack.
  • According to Arbid’s indictment, Arbid was indicted on 21 counts in Israeli military court. His alleged crimes include:
    • Premeditated causing of death
    • Planting an explosive
    • Multiple counts of premeditated attempt to cause death. These include involvement in shooting attacks against civilian buses and private vehicles, as well as the August 23, 2019 bomb attack in which Rena Schnerb was murdered.
    • Illegal possession of weapons.
    • Weapons trafficking.
    • Membership in an illegal organization.
    • Weapons trafficking.
    • Membership in an illegal organization.
  • On August 23, 2022, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the attack, the PFLP’s student wing, the Democratic Progressive Student Pole (DPSP), commemorated the attack and praised Arbid, referring to him as a “leader comrade” who “commanded the military operation in the Front.”
  • On January 27, 2020, the PFLP reported that “senior officials of the PFLP” participated in an event organized by the “The Prisoners Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine” in Gaza. According to the PFLP’s account, “During the event, the participants raised pictures of the prisoner Hanatsheh, the prisoner Mays Abu Ghosh, the prisoner Samer Al-Arbeed, and all the prisoners who were arrested from the Popular Front recently” (emphasis added). 
  • On December 7, 2019, a PFLP-linked media outlet reported: “In his statement made during a central celebration organized by the PFLP in Gaza on the occasion of the anniversary of its establishment, [PFLP Deputy Secretary-General] ‘Mezher expressed his congratulations, pride and esteem for the martyrs, the wounded and our heroic prisoners, first and foremost, the leaders Samer Arbid, Khalida Jarrar, Ahmad Zahran, Walid Daqqa and [the rest of] our comrades in the Front’s organization in the prisons, and to the martyrs of the Palestinian revolution, firstly, the doctor [George Habash’s alias], Abu Ali [Mustafa], Maher Al-Yamani, Ghassan Kanafani, Wadie Haddad, Guevara of Gaza [Mohammed Al-Aswad’s alias].’” 
  • In May 2019, Arbid attended a memorial event organized by the PFLP. It centered on PFLP political bureau member Rabah Muhanna, who, according to information posted by the PFLP, “contributed to the establishment” of several PFLP-affiliated NGOs. The hall was decorated with PFLP paraphernalia.

Previous Terror-related Convictions

Arbid at UAWC’s 2018 annual assembly (Source: UAWC, Facebook, May 5, 2018)

Arbid is seen in a March 2019 photo posted on Facebook by UAWC (Source: UAWC, Facebook, March 21, 2019)

2016 Grassroots International post regarding Arbid’s 2015 arrest (Source: Grassroots International, Facebook, April 12, 2016)

2016 Samidoun article regarding Arbid’s 2016 detention (Source: Samidoun, “Palestinian land defender’s imprisonment without charge or trial extended by Israeli military occupation,” March 14, 2016)

Abdul Razeq Farraj

UAWC Finance and Administration Director5  at the time of his 2019 arrest. He is currently standing trial.

PFLP Activity

  • Farraj was arrested on October 23, 2019 and indicted on 4 counts in Israeli military court.  According to his indictment, Razeq Farraj held a senior PFLP post and authorized the August 2019 bombing. His alleged crimes include:
    • Holding a position in an illegal organization. This allegedly included responsibility for recruiting new members into the PFLP. Under this count, the indictment notes that Samer Arbid informed Farraj about “attacks and attempted attacks” carried out by the terror cell led by the former, as well as details pertaining to its weapons and explosives.
    • Aiding an attempt to cause death in connection to the August 2019 bombing.
    • The indictment also states that “a few days after the terror attack, Farraj met with Hanatsheh at Farraj’s place of work office and the two discussed the attack.”  
  • In October 2022, the PFLP named Farraj as a PFLP member who had launched a hunger strike while in Israeli prison. 
  • On August 23, 2022, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the attack, the PFLP’s student wing, the Democratic Progressive Student Pole (DPSP), commemorated the attack and praised Farraj, referring to him as a “leader comrade” who “commanded the military operation in the Front.” 
  • In May 2019, Abdel Razeq Farraj attended a memorial event organized by the PFLP for PFLP political bureau member Rabah Muhanna, who, according to information posted by the terror group, “contributed to the establishment” of several PFLP-affiliated NGOs, including Union of Health Work Committees (UHWC), UAWC, and Addameer. The hall was decorated with PFLP paraphernalia. 

Farraj featured on a PFLP poster (Source: الحرية لاسير الحرية عبد الرازق فراج, Facebook, May 26, 2014)

Abdel Razeq Farraj sitting on the left (Source, 7:24)

Previous Terror-related Convictions

Ubai Aboudi

Ubai Aboui was UAWC’s “M&E [Monitoring and Evaluation] Officer” until April 2019. Aboudi is currently the Executive Director of Bisan Center for Research & Development, a Palestinian NGO with ties to the PFLP. On October 22, 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense declared Bisan a “terror organization” because it is part of “a network of organizations” that operates “on behalf of the ‘Popular Front’.”

  • Aboudi was arrested by Israeli authorities on November 13, 2019.
  • In June 2020, he was sentenced to 12-months in prison. According to his conviction, Aboudi “was convicted of being a member and an activist of the Popular Front organization during the period starting from 2016 and ending in July 2019.” Specifically, Aboudi “was responsible for recruiting additional activists to the organization from young people and students, as well as strengthening the organization’s infrastructure in the area” (on file with NGO Monitor).
  • According to Amnesty International, “Ubai Aboudi had been arrested in 2005 and 2010. He has spent over four years in Israeli prisons on charges including membership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).” In this context, in 2005, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a report identifying Aboudi as a member of a cell that “planned to perpetrate a terrorist attack at the IDF Armored Corps Museum at Latrun, using two suicide terrorists and a car bomb.”

Ismat al-Shuli 

Member of UAWC’s Board of Directors until at least 2016.

  • According to Palestinian media, Al-Shuli was in Israeli prison for seven years, beginning in 1975, for “belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.” He was also in jail for “five years from 1983 to 1988, and then administrative detention for two periods of 16 months, 1989 and then again in 1990, bringing the number of years in detention to 14 years.” Al-Shuli was again arrested on March 4, 2014 and released on January 1, 2015 after 10 months in administrative detention. 
  • A December 2017 Al-Araby (Palestinian media outlet) article refers to al-Shuli as a “PFLP leader” and refers to a statement he gave during a “mass rally” through the streets of Ramallah with “thousands of Palestinians, including supporters of the PFLP.”  
  • In September 2016, al-Shuli spoke at a PFLP event commemorating PFLP Secretary General Abu Ali Mustafa and was referred to as a PFLP “leader.”
  • On March 30, 2010, Al-Shuli attended a UAWC “Land Day” celebration. Other attendees included PFLP Deputy Secretary-General Abdel Rahim Malloh and UAWC board members Bashir Al Khairi, Al-Barghouthi, and Khalid Al-Hadmi.

Dec 2018, PFLP: Ismat al-Shuli participated and spoke at the PFLP’s celebration on the event of its 51st anniversary of its establishment in a public national march and a large national event in the Nablus district. During his speech, al-Shuli said, “there is no truce or negotiations when resisting the occupation and its allies, and when adhering to our people’s rights to resist the occupation by all means of the national legitimate struggle.” (Source: PFLP Website)

Khaled Hidmi

  • Was UAWC’s General Director until 2014.  
  • Hidmi simultaneously headed the UAWC’s West Bank branch and the Israeli Agricultural Work Committee organization. This Israeli entity was disbanded by a court order in 2018 due to financial irregularities and a lack of transparency (on file with NGO Monitor).  
  • As mentioned above, in 2014, UAWC opened a new center to market agricultural products. The center’s inaugural event was attended by Hidmi, as well as Abdul Rahim Malloh, then Deputy Secretary-General of the PFLP. 

Khaled Al-Hadmi (left) with PFLP Deputy Secretary-General Abdel Rahim Malloh. (Source)

Hadmi and PFLP Deputy Secretary-General Abdel Rahim Malloh together at a UAWC event. (Source)

Yusuf Abd al-Haq 

Yusuf Abd al-Haq was member of UAWC’s Board of Directors until at least 2016. In 2014, Abd al-Haq was referred to as a legal and economic adviser at a UAWC conference. In 2018, he took part in the UAWC’s annual general assembly. 

  • Referred to, on multiple occasions, as a PFLP “leader.”  
  • In February 2014, according to the PFLP, “Dr. Yousef Abdul Haq, a former lecturer at the university, spoke on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, discussing Habash’s life as well as a current political analysis of the Palestinian cause.”6 
  • In 2014, according to Al Jazeera, “The Israeli occupation forces launched a campaign of arrests that included leaders and cadres of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) at An-Najah University in Nablus in the northern West Bank. Dr. Yousef Abdul-Haq – Professor of Economics at An-Najah University in Nablus – was one of the most prominent detainees…”
  • Palestinian media has referred to him as a PFLP “leader” on multiple occasions. He has represented the PFLP in a variety of forums, including in dialogue and coordination with other Palestinian terror groups and factions.
  • On the occasion of PFLP member Muayyad Abd Al-Raheem’s release from prison in October 2019, the PFLP held celebrations, in which Abd al-Haq spoke. During his speech, Abd al-Haq said, “We must raise the flag of Palestine, all of Palestine. Salutations to the martyrs: The doctor (PFLP founder George Habash’s alias), Abu Ammar, (PFLP senior member) Wadie Haddad, (Hamas Founder) [Ahmed] Yasin, (PIJ founder) [Fathi] Shaqaqi…”
  • In March 2019, Abd al-Haq participated in an event organized by the PFLP’s Progressive Student Labor Front and UPWC, “honoring active and excelling female students on the occasion of International Women’s Day.”

In October 2019, the PFLP held celebrations, in which Abd Al-Haq spoke. (Source: T.Almolok YouTube channel; video on file with NGO Monitor)

Bashir al-Khairi

In October 2019, Addameer’s website listed Bashir Al-Khairi as a board member. He was also the president of the PFLP-linked Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) board until 2011. 

PFLP Activity

In May 2019, Al-Khairi attended a memorial event organized by the PFLP for PFLP political bureau member Rabah Muhanna (Source: Wattan News)

Previous Terror-related Convictions

From Left to Right: Youssef Katalo, the mural’s artist; Abdul Rahim Mallouh, former PFLP Deputy secretary-general; Bashir Al-Khairi; Archbishop Atallah Hanna; Abla Sa’adat, the wife of the PFLP General Secretary Ahmed Saadat; Khalida Jarrar, senior PFLP official and former Addameer Vice President; Mohammed Kana’aneh, “leader of the Abna’a el-Balad Movement in occupied Palestine 1948.” Source: PFLP, “PFLP in Beit Sahour Unveils Mural Commemorating al-Hakim,” May 4, 2014)

Ahmad Sufan 

According to UAWC’s website, Sufan was a member of UAWC’s Board of Directors until at least 2012.7

Muhammad Nujum  

Manager of UAWC’s Jericho office, apparently in 2012–2018.

Fouad Abu Seif 

Director of UAWC’s Operations and Development Department until at least 2012.8 

  • According to Ma’an News Agency, on July 26, 2012, the “Israeli occupation forces at dawn arrested the Director of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees Operations and Development Department, Fouad Abu Seif…” 
  • UAWC “denounced” Abu Seif’s arrest. 

Mu’ayyad Bashart 

UAWC’s Jericho Project Coordinator until at least 2012. 

Rezeq Al-Barghothy

Al-Bargothy served as Chairman of UAWC’s Board of Directors until 2019 and was identified by Arabic-language media as a member of UAWC’s board as of July 2021.

Al-Bargothy participating in a sit-in “in solidarity” with Palestinian prisoners who were on a hunger strike. Source: Al-Ayyam, June, 29, 2016

Al-Barghothy posted on Facebook a eulogy for Ammar Tirawi. (Source)

 

Jaber Qarmout

According to a May 2018 UAWC’s Facebook post, Qarmout is a member of UAWC’s administrative council. 

  • In 2017 and 2016, Qarmout, alongside PFLP members, commemorated the “martyrdom” of his brother Zidan Qarmout, a PFLP “field commander.” According to the PFLP, Zaidan Qarmout, “a field commander in the…[PFLP military wing] Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades in the North Gaza Strip [sector],” was killed on his way to carry out one of his “combat missions” in the North of the Gaza Strip in February 2004. During the events, PFLP members hailed Zaidan Qarmout and “his fighting path and heroic stance.” 
  • In 2014, Qarmout attended a graduation ceremony organized by the Progressive Student Action Front, the PFLP’s “student organization.”

Jaber Qarmout celebrating the “martyrdom” of his brother Zidan Qarmout, with PFLP members, including a commander in the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades (2017). (Source: PFLP, February 25, 2017)

UAWC – Gaza Employees with Ties to the PFLP

Zakaria Bakr 

According to Palestinian media, Bakr was UAWC’s “head of the Gaza Fisherman Committee” in at least 2018-2019.

Pictures from PFLP sporting event organized in honor of the anniversary of the organization’s assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001 (Source: PFLP, October 18, 2017)

 

UAWC’s Zakaria Bakr with senior PFLP members, including PFLP Central Committee Member Abu Nidal Toman (middle, with trophy in hand) (Source)

Zakaria Bakr speaking, alongside senior PFLP members Abu Nidal Toman , Jamil Mizher, Mariam Abu Daqqa and others, at a PFLP event in support of Palestinian prisoners. (Source: PFLP, February 8, 2016)

Hiba Abdul Kareem

According to UAWC’s website, Abdul Kareem was elected to UAWC’s Board of Directors in May 2016. 

  • An October 2019 Safa article refers to her as a member of the PFLP Central Committee.
  • In November 2017, the PFLP referred to Kareem as a “comrade, and the coordinator of a PFLP recruitment and training program.”
  • In November 2015, the PFLP referred to Kareem as a “member of the center district leadership in Gaza.” 
  • In August 2018, the PFLP held its annual “PFLP martyr day” event, in which Kareem served as the event moderator and “saluted the pure spirits of the martyrs, and specifically the military commander of the PFLP forces in the Gaza Strip and member of its political bureau, the martyr Mohammed Al-Aswad, ‘Guevara of Gaza.’” Kareem also “saluted the spirit of the fighter martyr [PFLP member] Omar Al-Nayef.” According to the PFLP’s description of the event, “the hall was decorated with a number of PFLP banners, pictures of PFLP martyrs and its Secretary General, Commander Ahmed Saadat, as well as pictures of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah
    • Nayef was a PFLP member, sentenced by Israel to life in prison in 1986 for murdering a 22-year-old Jewish student in Jerusalem. Nayef escaped from an Israeli jail four years later and was wanted by Israel until his death in February 2016
  • In November 2017, according to the PFLP, Kareem participated in a PFLP meeting. The PFLP cites her as a “project coordinator” and refers to the speech she gave about project implementation mechanisms at the event.   
  • In December 2016, according to the PFLP, Kareem spoke at a large PFLP gathering in “memory of the martyr Sami Madi.”9 At the event, Jamil Mezher (see above) addressed the PFLP, called for “Intifada and resistance” and celebrated PFLP hijackings and attacks such as the assassination of Minister Ze’evi and the Har Nof synagogue massacre.
  • In November 2015, the PFLP referred to Kareem as a “member of the center district leadership” to help “families in need and affected by the aggression…” According to the PFLP, Kareem explained that the “campaign was carried out in conjunction with the launching of the Popular Front and the embodiment of its social and humanitarian role…”

Source: PFLP Website, 2016

Source: PFLP Website, 2017

“The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine… organized a feminist demonstration in support of the female prisoners in the prisons of the Israeli occupation, and with the prisoner commander Samer Arbid, along with a substantial participation of leaders and members of the PFLP in the district…On her part, PFLP Central Committee member Heba Abdel Karim…said:…’We stand with he who embodies the slogan ‘confession is treachery,’ the giant, comrade Samer Arbid…” Source: Safa, Palestinian Press Agency

Saad el-Din Ziada

According to a May 2022 post on its website, Saad el-Din Ziada is UAWC’s “director of advocacy,” a position he has held since January 2017. Previously, Ziada was UAWC’s Head of Agriculture Committees in Gaza (as of July 2008).

  • In March 2017, Ziada participated in “PFLP martyr day” commemorations and was honored by the terror group, receiving an award from PFLP Deputy Secretary-General Jamil Mezher.
  • In May 2017, Ziada spoke at an official PFLP event in Gaza, alongside senior PFLP members. 
  • Ziada has also openly expressed his support for the PFLP on social media. For example, on September 2, 2016, Ziada wrote, “Despite the harsh circumstances and the insults by some people, we will continue to raise the flag of the PFLP, high and fluttering.” 
  • On November 20, 2014, Ziada shared a song on social media “as a present for the martyrs of the PFLP, Uday and Ghassan Abu Jamal, the heroes of the Jerusalem operation.” Uday and Ghassan Abu Jamal were PFLP terrorists who murdered five Israelis in a November 2014 assault on a Jerusalem synagogue.

Magdy Yaghi

Former member of UAWC’s Board of Directors (from 2010 until at least 2013). In 2019, Yaghi participated in a UAWC event.

Yaghi participated in a memorial service organized by the PFLP for PFLP founder Maher Yamani (PFLP, February 24, 2019)

(Source: PFLP, December 20, 2014)

Yaghi marching with PFLP members carrying hatchets and Molotov cocktails (Source)

Yaghi with senior PFLP members Abu Nidal Toman and Jamil Mizher. (Source: Magdi Yaghi, Facebook, December 7, 2013)

Taghreed Jomee   

Served as a UAWC board member in 2010–2012. A 2011 Palestine Press News Agency article lists Jomaa as the secretary of the board.

  • Jomee was a member of the PFLP’s Central Committee until at least 2013.
  • In a December 31 2012 statement, the PFLP referred to Aburahma as a “Central Committee member Comrade.” 
  • On October 16, 2023, Jomaa shared a Facebook post denying the Hamas massacre and that bodies of victims were burnt. The post suggested, using graphic images, that Israel was presenting  a picture of a burnt dog as that of a burnt child. The post, referring to a well-known hate propagandist, read: “Western support for Israel is because of a dog??? American journalist Jackson Hinkle revealed that the photo of the charred child published by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was fake. Netanyahu said that it was of an Israeli child who was burned by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). According to a report by Fatima Triki, the American journalist revealed that the photo of the alleged Israeli child is [actually] one of a dog in a veterinary clinic that was distorted using artificial intelligence, but Western media is quick to repeat Netanyahu’s lies without verification or evidence.”

Jomee with PFLP Political Bureau member Mariam Abu Daqa (Source: Shaker Jouda, Facebook, December 12, 2013)

Suliman Shahin (Shaheen) 

According to his Facebook profile, Shahin worked at UAWC in Gaza, prior to his death in 2014. 

Following his death, the PFLP released an official eulogy poster mourning Shahin, “the PFLP’s loss” and referring to him as “the engineer comrade.”

(Source: Suliman Shaheen, Facebook, April 30, 2014)

“Blood = Blood #Kill_Them” (Source: Suliman Shaheen, Facebook, July 6, 2014)

“Burn and Death to Israel” (Source: Suliman Shaheen, Facebook, July 8, 2014)

 

Concerning Rhetoric by Staff Members Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas Massacre

  • On October 13, 2023, UAWC’s head of the Gaza Fisherman Committee Zakaria Bakr posted on Facebook, “We are living through an action of ethnic cleansing and genocide accompanied by stravation and severing all capabilities of life from water to electricity and fuel…what we are living through is more powerful and stronger than the holocaust which the Zionists talk about…”
  • On October 7, 2023, Bakr posted on Facebook, “Complete the history and change the geography, it is the great October, October of victories.”
  • On October 13, 2023, UAWC Project Coordinator Moayyad Bsharat posted on Facebook, “What is required today from the [Palestinian] Authority is simple, really simple, that it responses, in an assertive fashion on the countries that support the Zionist terror and make it clear for them what the position of the Palestinian people is about self-determination by all means available…We Palestinian are facing a mechanism of Zionist terror and its western supporting tools. Our Arab Palestinian people shall have victory no matter the time it will take” (emphasis added).
  • On October 11, 2023, Bsharat posted on Facebook, “Is there anything more beautiful than traveling by air from Lebanese airspace to Israel airspace with a glider?! [i.e. addressing the threat posed by Hezobllah to Israel] May Allah be pleased with them. #Gone_be_the_humiliation [a shi’ite phrase said in times of waging war].”
  • On October 10, 2023, UAWC’s Director of Advocacy Saad el-Din Ziada posted on Facebook, “Do not hesitate in supporting the resistance, even by praising. It is our right and the protector of our dignity and dreams.”
  • On October 7, 2023, UAWC Project Coordinator Houssam Abuabdou posted on Facebook, “October 7 has witnessed the power and will of a great people.”

Funding to UAWC

GovernmentDonorYear(s)Amount
CanadaUN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)2016-2022$15,597,190
DenmarkUN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)2017-2020DKK 87,084,557
European UnionEuropean Union2022-2026€4 million to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
2021-2025€3.4 million to UAWC for a project with the Ma’an Development Center and Oxfam Novib.
2017-2021€3.7 million
2011-2017€18.3 million
FranceAFD (France)2019-2021€232,000
Rhone Mediterranean Corsica water agency 2019-2021€203,440
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur région 2019-2021€100,000
Municipality of Les Mées2019-2021€2,000
GermanyMedico International2017N/A
ItalyAssociazione Di Cooperazione E Solidarieta (Italy)2018-2021€527,102
Organizzazione Per Lo Sviluppo Globale Di Comunita’ In Paesi Extraeuropei Onlus 2018-2020€241,471
NetherlandsRepresentative Office in Ramallah (NRO)2019€1.67 million
2018€2.58 million
2017€3.81 million
NorwayNorwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs2020-2024NOK 70.4 million
Norwegian People’s Aid2018NOK 13,155,986
2017NOK 13,398,655
2016NOK 12,355,023
SpainAECID 2019-2021 €400,000
Belgium Oxfam Solidarité2018€25,848
2017€260,154
Solidaridad Internacional Andalucia2018€445,778
Grassroots International2017N/A
United NationsUN OCHA2018$400,000
2017$248,941
2017$230,585