Palestinian Civil Society During the Second Intifada (2001)In January 2001, AP was asked to profile the courageous efforts of Palestinian civil society to defend human rights during the second intifada. The request came from Grassroots International (GRI), a Boston-based organization that worked with eight Palestinian nongovernmental partners. In February, Iain Guest from AP visited the West Bank and Gaza with Saoud Dajani from GRI. Iain’s series of On the Record, posted below, opened with a history of the civil society and a review of the Oslo peace accords. AP has remained close to several Palestinian and Israeli NGOs met during this 2001 mission. The series was severely criticized by the NGO Monitor, an Israeli organization that seeks to discourage NGO criticism of the Israeli occupation. The Monitor described AP as a “classic example of how NGOs… are engaging in ideological and political activities in the name of universal human rights values.” The report is reproduced below with updated hyperlinks. It can also be found on the NGO Monitor website. AP returned to assess the human rights work of Palestinian NGOs in 2007 for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. See the 2007 Report below. The NGO Monitor’s Criticism of This Series Defending Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (2007 Report) |
