We at the School for Peace and Wahat al-Salam / Neve Shalom stand in solidarity with the six Palestinian civil society organizations

• Addameer,
• Al Haq,
• Bisan Center,
• Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P),
• Union Of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC)
• The Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC).

These organizations play a significant role in Palestinian society’s response to the Israeli occupation. Activity to promote the rights of Palestinian children, prisoners, women and farmers, as well as to document the violation of Palestinian rights through the occupation, are important and moral. It is clear that the Minister of Defense sees any opposition to the occupation as terrorism, and uses the unlimited power at his disposal in order to impose sanctions without sufficient evidence and proper procedure.

We believe that every society has the basic right to struggle for its freedom and to strive for the protection and preservation of natural civil rights.

Such a dynamic of disqualifying the means of opposition by Palestinians as violence is well known to us from the workshops and encounters between Jews and Palestinians organized by the School of Peace for many years. In our experience, it can be said that this perception is related to the dehumanization that Palestinians are going through in Jewish society, its institutions, the media, and the public sphere in general. This phenomenon can be overcome by a meaningful encounter and discourse that sees the other as a legitimate, rightful group that is experiencing a complex reality.

We stand in solidarity with our counterparts in Palestinian human rights organizations and will assist them to the extent possible.