Country Background
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians that began following the UN-led partition plan for Palestine in 1948, which sought to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. Subsequent wars between Israel and neighboring Arab states led to mass displacement of Palestinians and disputes over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
For decades, Israel has been accused of depriving Palestinians of human rights and apartheid by civil society organizations. Since 2021, the Israeli government is under investigation by the United Nations Human Rights Council over alleged violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law (IHL) in the Palestinian territories.
In response to shrinking territory and human rights abuses, several terrorist organizations have risen up out of the Palestinian territories and have regularly threatened the safety of citizens in both Palestine and Israel.
Turbulent peace plans and a two-state agreement have been frequently interrupted by episodes of violence. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel killing 1,200 civilians and kidnapping an additional 240. The terrorist attack sparked the ongoing Israel-Hamas War, which has resulted in the bombardment of Gaza and the death of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.
C&SN continues to emphasize the importance of protecting the rights of nonprofit organizations to safely and effectively carry out their life-saving work, including humanitarian, peacebuilding, and human rights programs. Unfortunately, these civil society led programs are routinely undermined due to the combination of U.S. counter-terrorism laws and Israel’s lawfare attacks on civil society in Palestine or supporting Palestinian rights.
What Nonprofits Need to Know
Humanitarian & Peacebuilding Needs
Figures are frequently changing as a result of the Israel-Hamas War. We recommend nonprofits keep up to date with the dynamic crisis through the following resources:
UN OCHA provides a humanitarian overview of the crisis in Gaza, outlining civilian casualties and displacement figures.
Humanitarian access restrictions are viewable through UN OCHA’s interactive maps, outlining restricted areas, infrastructure, power supplies and grids, road obstacles, and population figures of communities throughout Gaza and West Bank.
Food security figures change daily. The World Food Program provides frequently updated figures.
View Palestine’s environmental vulnerabilities to natural hazards, such as earthquakes and the impacts of climate change, outlined by the World Bank.
The World Health Organization provides an overview of the healthcare system, including medical supplies, access to water, medical supplies, and maternal/childcare.
Bombardment of Gaza and illegal settling in the West Bank has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians across the Palestinian territories; data tracked by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center.
UN Women track a variety of gender equality indicators in Palestine, including employment, education, leadership positions, violence against women and girls.
Hamas: Also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas is a Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist organization that was officially founded in 1987. The Gaza-based group calls for the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state and rejects all agreements between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. Hamas is listed as an FTO, sanctioned under the SDN, and is sanctioned by the UN.
Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ): This Iranian-inspired Islamic militant group primarily seeks to derail the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and eliminate Israel from the region. The group strives to maintain an operational presence in Gaza and the West Bank. PIJ is listed as an FTO, sanctioned under the SDN, and is sanctioned by the UN.
Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF): The PLF is a small faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and is committed to establishing an independent Palestinian state and violent resistance to Israel. The PLF publicly agreed to abandon terrorism in the 1990s but claimed attacks against Israel during the 2000s. The group has not claimed responsibility for an attack since 2010, yet allegedly maintains a recruitment and training presence in some of the West Bank’s refugee camps. The PLF is listed as an FTO and sanctioned under the SDN.
Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC): MSC is an armed Salafi jihadist group with ties to al-Qaeda and ISIL that aims to bolster its capabilities in the Gaza Strip against Israel and, ultimately, destroy the state of Israel. It maintains activity in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and in the Gaza Strip. MSC is sanctioned under the SDN.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP): Formed in 1967, this group is a secular Marxist-Leninist revolutionary socialist organization and the second largest of the groups forming the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). It is headquartered in Gaza and recruits mainly in the West Bank. PFLP is listed as an FTO and sanctioned under the SDN.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — Qods Force (IRGC-QF): Formed in the 1980s, this group launches attacks against Israel to reduce Israel’s presence and influence in the West Bank, and, ultimately, destroy the state of Israel. The group operates throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps is designated as an FTO by the U.S., sanctioned under the SDN, and sanctioned by the UN.
Kach and Kahane Chai: These two marginal, extremist Israeli groups seek to expand Jewish rule across the West Bank and expel the Palestinians. Israel outlawed Kach and its offshoot Kahane Chai (“Kahane Lives”) in 1994. West Bank settlements—Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, and Kfar Tapuach—are considered primary areas of Kahanist support. Kach and Kahane Chai are sanctioned under the SDN.
Primary Terrorist Presence &
Sanctioned Groups
U.S. laws prohibiting “material support” to listed foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC)’s sanction programs blocking individuals and groups listed in the U.S. Specially Designated National (SDN) often disrupt nonprofit-led activities in conflict zones, where many of these listed entities and individuals are active.
Nonprofits and their partner financial institutions need to know which individuals and organizations are listed in order to understand government compliance protocols and avoid penalties.
The list below is non-exhaustive, so it is important for nonprofits to check all partners and those with whom they engage in transactions against, at a minimum, the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated National (SDN), the U.S. State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), and the United Nations Security Council Consolidated list of sanctioned individuals and entities.
Humanitarian Exceptions Offered by OFAC
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) within the U.S. Department of Treasury enforces sanctions programs. It has the ability to issue licenses, either “general” or “specific” licenses, that allow for certain kinds of aid and support to be provided in areas where sanctioned entities exist. Such licenses also allow that these activities and programs – humanitarian, peacebuilding, and development-related work – can occur even when such transactions engage with sanctioned entities, including listed terrorist groups, that would otherwise be unlawful.
On Nov. 14, 2023, OFAC issued a Compliance Communiqué, Guidance for the Provision of Humanitarian Assistance to the Palestinian People, to help clarify OFAC’s licensing process and underscore the permits available for nonprofit organizations working in Palestine, emphasizing that OFAC sanctions should not obstruct humanitarian assistance in Palestine.
The Communiqué encourages donors to continue to donate to trusted organizations to support Palestinians.
It is essential that nonprofits understand what is permitted under OFAC’s sanctions policies and how their work is protected. To ease that process we recommend viewing C&SN’s breakdown of OFAC’s guidance, to understand how to navigate key sticking points.
C&SN also recommends that nonprofits cite OFAC’s licenses and the corresponding guidance to their partner financial institutions to ensure nonprofit activities are not hampered by risk-averse banks or federal bank regulators.
Lawfare Attacks on Palestinian Civil Society
Since the beginning of the current crisis in Palestine-Israel, C&SN also observed the weaponization of the U.S. material support statutes against Palestinian organizations and student groups by state-affiliated “lawfare” organizations. These types of allegations, though not new in recent U.S. history, present a dangerous precedent that implicates free speech rights and creates a chilling effect on charitable work in Gaza. They are often used as a political tool to force the accused organizations to expend resources, energy, and time on defending themselves against these, in addition to facing potential reputational and funding hits. The resources, time, and reputational hit – sometimes even more than the legal outcome – are the point.
Additional Information
On Oct. 20, 2023, C&SN joined the global civil society-led #CeasefireNow petition, urging immediate and unfettered humanitarian access to civilians in Gaza, and upholding international humanitarian law. The campaign seeks to mobilize 2.2 million people – the same number as the population of Gaza – to sign the petition calling for world leaders, the UN Security Council, and actors on the ground to prevent further humanitarian catastrophe.
Learn more about how C&SN advocates for nonprofit protections from sanctions, material support legal statute, and financial regulations. Consider becoming a member to join a global network of legal, nonprofit, and activists seeking to protect nonprofits from overreaching natural security measures.