July 13, 2021
At about 3 a.m. on July 7, 2021 the Israeli army raided the Union of Agricultural Work Committees’ (UAWC) Ramallah office, confiscating computers, files and documents, as well as a video recorder. They damaged furniture and then barred the door with metal plates and posted an order closing the office for six months. UAWC is a group that assists Palestinian farmers with irrigation, harvesting, and protecting and restoring the land, including areas targeted for settlement expansion. It has been a frequent target of disinformation attacks and pressure campaigns to cut off its funding.
UAWC condemned the raid, saying in a statement that “This order is illegitimate and clearly politically-motivated. It targets our headquarters in order to disrupt our organization as a whole.” UAWC has moved its office to Gaza and is continuing its work with Palestinian farmers.
The timing of the raid raises questions about political motivation behind the raid. The UAWC statement said, “[t]he Israeli raid on our headquarters cannot be seen in isolation from the ‘review’ the Dutch government has launched last year into UAWC, in response to pressure from the Israeli government and organizations affiliated with it.” According to +972 Magazine, the Dutch discontinued funding during the investigation in response to pressure from conservative political parties. As a result, more than 100 communities in the West Bank were negatively impacted, including by the loss of 300 agricultural jobs.