Sir, – In 2013 I was commissioned by Norwegian People’s Aid to undertake a review for one of their partner organisations – the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC), a key civil society organisation in Palestine, working in the field of agricultural development, civil society empowerment, and advocacy.
As of last week, the Israeli regime has designated UAWC a terrorist organisation.
In Palestine, farmers and fishermen are at the frontline of the occupation. Extremely vulnerable, they face land grabs, movement restrictions, the separation wall, the cantonisation of communities in the West Bank, water restrictions, destruction of land and crops, house and property demolitions, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and confiscation of their boats and equipment – to name but a few.
Attacks on Palestinian farmers and fishermen are part of a deliberate and sustained strategy of economic warfare linked to the ongoing colonisation of Palestinian lands.
Since UAWC works strategically for the rights of farmers and fishermen at political levels, both nationally and internationally, and is highly regarded for its work, it is unsurprising that it has been added to a list of “Terror Organisations” by the Israeli regime as a means of politically hobbling it and silencing its voice.
UAWC and the five other organisations placed on this list are thorns in the side of Israel’s regime and its daily crimes against the Palestinian people.
Our Government must not play along with this travesty and must intervene to have the designation “Terrorist Organisation” removed with immediate effect. – Yours, etc,
ELAINE BRADLEY,
Kilbride,
Co Wicklow.