Oxfam bleating versus the enterprising Gazans who build solid, beautiful homes without concrete

...And you will be hard pressed to find an NGO that condemns Hamas for building terror tunnels using materials that could be building new apartment buildings in Gaza City. The opportunities are there to build thousands of homes today. In six months, not a single NGO has stepped up to help push a solution that some admirable Gazans are doing on their own. Instead they are bleating about "blockade" as if Israel is capriciously punishing Gazans for no reason. NGOs like Oxfam care less about human lives than they do about demonizing Israel.

Look ma! No concrete!

Elder of Ziyon..
02 March '15..







Last week's press release from Oxfam was typical:

Rebuilding the Gaza Strip after last summer's war with Israel will take at least a century at the current rate of progress, Oxfam warned on Thursday.

Israel restricts the flow of steel and concrete into the Palestinian territory because Hamas, the radical Islamist movement, has diverted material of this kind to build tunnels and bunkers.

Only 1,677 lorries carrying construction material were allowed to enter Gaza between November and January. The territory needs about 800,000 lorry-loads to repair the physical damage inflicted during the 50-day war between Hamas and Israel last year. At the current rate, this would take about 119 years.

Oxfam urged Israel to allow the unrestricted inflow of building material.

"Only an end to the blockade of Gaza will ensure that people can rebuild their lives. Families have been living in homes without roofs, walls or windows for the past six months,” said Catherine Essoyan, Oxfam's Regional Director. “Many have just six hours of electricity a day and are without running water.”

That last sentence shows that we need to be skeptical about the rest. The "blockade" is not limiting fuel or electricity to Gaza; it is the ability of Gazans to pay for fuel and the infrastructure. Since Oxfam lies about that, their "119 years" figure is probably just as inaccurate.

And indeed it is. In January alone, 15,000 tons of construction material entered Gaza, and assuming a high 8 tons per truck that's about 1900 trucks in one month, a number that is increasing steadily.

Oxfam claims that only 579 trucks of construction materials entered Gaza in all of January. Yet COGAT says that they sent in 140 trucks of construction material on January 27, 243 on January 28 and 173 on January 29 - about the same number in three days that Oxfam claims Israel allowed in an entire month.

(Continue)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work as well as a big vote to follow our good friend Kay Wilson on Twitter, 
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EU ‘is breaking international law’ by funding illegal West Bank building projects

Maja Kocijancic, a Brussels-based EU spokesperson, denied that this was happening. ‘The EU's funding will provide training and expertise, to help the relevant Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministries to plan and build new infrastructure and enable people to reclaim and rebuild their land there,’ she said. ‘To date, no construction has started yet under these programmes. The EU is not funding illegal projects.'When shown sequences of photographs showing construction taking place, she declined to comment. She also did not comment on an EU-Oxfam sign stating that the 'main activities' of construction work are 'rehabilitation and reclamation' of land.

A man in EU uniform threatens
Israeli soldiers and bystanders with
a rock on the West Bank in 2012

Jake Wallis Simons..
dailymail.co.uk..
05 February '15..

The EU is acting illegally by funding unauthorised Palestinian building in areas placed under Israeli control by international law, say an NGO, international lawyers and MEPs.

More than 400 EU-funded Palestinian homes have been erected in Area C of the West Bank, which was placed under Israeli jurisdiction during the Oslo Accords – a part of international law to which the EU is a signatory.

The Palestinian buildings, which have no permits, come at a cost of tens of millions of Euros in public money, a proportion of which comes from the British taxpayer.

This has raised concerns that the EU is using valuable resources to take sides in a foreign territorial dispute.
Official EU documentation reveals that the building project is intended to ‘pave the way for development and more authority of the PA over Area C (the Israeli area)’, which some experts say is an attempt to unilaterally affect facts on the ground.

Locally, the villages are known as the ‘EU Settlements’, and can be found in 17 locations around the West
Bank. They proudly fly the EU flag, and display hundreds of EU stickers and signs. Some also bear the logos of Oxfam and other NGOs, which have assisted in the projects.

Questions have also been asked about the conduct of EU workers in the region, after a picture emerged of a man in EU uniform threatening soldiers and bystanders with a rock outside a settlement in 2012. An EU spokesperson declined to comment on the picture.

(Continue)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work as well as a big vote to follow our good friend Kay Wilson on Twitter, 
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Boycotters, Israel and Violating International Law

...It genuinely believes that it does not work with organizations that use or promote terror. But by supplying financial aid and other material support to the two Palestinian organizations that have clear links to terrorist organizations, Oxfam is misguided in this belief. It may now be open to criminal charges for violations of international law for supporters, if indirectly, terrorist groups. It may also be more careful in labeling settlements as “illegal.”

Dr. Michael Curtis..
American Thinker..
30 March '14..

The world is now aware of the bias and bigotry of Oxfam International in objecting to Scarlett Johansson’s decision to become a spokesperson for the Israeli company SodaStream because of the company’s factory in an Israeli settlement town. Oxfam considers Israeli settlements illegal and thus in violation of international law. In addition to its support of a boycott of trade with Israeli settlements, Oxfam has not adhered to a policy of neutrality in the Middle East. It has issued statements calling on Israel to end its supposed restrictions – i.e., checkpoints and roadblocks – on free movement of people and goods in the West Bank.

An important question now is whether Oxfam International can claim to come to the Middle East table with its moral righteousness intact. Certainly its declared neutrality in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians can be challenged by knowledge of the activity of some of its affiliates. One example of partisan activity is that the Dutch-branch Oxfam Novib and Oxfam GB are reported to have given $500,000 to the Coalition of Women for Peace, which is a fervent advocate of boycott of Israel.

The world may now be aware, through a report of the Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center) that Oxfam is itself indirectly involved with terrorist groups that have been declared illegal according to both international law and the laws of the U.S., the U.K., the European Union, and Canada. As a result, Oxfam, which has deceived itself in believing that it is taking a moral position to boycott trade with Israel, may be liable to criminal and civil prosecution.

The problem for Oxfam relates to its involvement with two Palestinian organizations that have had, and probably still have, close connections with the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Oxfam has provided financial and other assistance to those two bodies – the Union of Agricultural Workers Committees (UAWC) in Gaza and the Union of Health Workers Committees (UHWC).

The UHWC, founded in 1985, provides medical services to poor Palestinians. The UAWC, founded in 1986, deals with land ownership and agricultural issues in the areas disputed between Israel and the Palestinians.

No doubt these two groups do render some useful service to Palestinians. The problem is that they admit they were founded and are staffed to a considerable degree by members of the PFLP, though they now deny any present connection. Though the degree of interaction between the organizations and the PFLP is not altogether clear, at least publicly, the connections through people are evident.

Dr. Ahmad Maslamani, who died in 2008, was a member of the Central Council of the PFLP, a so-called “national warrior” (AKA “terrorist”), and was also co-founder and the general director of UHWC. Bashir al Kheiri (Bashir Khairy), who for a number of years was chairman of the Board of Directors of UAWC, was also the head of the PFLP’s political bureau in Ramallah. He was involved in the Supersol supermarket bombing in Jerusalem on February 21, 1969. Jamil Ismail is the vice president of UAWC and is a member of PFLP and the head of its political office in Gaza. A number of other directors of UAWC, including its treasurer, are known to be members of PFLP.

The role of the PFLP in international terrorism is very familiar. Founded in 1967 by George Habash, it defined itself as a Marxist-Leninist and Arab nationalist organization. Its activities for 45 years have been negative, opposing any negotiated settlement with Israel and engaging in spectacular terrorist acts. These have included aircraft-hijacking, suicide-bombings, and assassination.

Oxfam, Moral Indignation, Distortions and the Israel-Palestinian Conflict

...Gazans are held blameless for their predicament. Gazans elected a terrorist organization that diverts desperately needed international aid to build mile long tunnels into Israel laden with explosives; that launches thousands of rockets into Israel while ignoring the critical needs of its own population; that alienates its powerful Arab neighbor, Egypt, by supporting terrorism there.

Steven Stotsky..
CAMERA Snapshots..
07 February '14..

Actress Scarlett Johansson's decision to end her relationship with Oxfam, the British charity, generated a lot of publicity. Most people, however, have little awareness of Oxfam's distorted portrayal of Israel.

Oxfam currently (Feb. 7, 2014) has on its web site a report by the Association of International Development Agencies, Dream On. It opens with the following statement:

Everyone in the world wishes they had done more with their lives over the years, but not everyone has a blockade standing in their way.

It continues:

Gaza’s blockade is also about wasted time, loss and longing, and aspirations unfulfilled, which are universal themes that speak to the human emotions in us all. In order for people in Gaza to live with dignity and self sufficiency, the blockade must end.

The four page report recites story after story with the same theme:

All I need is a dignified life for me and my family, but the blockade has destroyed my hope.

Gazans are held blameless for their predicament. Gazans elected a terrorist organization that diverts desperately needed international aid to build mile long tunnels into Israel laden with explosives; that launches thousands of rockets into Israel while ignoring the critical needs of its own population; that alienates its powerful Arab neighbor, Egypt, by supporting terrorism there. None of that matters to the Oxfam moralizers, who can't be bothered to provide a substantive explanation of why the blockade was put into place.

Oxfam vs. Scarlett, Soda and Samaria

...The problem, though, is not just Oxfam. It is the giant multinational industry of NGOs, funded by millions of euros from European governments, which obsessively promote lies, hatred and incitement against Israel.

Melanie Phillips..
TheJC.com..
06 February '14..

Rarely can the off-screen performance of a Hollywood star have had such a galvanic effect upon the morale of a besieged group of people.

When Oxfam attacked Scarlett Johannson for advertising SodaStream, the gaseous gizmo whose bubbles are apparently toxic for being manufactured in Mishor Adumim just over Israel’s Green Line, the charity was expected to sack the actress as its public face.

But, as the attacks on her by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions crowd reached fever pitch, Ms Johansson stunned everyone by sacking Oxfam, on the grounds that she was a supporter of “economic co-operation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine”. Which, by implication, Oxfam was not.

With this put-down, she achieved more than all the anti-BDS activists put together (not to devalue their heroic efforts). For the first time that I can remember, a glamorous personality went on to the front foot against the peddlers of anti-Israel bigotry.

She did not adopt a cringing, defensive posture. She strode on to the moral high ground and, at long last, delegitimised the delegitimisers.

For Oxfam’s part, it dug itself further and further into its ridiculous hole. Its mantra that Israeli “settlements” such as Ma’ale Adumim – the city to which Mishor Adumim belongs — are illegal under international law is simply false.

The usual claim that they contravene the Geneva Convention egregiously misrepresents the Geneva Convention. Jews have been legally entitled to live in Judea and Samaria, furthermore, ever since the Mandate treaty of 1922 gave them the right to “close settlement” of all that land.

Next, Oxfam claimed that firms in the “settlements”, such as SodaStream, deepen Palestinians’ poverty and deny their rights. But SodaStream’s Arab workers disagree, pointing out that the company provides them with well-paid work.

Oxfam’s most damaging own goal, however, was to open people’s eyes to its real agenda. People who naively believed Oxfam was all about feeding the poor now realised it promotes a Palestine state and makes (false) claims about the status of the land.

(+Video) The other and darker side of Oxfam

...But according to Professor Gerald Steinberg, the president of NGO Monitor, the agenda behind Oxfam's statements is clear. "For Oxfam to say that it does not support the boycott is like a company claiming that it opposes air pollution, but invests in a coal power plant," he said.

Jake Wallis Simons..
The Telegraph..
05 February '14..

Scarlett Johanssen’s breakup with Oxfam over her support for the Israeli company SodaStream has caused fresh scrutiny to be applied to the charity. And with fresh scrutiny comes fresh revelations.

On Sunday, an Oxfam spokesman gave his organisation's official line to Ha'aretz, a Left-leaning Israeli newspaper. "We don't provide financial support to the BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] campaign or fund activities that call for a boycott of Israel,” he said.

“Oxfam is not opposed to trade with Israel, and we don't support a boycott of Israel or any other country. However, we do oppose trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank."

One would expect no less from a charity dedicated to eradicating poverty around the world.

As the latest iteration of the Oxfam website puts it, “lift one person and they will lift others”. This is supported by a short film displaying the slogans, “water for good, food for good, earn for good, learn for good, grow for good, together for good, all for good, lift lives for good”.

But lurking behind this carefully-crafted website, and indeed the spokesman’s carefully-worded statement, is a rather different reality.

In truth, Oxfam channels charity funds to political groups which follow deeply partisan agendas, and support the boycott of Israel.

After the Scarlett Johansson controversy, Oxfam's Director of Policy Ben Phillips and SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum speak separately to Newsnight about the legitimacy of West Bank settlements, and what is in the best interests of Palestinians.


Over the last few years, Oxfam GB and the Dutch branch of the charity, Oxfam Novib, have granted many tens of thousands pounds to Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP).

This group is linked to whoprofits.org, a website that publicly identifies boycott targets, including Israeli banks, utility providers and companies like SodaStream.

Oxfam, BDS, and the exploitation of human rights

...The declared goals of Oxfam are admirable, but its politicization is troubling and revolting. It is a shame that one of the biggest and most influential aid organizations in the world acts hypocritically when it comes to Israel. Johansson was wise enough to understand this when she stopped acting as a face for the exploitation of humanitarian issues for political purposes.

Shira Michael..
Israel Hayom..
04 February '14..

Anti-Israel organizations and supporters of the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign have been driven to embark on a crusade to persuade actress Scarlett Johansson to resign from her role as the spokesmodel for Israeli company SodaStream and to apologize for her choice. This is because one of the company's factories is located in Mishor Adumim, beyond the Green Line.

The international aid organization Oxfam, where Johansson served as an ambassador for several years, joined the chorus of criticism and issued a statement that the organization respects the independent decisions of all its ambassadors, but opposes "all commerce with Israeli settlements" because they are "illegal" and "deny the rights" of the Palestinians.

Johansson has refused to apologize and responded by saying, "While I never intended on being the face of any social or political movement ... SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine."

In response to Oxfam, she said: "I stand behind the SodaStream product and am proud of the work that I have accomplished at Oxfam as an ambassador for over eight years. ... I am happy that light is being shed on this issue in hopes that a greater number of voices will contribute to the conversation of a peaceful two-state solution in the near future."

Johansson also announced she was ending her affiliation with Oxfam due to a "fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement."

This is not the first (or the last) time that anti-Israel elements have pressured public figures and celebrities to boycott Israel. Such efforts were aimed at singers Alanis Morissette and Alicia Keys prior to their performances in Israel, but were unsuccessful. However, Elvis Costello and the Pixies canceled shows here following pressure from pro-BDS elements.

True to its Israel-Demonising Track Record, Oxfam Calls for Engagement with Hamas Oxfam "Blood Orange" Israel Boycott Poster

Daphne Anson
01 May '11

My local Oxfam is one of several "charity shops" in town (in Australia they're known as "op [opportunity] shops" and in America "thrift shops").

It has the dubious distinction of being the smelliest of them, as well as the most expensive - it seems to think that just because a garment has a "Per Una" or "Monsoon" label (representing the "designer" end of High Street couture) it merits inflated prices, even though the garment's a decade out of date if not threadbare.

Over-charging is characteristic of Oxfam shops in general, I'm told, with some second-hand items actually costing more than their exact counterparts for sale new, although its bookstores have proved so reasonable in pricing that they've put many a struggling independent bookseller out of business.

I must confess that I've bought many a used book in this town's separate Oxfam bookstore, trying to block my ears to the leftist anti-American talk at the counter as I browse the shelves, and doing my utmost to convince myself that the looks of disapproval that greet volumes favourable to Israel when they're presented at the checkout are entirely figments of my imagination. Once, when I purchased a handsome atlas of the Bible, the two lefties behind the counter didn't bother to disguise their sniggers; I assume they mistook me for one of the Christian fundamentalists who were holding a convention in town.

I'm pleased to help poor farmers in Africa and India and other parts of the Third World get a better deal. I approve of Oxfam's "Fairtrade" policy, although doubts have apparently been cast on how it works in practice.

However, Oxfam has a very nasty track record regarding Israel:
http://cifwatch.com/2010/10/10/oxfam-behind-the-pr-mask/ and
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article.php?id=1313 and http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article.php?viewall=yes&id=138 and http://philosemitism.blogspot.com/2008/11/gaza-will-oxfam-uk-also-make-appeal-to.html

And once again Oxfam has proved itself an inveterate foe of Israel, issuing this press release on 29 April:

'In order to improve the lives of Palestinians divided between Gaza and the West Bank it is imperative that the international community welcomes reconciliation and avoids adopting policies that would set unity efforts back, says international aid agency Oxfam.


“Over the past four years Oxfam and its local partners have seen ordinary people paying the highest price for the divide between Fatah and Hamas. The split has compounded the suffering of civilians in Gaza, already living under the Israeli blockade, leaving them with less access to essential services such as adequate electricity, clean water, and essential drugs,” said Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs.


As Palestinian political factions are making strides towards an interim unity government, the aid agency calls on the international community to abandon the failed policy of non-engagement and begin dialogue with all the major Palestinian parties.


“Palestinian reconciliation is a crucial step towards achieving a just and durable solution to the conflict,” Hobbs added.'

Yes, I guess it's really time to ask myself: "Do I really want that Oxfam shlock?"

Since Oxfam, so taintedly politicised, is so out of touch with realities, perhaps Israel's supporters need to be out of touch with Oxfam.

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NGO Report on Gaza: Blaming the Israeli Victims (Again)

NGO Monitor
22 December 09

A coalition of powerful political NGOs – including Amnesty-UK, Trocaire (Ireland), Finn Church Aid, Diakonia (Sweden), Oxfam, Oxfam-NOVIB (Holland), Cordaid (Holland), Christian Aid (UK) – have issued a report “Failing Gaza: No rebuilding, no recovery, no more excuses,” to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the Gaza conflict. As in numerous earlier publications on this topic, this report reflects the primacy of advocacy and the biased agendas of organizations claiming to promote “humanitarian aid”.

1) The central thesis of the report -- “primary responsibility lies with Israel” to end the blockade -- repeats the unsupported legal claim that Gaza remains occupied, as well as the false allegation of “collective punishment.” As legal scholars note, Gaza cannot be considered occupied, and economic sanctions are not illegal. These tendentious claims were apparently made in order to condemn Israel and create fictitious obligations.

2) Similarly, these groups blame Israel for ongoing conflict, minimizing the clear responsibility of Hamas for mass terror, and for blatant incitement to violence.

(Read full post)
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Oxfam, Amnesty, 14 other charities call for legitimisation of Hamas, produce joint report approving language that says Gazans treated like “animals”

Robin Shepherd
Robin Shepherd Online
22 December 09

It is time for a boycott after all. At the end of this piece you will find the names of 16 charities including Amnesty International UK and Oxfam International that have clubbed together to produce a report today about the situation in Gaza which would be laughable if it wasn’t so appalling. Go to their websites, write to their directors and, where appropriate, contact relevant government offices asking to have their charitable status removed. Really. Do it. Here are five reasons why:

1) The report calls for the Middle East Quartet (EU, UN, Russia, United States) to “begin political dialogue with all Palestinian parties”, ending what it calls “the failed policy of non-engagement”.

Sorry, but who do these charities think they are in saying that refusing to legitimise vile anti-Semitic, anti-Western terror groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad has “failed”? It has certainly failed Hamas and Islamic Jihad who are now more or less contained and lack international legitimacy. I think that’s a good thing. If the charities do not, they should explain themselves.

2) In similar vein, they should be asked to explain why, despite a few pro-forma references to Israel’s security and other references to rockets, their 18 page report failed to mention the words “terrorism”, “terror” or “terrorist” one single time, thus eradicating the context of Israel’s entire Gaza policy. Was this a product of ignorance, bigotry or both?

Read the rest of this entry »
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'Oxfam aids illegal Palestinian deeds'

Tovah Lazoroff/Yaakov Lappin
JPost
1 November 09

Oxfam International is involved in illegal Palestinian construction and agriculture activity in the West Bank, the Regavim advocacy group says.

The NGO charged on Thursday that Palestinians had illegally siphoned water in the area of Kiryat Arba with the assistance of Oxfam.

The civil administration on Thursday demolished an illegal water-siphoning operation just outside the Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron, which it claimed was linked to an international organization, but it did not name Oxfam.

It said that Palestinians had illegally linked pipes into the main authorized Palestinian water supply.

Ovad Arad of Regavim, however, said that Oxfam was involved in the project and had posted signs touting its work in the area.

He added that Oxfam also helped Palestinian farmers construct an illegal terraced field in the area, which he said the civil administration also destroyed on Thursday.

Arad alleged that contrary to the civil administration's claims, the Palestinians were stealing Israeli water with the help of Oxfam.

A source in the Kiryat Arba municipality said that the activity occurred within the settlement's boundaries and that the water siphons were connected to larger pipes that serviced both Israelis and Palestinians.

Oxfam International spokesman Michael Bailey in Jerusalem said in response, "We understood that an agricultural well and a field had been damaged and that some irrigation equipment had been removed.

"We are concerned about the impact of that on the Palestinian farmers," Bailey said.

He knew nothing, he said, of any illegal siphoning or of any other illegal activity connected to his organization.

The Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria said its actions were part of a policy of enforcement against pirate water supplies, and that Palestinian civilians were the primary victims of the illegal wells.

"The pirate wells are connected to water pipes and reduce the flow of the legal water supply to Palestinians," the civil administration said.

"International elements have been involved in this activity. We have warned the organization in question that they were partaking in an illegal construction project, but they refused to take heed of our warning," the civil administration added.

It refused to name the organization in question, and would neither confirm nor deny Regavim's allegation that it was Oxfam.

Regavim, created four years ago, operates on both sides of the Green Line, to monitor illegal construction and to preserve state land.

Arad said that its focus has been on illegal Palestinian and Israeli Arab activity, given that left-wing groups have solely focused on illegal Jewish construction.

In a letter that the organization's attorney Amir Fischer wrote to the civil administration, the IDF and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Arad said that Oxfam had intensified its activity in the West Bank and was helping Palestinians build illegally and carry out agricultural activity on state land.
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Oxfam Novib distributes Dutch gov’t funding to HRW, PCHR, and Adalah

NGO Monitor

13 August 2009

Oxfam Novib in the Netherlands receives nearly €130 million annually from the Dutch government – approximately 70% of this NGO’s budget – primarily via co-financing subsidies (2007, 2008). And from here, the funds are distributed to a number of highly politicized NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict. For example, Oxfam Novib partnered with the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) on a “lawfare” project (funded by the EU), designed to “[c]ontribute to the abolition of the death penalty...via extrajudicial executions” by the Israeli military. PCHR has led the “prosecution of Israelis suspected of committing war crimes” such as the “universal jurisdiction case in Spain.” Oxfam Novib also lobbied “EU ministers of Foreign Affairs to shelve the plans for intensifying relations between Europe and Israel.”

In 2007-8, Oxfam Novib donated $987,818 to Human Rights Watch (HRW) – which makes the Dutch government one of HRW’s major donors, and is inconsistent with this NGO’s claim that it “accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly.” In addition to HRW and PCHR, Oxfam Novib also funds Adalah, an Israeli-Arab NGO that was centrally involved in preparing a pseudo-academic publication entitled “Occupation, Colonialism, Apartheid?: A re-assessment of Israel´s practices in the occupied Palestinian territories under international law.”

The discovery of the close links between Oxfam Novib and the Dutch government comes after the exposure of Holland’s funding for the activities of the NGO “Breaking the Silence.” According to Ha’aretz, the embassy in Tel Aviv provided €19,995 for a report based on anonymous claims alleging human rights violations by the Israeli army, without the knowledge of the Dutch Foreign Minister. (The Jerusalem Post reported the amount as €19,999.) If the amount had been €20,000 “it would have required approval from The Hague,” perhaps due an effort to hide this embassy initiative from officials in the Netherlands.

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