Funding Palestinian NGOs: A Trojan Horse Against Liberation?

Abstract

The Palestinian NGOs (PNGOs) have played a significant role in developing various aspects of Palestine’s national welfare. After 1948, another duty was added on to the PNGOs, which is resisting Israeli occupation both directly and indirectly. In that process, PNGOs could not finance themselves because of the economic damages of the Israeli occupation. As a result, PNGOs relied on foreign support, from Arab organizations and non-Arab organizations. In particular, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and European Union (EU) were the biggest funders for the PNGOs. In fact, USAID and EU are still the primary funders for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which emerged from the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. The author argues that conditional funding prevents PNGOs from supporting the exercise of the right of self-determination. Moreover, it marginalizes the PNGOs from the political sphere. Both these are affected by inserting anti-terrorism clauses by the funders in the funding contracts.