A leading Palestinian human rights advocate has been refused a visa to address the European Parliament, despite both Belgium and the Netherlands being prepared to grant entry.
Nikolaj Nielsen
A leading Palestinian human rights advocate has been refused a visa to address the European Parliament, despite both Belgium and the Netherlands being prepared to grant entry.
Shawan Jabarin, who is director of the Ramallah-based civil rights organisation Al Haq, was supposed to speak at the European Parliament’s human rights committee on Tuesday (14 April).
France, however, declined to issue him a visa even after previously defending his organisation when Israel designated it a terrorist group — without presenting evidence to support claims it acts as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Mounir Satouri, a French Green MEP who chairs the committee, said the Netherlands and Belgium were both ready to welcome Jabarin.
“France is complicating cooperation between member states,” Satouri said, noting that France’s foreign ministry had not objected to granting the visa, raising questions about whether another part of the French government may have intervened at the last moment.
“It wasn’t the foreign ministry that blocked this,” the MEP said, adding that Jabarin had been due to meet officials at the ministry later this week, as well as EU human rights envoy Kajsa Ollongren.
“This is totally, completely irrational,” said Satouri, pointing out that France was among several EU member states (Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden) that had earlier condemned Israel’s move to classify Al Haq as a terrorist organisation.
Al-Haq’s deputy director Tahseen Alayan was sent in his place, where he highlighted intensified Israeli settler violence against Palestinians.
“This happens not only with the acquiescence of the Israeli government. It is with the complicity of the Israeli government,” he said.
But Jabarin’s blockade also points to broader fears by the EU and some of its member states when it comes to dealing with Israel after it levelled most of Gaza, following the October 2023 Hamas attacks against Israelis.
As international attention pivots towards Iran and wider Middle East wars, the conflict in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza continues despite a so-called ceasefire initiated last October.
Over 750 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the ceasefire with another four hit by Israeli airstrikes in the enclave on Monday, reported Reuters.
Impunity and violence
Alexandra Stutzman, the EU’s main diplomatic envoy to Gaza and the West Bank, said Palestinians are facing a rapidly deteriorating environment.
The current government under Benjamin Netanyahu has allowed more settlements than other previous government, he said.
“We are at the number of 102 new settlements in total under this government,” he said. Over 30 were agreed last week.
Stutzman said settler violence has also redoubled. “There seems to be a broader pattern of increasing violence with limited accountability,” he said.
For its part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHR) has documented decades of settler violence and seizing of Palestinian land.
“Israeli laws, policies and practices which have been in place for prolonged periods amount to a deliberate policy of separation to oppress and dominate Palestinians,” says Solomon Frank Sacco from OCHR.
He said Israel continues to consolidate its annexation of large parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, leading to the forced displacement of Palestinian communities from several parts of the occupied West Bank.
“The situation was already catastrophic, but in February this year, Israeli authorities announced policies that further facilitate transfer of land to Israeli settlers,” he added.
The Knesset had also imposed the death penalty that exclusively targets Palestinians accused of killing Israelis, triggering condemnations from the EU.
