A Clouded EU Presidency: Swedish Funding for NGO Rejectionism
NGO Monitor
June 29, 2009

[For annotated version
www.ngo-monitor.org/article/a_clouded_eu_presidency_swedish_funding_for_radical_ngos
]

On July 1, 2009, Sweden will assume the presidency of the European Union.
This report shows that in order to have a positive impact on Arab-Israeli
peace efforts, Sweden cannot continue to fund radical pro-Palestinian NGOs.

Swedish government funding for NGO activities under the guise of human
rights and humanitarian aid is biased, highly political, and the details are
often hidden.
Many NGOs receive significant Swedish support from multiple sources:
directly from the SIDA aid agency, via NDC (Ramallah), and from Swedish
"framework" NGOs. Some groups also receive funding from the EU's European
Commission.

There is no evidence of a detailed study to determine whether this money
given to NGOs has accomplished any of the stated objectives.

Sweden funds Diakonia's International Humanitarian Law project, which
promotes Palestinian political goals through a distorted and misleading
interpretation of international law.

Sweden also funded Sabeel's Nakba Memory program in 2008 "to commemorate the
Nakba [Catastrophe] of 1948, examine the current struggles for freedom,
equality, and identity, and confront the continuing problems of the 1948
refugees."

Sweden is a main supporter of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights
(PCHR) - a leader in the NGO "lawfare" strategy of exploiting the universal
jurisdiction to bring cases against Israeli officials alleging "war crimes"
and "crimes against humanity." Such activities fuel the conflict.

The Palme Center falsely accuses Israel of "provok[ing] the al-Aqsa rising
and the 'Second Intifada,'" and "disproportionate violence against
civilians, unlawful executions and torture." The fighting in Gaza is also
blamed on "the provocative Israeli occupation."

Other SIDA grantees, including the Alternative Information Center (AIC),
Women's Affairs Technical Committee (WATC), Palestinian Medical Relief
Society (PMRS), and Jerusalem Center for Women (JWC), demonize Israel with
the rhetoric of "apartheid," "ethnic cleansing," and "massacres."
Background:

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) has been
providing substantial aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since
2000. In 2008, these areas received SEK 455 million (~$59 million, over 70%
of the Middle East and North Africa [MENA] budget). In 2007, they were the
7th highest recipient of SIDA funding in the world (out of SEK 15.4 billion
worldwide; complete figures for 2008 are not yet available).

Through this funding, SIDA claims "to promote democracy and respect for
human rights, especially in terms of equality," and to "create opportunities
for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and contribute
to a democratic Palestinian state governed by law." Sweden also provides
"expert assistance to help strengthen the PLO's negotiating structures to
enable it to be an equal partner in the peace negotiations with Israel,"
clearly taking the Palestinian position in the process.

SIDA's website also asserts that funding for joint Israeli and Palestinian
human rights campaigns "has helped to increase public support for a peaceful
solution in both Israel and Palestine." However, no evidence is provided for
this questionable claim.

Funding Mechanisms:
Swedish, Israeli, Palestinian, and international NGOs are funded by the
Swedish government through three mechanisms:
Grants channeled through Swedish NGOs;
a multi-national framework, the NGO Development Corporation (NDC), which
includes money from Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and the Netherlands;
direct funding to "organizations in partner countries."
Overlap between these schemes is not uncommon, as shown below, suggesting a
lack of responsible oversight by the Swedish government. Additionally, while
SIDA maintains a database on the indirect support through Swedish groups,
the NDC project and direct grants to local NGOs are not included. Due to
this limited transparency, the information available to members of
parliament, policy makers, and others, as well as the listings below, may
not be comprehensive.
Grants channeled through Swedish NGOs
"Most of the [SIDA] support to the MENA region" is channeled through 14
Swedish "framework organizations," including Diakonia, the Swedish Mission
Council (SMR), the Olof Palme International Center (OPC) and Save the
Children Sweden (Radda Barnen). These groups are responsible for
transferring
SIDA funds to local NGOs and overseeing project implementation.
Additionally, the framework organizations provide the information contained
in the SIDA database, but the material is often inconsistent or missing.
For instance, the "local implementing organisation(s)" is sometimes listed
anonymously as "local NGO."
Data in this section is from the SIDA database, unless otherwise noted.

1. Diakonia funding for NGOs
In 2008 and 2009, SIDA allocated over SEK 100 million annually to Diakonia,
a self-described "Christian development organization" and Sweden's largest
humanitarian NGO. Diakonia oversees four projects in "Israel/Palestine".
Two of its programs, the Children's Literature Program (18 million SEK from
2005-07) and the Rehabilitation Program (25 million SEK from 2008-09),
appear to be genuine humanitarian projects. The bulk of Diakonia's funding
from SIDA, however, is spent on Civil Society Organizations (13.5 million
SEK from 2008-10) and the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) (46.4 million
SEK from 2006-09) programs (figures provided by Diakonia). The IHL program
was created to influence public opinion, and presents a distorted and
misleading interpretation of international law that promotes Palestinian
political goals, such as "lawfare" against Israeli officials and foreign
corporations doing business with Israel. This project primarily disseminates
the Palestinian narrative.
Diakonia perpetuates the conflict through a paternalistic attitude toward
Palestinian responsibility, blaming Israel for the failings of the
Palestinian Authority: "[due to] the occupation and lack of peace in
Palestine, it is not difficult to grasp the negligence of the Palestinian
Government to implement the law of Disability eight years after it has been
endorsed."
Many of Diakonia's partner organizations - Al Mezan, Al Haq, the Alternative
Information Center, Sabeel, and others - are among the most extreme
anti-Israel NGOs, erasing the context of terror, and employing inflammatory
and at times, even antisemitic rhetoric. (For a detailed analysis see NGO
Monitor, Diakonia: Exploiting International Law to Promote the Palestinian
Cause, forthcoming July 2009.)
Alternative Information Center (AIC) 2004 - 2008. SEK 295,650 in 2008. AIC
refers to the "Israeli occupation-regime" and the Arab-Israeli "colonial
conflict." AIC is against normalization with Israel, claiming that the
collaboration of a Palestinian NGO with the Israeli Peres Center for Peace
"is politically unacceptable, and morally disgusting. Shimon Peres is
definitely an enemy of the Palestinian people, of human rights and of
peace." AIC officials participate in United Nations frameworks; have
accused Israel of "genocide," a "policy of ethnic cleansing," and
"apartheid"; and have also compared Israeli military and political
officials to Nazis. (See AIC Profile, NGO Monitor, June 4, 2009)
Al Haq - Received SEK 3.2 million between 2006 - 2010, as part of Diakonia's
IHL program (also funded by NDC - see below). Al Haq is a leader of the
"lawfare" movement, initiating lawsuits in Canada and the UK, and preparing
"ready-to-be-used case files" for use against Israeli officials in foreign
courts. Al Haq lists boycotts among its goals and objectives, and lobbied
the EU to annul the upgrade of EU-Israel bilateral relations. General
Director Shawan Jabarin has been denied exit visas by Israel and Jordan on
account of his alleged ties to the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP) terror group. Co-founder Charles Shamas is a member of the Middle
East-North Africa advisory board of Human Rights Watch, and has "advised the
PLO/PNA on IHL-related diplomacy," and publically compares Israeli policy to
"apartheid" and "genocide."
Sabeel 2006 - 2008. One 2008 Sabeel project, "The Nakba Memory, Reality and
Beyond," used SIDA funding (SEK 540,000) "to commemorate the Nakba of 1948,
examine the current struggles for freedom, equality, and identity, and
confront the continuing problems of the 1948 refugees"; "create a better
understanding of the history of 1948, the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe)";
and "create a stronger civil society informed and concerned about the Nakba
and who will work proactively inside Israel.on.the situation of second class
citizenship for Palestinians." This rhetoric supports Palestinian rejection
of compromise, and works against the peace process that the Swedish
government claims to support. Sabeel is a leader of the church divestment
campaign, and director Naim Ateek employs antisemitic themes and imagery in
sermons promoting his "Palestinian Liberation Theology."
Physicians for Human Rights - Israel (PHR-I) 2004 - 2008. SIDA contributed
SEK 462,281 in 2008 and SEK 457,200 in 2009 to a two-year PHR-I project
entitled "The Occupied Palestinian Territory, Prisoners & Detainees"
claiming to "Protect the right to health of Palestinian in the Occupied
Territories: Protect[] medical neutrality and the safety of medical premises
and staff in the occupied territories, [and] Protect[] freedom of movement
(access to health) of Palestinian patients, medical personnel and medical
goods and conducting local and international advocacy." PHR-I campaigns
include the unsupported claim that Israel is required to provide "free
access to health services" in the Palestinian Authority, and that Israel is
responsible for the PA's decision to suspend payments for Palestinian
patients in Israeli hospitals. This political NGO is also lobbying against
the upgrade of EU-Israel relations.
Women's Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) 2004 - 2008. Received SEK 113,959
in 2008. WATC's plainly stated ideology is that "the social struggle for the
full emancipation of all members of the Palestinian society...must go hand
in hand with the national struggle for the liberation of Palestine." A WATC
newsletter asserts that "[t]he Israeli occupation has continued building its
wall of apartheid and segregation." In a letter entitled "Stop Israeli
Massacres and the Zionist aggressions on the Gaza Strip immediately," WATC
irresponsibly labeled the Gaza conflict "a war of extermination."
Harvard's Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR), "IHL
in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory" - SEK 2.8 million in
2006 - 2010. SIDA, via Diakonia, funds HPCR International's Humanitarian
Policy & Law Forum, operated in conjunction with Harvard University's School
of Public Health. The IHL component was developed "in consultation" with
the UN, and aims "to improve access to balanced information on international
law and to promote the integration of legal and humanitarian analysis in the
context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Roadmap framework." In
reality, this program promotes the Palestinian agenda behind an academic
façade, based on a distortion and manipulation of international law. Its
"web portal" contains "policy briefs" that claim to "analyze" IHL on certain
aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict, yet invariably conclude that Israel is
violating international law. The forum is also a major promoter of the
non-serious argument that Gaza remains "occupied" after the Disengagement.
(For a detailed analysis, see NGO Monitor's report on this program
forthcoming July 2009.)
Other NGOs funded by SIDA-Diakonia include: B'Tselem and Al Mezan (see
below), the "Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign" (implemented by Health Work
Committees) and "Research Study Mental Health Effects of the Apartheid Wall
on Pales[tinians]" (implemented by Arab Center for Counseling and
Education).

2. Swedish Mission Council (SMR) funding for NGOs
Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) SEK 97,461 in 2008. PMRS uses
loaded language to delegitimize Israel and perpetuate distrust. The
president of the PMRS, Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, referred to the Gaza conflict
as a "horrendous massacre," and used terms like "ghetto", and "apartheid"
rhetoric on a radio program. PMRS refers to the security barrier as the
"apartheid Wall," and claimed that Israel employs a "racist ideology" and
inflicts "collective punishment" on the Palestinians. All of these
activities in support of the Palestinian position are inconsistent with the
foundations of compromise and peace.

3. Olof Palme International Center (OPC) funding for NGOs
The Palme Center, established in 1992 by the Swedish Social Democratic Party
and trade unions, promotes an overwhelmingly Palestinian narrative of the
conflict. The Palme Center makes the absurd statement accusing Israel of
"provok[ing] the al-Aqsa rising and the "Second Intifada," "contribut[ing]
to a chaotic security situation" in Gaza following the Disengagement, and
"disproportionate violence against civilians, unlawful executions and
torture." Only "Israeli attacks" are mentioned; Palestinian violence,
including thousands of rocket attacks and internal violence, is ignored and
accepted. The fighting in Gaza is also blamed on "the provocative Israeli
occupation" alone.
Jerusalem Center for Women (JWC) 2006 - 2009. Over SEK 690,000 in 2008-9.
JWC claims "to stand against to the unjust occupation, oppression, war,
apartheid, humiliation, and poverty affecting Palestinian women." A "fact
sheet" refers to Israeli "illegal[] evict[ion]" of Palestinian families "so
that settlers can take up residency," and refers to the "Annexation wall."
JWC designed posters with provocative slogans, such as "Ethnic Cleansing in
East Jerusalem," "Stop the Apartheid Wall," and "Stop the Judaization of
Jerusalem."

4. Save the Children Sweden - Radda Barnen (SCS) funding for NGOs
Defense for Children International - Palestine Section (DCI-PS) 2004 - 2009.
DCI-PS regularly exploits the rhetoric of children's rights, manipulates
international law, and campaigns against Israel in the UN and other
international frameworks. For example, in a statement to the Committee on
the Rights of the Child (September 29, 2007) DCI/PS condemned Israel for
"deliberate targeting of civilians" in Lebanon, "terrorizing the civilian
population" in Gaza and "collective punishment." DCI-PS endorsed the call
for BDS against Israel, and refers to Israeli "racism," promotes the
Palestinian narrative of "nakba" and the "right of return" as "a natural and
legal right." Swedish government funding for these activities fuel the
conflict and constitute a major obstacle to peace.
Addameer (Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association) 2009. Addameer
refers to the Israeli army as the "Israeli Occupying Forces," and accuses
Israel of "collective punishment" and a "policy of using Palestinian
prisoners as pawns to achieve political and military gains." Addameer
endorsed the call for BDS against Israel, which calls for "[e]nding [Israel']s
occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall," and
compares Israel to apartheid South Africa, in a manner consistent with the
Durban Strategy of anti-Israel demonization and the use of soft-power
warfare.

5. NDC funding for NGOs
In July 2008, the NGO Development Center (NDC - Ramallah) received $6
million from the governments of Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, and the
Netherlands. NDC in turn, distributed these funds to 25 Israeli and
Palestinian NGOs, using tax money to support the inherently biased criteria
of "organizations that monitor, document and report on violations by the
Israeli military occupation of Palestinian human rights" and the potential
for "lawfare" - "legal representations and litigation related to individual
cases of human rights violations" (pg. 3). No information on the level of
oversight (if any) by Sweden and the other donor countries could be found.
NDC "facilitated" and funded the "Palestinian NGO Code of Conduct," a
document that rejects "any normalization activities with the occupier,
neither at the political-security nor the cultural or developmental levels.
No endeavor would be carried out if it undermines the inalienable
Palestinian rights of establishing statehood and the return of the refugees
to their original homes."
NDC funding recipients include:
Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) - $400,000. PCHR regularly refers
to rocket attacks on Israeli civilians as "resistance." Following the deaths
of five children in a "work accident" (during the preparation of an
explosive device) the NGO condemned "the danger of storage of explosives in
residential areas by Palestinian resistance groups," and suggested that "IOF
are involving through planting a booby-trapped explosive device inside the
house" (sic). PCHR is also a leader in the "lawfare" strategy of exploiting
the universal jurisdiction statutes in democratic countries in order to
bring cases against Israeli political and military officials for "war
crimes" and "crimes against humanity." During the Gaza war, this NGO
published accusations of Israeli "collective punishment" and "indiscriminate
killing and continued systematic destruction of all the Palestinian
institutions and civilian facilities in the Gaza Strip," and blamed the
"international donor" community for "bankrolling the occupation" and of
"complicity in Israeli violations of international law." In 2007, PCHR
listed SIDA as a funder (pg. 6), but not in 2008 when it received NDC
support. There is no indication of any assessment by the Swedish government
regarding the benefits resulting from the funds provided to PCHR.
Al Haq - $500,000. See above.
Al Mezan - $500,000. Al Mezan claims "[t]o protect, respect and promote the
internationally accepted standards of human rights." However, its activities
and reports indicate that this NGO's main activities are focused on
political campaigns directed against Israel, rather than on promoting
universal not human rights. Al Mezan consistently refers to the Israeli army
as the Israel Occupation Forces (IOF), erasing the context of Palestinian
terror, and delegitimizing Israeli self-defense. Al Mezan promotes
allegations of "Israeli massacres," "slaughtering civilians," "scandalous
war crimes," and "despicable disregard to civilian life," and fails to
condemn Hamas' use of human shields and illegal rocket attacks against
Israeli civilians.
Badil -$100,000. Badil is a leading actor in the Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, and has called for a "targeted
campaign to expose the lies of AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League and to
expose the Jewish and Zionist community's double standards regarding Nakba &
Occupation." Badil has also referred to "Israel's colonial apartheid
regime," "state-sponsored racism," and "systematic ethnic cleansing," and
claims that "[i]nstitutionalized racism and discrimination" is the "root
cause.of the ongoing internal forcible displacement and dispossession of the
Palestinian people."
Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC - Mossada) - $165,000.
JLAC claims to "[d]efend[] the Palestinian victims of human rights
violations; with accordance to the Palestinian laws and the international
law.via legal aid and legal representation". JLAC published a report
entitled, "Rats in the maze: Freedom of Movement in the OPT," which refers
to Israeli "crimes," "apartheid," and "collective punishment." JLAC also
wrote a 34-page report calling on the US to freeze military aid to Israel.
NDC also funds other highly political NGOs: B'Tselem ($450,000), ICAHD
($80,000), Mossawa ($150,000), and the Palestinian NGO Network ($130,000).

6. Direct SIDA funding for NGOs
SIDA also directly funds Swedish and local NGOs (12% of the MENA
allocations in 2007, see pg. 42), as distinct from the various funding
mechanisms examined above. As noted above, this aspect of SIDA funding lacks
transparency and accountability.
Diakonia - see above.
International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) - Paris-based FIDH received
$813,747 from SIDA for a project in the "human rights" sector; it will
either be renewed or end in August 2009. Details about the project's
connection to the Middle East are unavailable, but it should be noted that
FIDH official Raji Sourani is also director of PCHR (also funded by Sweden,
see above). During the Gaza war FIDH claimed that "[t]he operations of the
Israeli Army constitute at the least war crimes, if not crimes against
humanity." FIDH has also joined calls for the freezing of the EU-Israel
Association agreement due to Israeli "violations of human rights and IHL"
and accused Israel of "collective punishment against civilians in Gaza".
FIDH published "A Step by Step Approach to the Use of Universal Jurisdiction
in Western European States," a guide for promoting "lawfare" - the use of
democratic courts to bring "war crimes" cases against Israeli officials.
Indeed, as noted, FIDH member PCHR is a leader in the "lawfare" movement.
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) - PCATI lists SIDA as a
donor on its website; it also received a $240,000 grant from the NDC. PCATI
claims to lobby for prisoner rights and against torture. While it
extensively criticizes alleged Israeli abuses, the group has done virtually
no campaigning to uphold the rights of Gilad Shalit - held incommunicado by
Hamas for three years. PCATI often lobbies in international forums to
promote its one-sided, politicized agenda. For instance, in a report
submitted to the UN Committee Against Torture, PCATI accuses Israel of
attacks on "civilians and civilian objects" during the Gaza fighting, though
the NGO openly admits that these topics "do not per se fall under the
[Torture] Convention."
Overlap between different frameworks for Swedish NGO funding
In 2008 and 2009, many NGOs received funds from different frameworks within
the Swedish government. For politicized NGOs that contravene the claimed
Swedish goals of "creat[ing] opportunities for a peaceful solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict," this raises questions of government oversight
in funding processes. For genuine humanitarian projects, this phenomenon
increases the bureaucratic overhead and waste that does not reach the
organizations and suffering people who need the aid. Efficiency,
accountability and transparency should be required of all publically-funded
NGOs.
It is noteworthy that the Palestinian NGOs listed here are also members of
the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO - see above), which means that they
benefit from Swedish funding in yet an additional way.

[see website for table
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/a_clouded_eu_presidency_swedish_funding_for_radical_ngos ]

Conclusion

On July 1, 2009 Sweden assumes the presidency of the European Union. As this
detailed report indicates, Sweden's role in funding numerous highly
politicized NGOs fuels the conflict, rather than the advancing the stated
goals of promoting peace, democracy and development. The lack of independent
oversight in the use of taxpayer funds, as shown in this analysis, is
especially troubling at a time when accountability is receiving increasing
emphasis. In addition, these NGO funding policies are not consistent with
the efforts by the EU and member states to play a more central and
constructive role in promoting peace negotiations based on compromise, and
addressing the concerns of all the parties to the conflict.

As NGO Monitor's analysis reveals, the Swedish government funds NGOs that
pursue Palestinian political goals under the guise of "human rights" and
"international law," and demonize Israel with the inflammatory rhetoric of
"apartheid," "ethnic cleansing," and "massacres." In addition to compounding
Israeli mistrust of the role of the EU, which stems in part from support for
NGOs that exclusively promote a Palestinian agenda and engage in biased
anti-Israel activities, the delegitimization of Israel contradicts Sweden's
stated goals for the region. In order to play a positive role as a European
leader in assisting the constructive change necessary to end the
Arab-Israeli conflict, Sweden's NGO funding practices and priorities will
need to change.

Correspondence with the Swedish government
As of publication, NGO Monitor was still awaiting SIDA's response.
The Swedish Embassy in Tel Aviv elected not to comment on a draft of this
report.