According to news reports, Kate Burton was working for the extremist Palestinian NGO known as al-Mezan, based in Gaza, when she was kidnapped with her parents by gunmen on December 28.

NGO Monitor’s profile of al-Mezan provides the following information:

  • Located in Jabalia Refugee Camp, near Rafah in Gaza

  • Claimed mission: "To protect, respect and promote the internationally accepted standards of human rights…and to encourage the adoption of Palestinian laws in harmony with these international standards… To promote the democracy building process, …the rule of law, …accountability and the role of NGOs in the Palestinian society."

  • Actual activities reflect centrality of radical anti-Israel agenda, including promoting claims of "Israeli war crimes"; inflammatory pictures, and incitement justifying terrorism.

  • In these activities, Al Mezan erases Palestinian terrorism, including missile attacks launched from densely populated civilian centers in Gaza; also ignores Palestinian corruption, and internal violence.

  • Funded by the Ford Foundation ($100,000), Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Netherlands Representative Office, International Human Rights Funders Group/co Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Kerkinactie/ Global Ministries.

NGO Monitor Links:

Back to January 2006 Digest