CWP Marks “Naqba Day” With Anti-Peace Rally

Says “Occupation…has lasted for 63 years and refuses to end”

JERUSALEM – The Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP), which receives funding from Switzerland, the Netherlands (via ICCO), Norway (through Norwegian Church Aid), Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and Heinrich Böll Stiftung (money originating with the German government), and Oxfam Novib, yesterday sponsored a “Naqba Day” protest with rallying cries of “Barak you murderer, the intifada will win,” and “release Palestine. This activity is in addition to the NGO’s ongoing leadership role in the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign, through its “Who profits?” project, notes Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor.

CWP representative Ayelet Harpaz yesterday stated, “We came to protest against the atrocities of the occupation that has lasted for 63 years and refuses to end.”

“The foreign governments that fund the misleadingly named CWP are directly responsible for this fundamentally anti-peace rhetoric and activity,” says Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. “Those who invoke the myth of a 63 year occupation are denying the legitimacy of Israel in any borders. Such hateful language certainly does not foster an environment for coexistence and mutual understanding and, CWP’s funders share responsibility for this incitement.”

NGO Monitor has noted that in its press statement of May 15, 2011, the New Israel Fund (NIF) announced that “CWP is no longer on the list of approved donor-advised organizations,” and NIF “asked CWP to remove our name and funding direction from their website.”

“The fact that NIF has now ended connections with this organization is further evidence that CWP is far beyond the pale of acceptable and moral behavior,” Steinberg adds.

Read NGO Monitor’s full report on CWP