Movimiento por la Paz, el Desarme y la Libertad (MPDL)
Profile
| Country/Territory | Spain |
|---|---|
| Website | http://www.mpdl.org/ |
| Founded | 1983 |
| In their own words | “an independent, secular and progressive NGO that works, since 1983, for the full compliance with human rights, democratic governance, equality and the solidarity between people and peoples.” |
Funding
- In 2015, total income was €8.2 million; total expenses were €8.9 million.
- Donors include: Spain (AECID), European Union, Andalucía Agency for International Development Cooperation (AACID-Spain), and SOLIDAR (Belgium).
- Public funding to MPDL for activities related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict amounted to €207,765 in 2015. MPDL received €61,326 from AACID, the Parliament of Andalucía, and the municipality of Illescas for projects with Health Work Committees (HWC), as well as €131,961 from the European Union.
- HWC is a Palestinian organization with ties to the PFLP (see further information below).
- In 2015, Movimiento por la Paz (MPDL) received €11,478 from the municipality of Torrelodones for a project with Palestinian NGO Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS), as well as €3,000 from the municipality of Utebo for a project with Palestinian NGO Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA).
- PMRS and CFTA support BDS initiatives through participation in activities and events, signing of petitions and initiatives, and/or membership in BDS platforms. (See further information below.)
Activities
- In 2014, MPDL published a manifesto on the “genocide in Gaza,” alleging “war crimes and crimes against humanity” and condemning “the atrocious crimes against a defenseless population, as well as racist attacks carried out by the Israeli army, police and settlers against Palestinians from the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Israel.” MPDL calls to “Stop arms trade and military collaboration with Israel,” claiming that “Each weapon purchased by Spain from Israel is a proven weapon against the children of Gaza. Each weapon sold to Israel is a weapon that will be used against civilians in clear violation of International Humanitarian Law. Enough complicity.” The manifesto goes on to advocate “the ratification of the Rome Statute by the Palestinian Authority so that those responsible for war crimes against the Palestinian people can be brought to the International Criminal Court”; and to call for “the suspension of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel as a measure of pressure for this state to comply with international law” (NGO Monitor translation).
- Citing unnamed “international DNGOs [development NGOs],” MPDL alleged “an increase in acts of revenge against the Palestinian population amid the inaction of Israeli security forces who have prevented access to medical care for some of the wounded,” claiming without evidence that “Palestinian Red Crescent vehicles and equipment have been the target of more than 50 attacks by Israeli settlers and some members of the Palestinian health services have been victims of the violence of the Israeli police forces” (NGO Monitor translation).
- In October 2015, MPDL was a signatory on a call to the Spanish government urging them to demand that the Israeli government “Put an end to collective punishment of the Palestinian population” and “Ensure that Israeli security forces do not overstep the use of force and avoid the disproportionate use of lethal force as set out in the UN Basic Principles on the use of force and firearms by officials in charge Of enforcing the law.”
Partners
- MPDL partners with Health Work Committees.
- HWC is a Palestinian organization with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Dr. Ahmad Maslamani, co-founder of HWC, was a “Central Committee member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine” (as stated by the PFLP itself).
- Daoud Ghoul, director of development projects and programs in Jerusalem, was convicted by an Israeli court of being a PFLP member (decision 19274-07-15).
- In 2015, Israeli authorities closed an HWC center in Shuafat for one year. The decision states that the center was raided and subsequently closed “[u]nder the Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1948 and after the conviction that this place is used in terrorist activities.”
- MPDL also partners with Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) and Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA).
- PMRS is a signatory to a 2015 initiative of the BDS National Committee for “the Nakba Day” to “join and build” BDS campaigns and to place an embargo on Israel. PMRS refers to the Israel Defense Force (IDF) as the “IOF” (Israel Occupation Force”), accusing it of “war crimes and violations,” and claims to “find(s) itself working within the constraints of Israel’s apartheid system.”
- CFTA is a signatory to the March 2016 “Palestinian Women’s Call for Worldwide Women’s Endorsement of BDS,” which accuses Israel of “Ethnic cleansing and dispossession of a majority of the indigenous Palestinian people during the 1948 Nakba and denial of the right of return of the Palestine refugees as stipulated in and protected by international law” and an “Entrenched system of legalized and institutionalized racial discrimination and segregation, especially against the Palestinian citizens of Israel, which meets the UN definition of the crime of apartheid.”
- Member of Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA).
- Published an April 13, 2015 joint agency briefing paper titled “Charting a New Course: Overcoming the Stalemate in Gaza,” misrepresenting international law and distorting legal terminology to place primary blame for the 2014 Gaza war on Israel. The paper omits Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, as well as terror tunnels running beneath the border into Israel. The paper further encourages contact with Hamas, stating: “Restricted contact can undermine humanitarian access and implementation of humanitarian programmes…”
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