Agricultural Development Association - PARC

Profile

Country/TerritoryPalestinian Authority
Websitewww.pal-arc.org
In their own wordsPARC is a pioneer national developmental organization with a regional trend committed to rural and agricultural development, social justice and national liberation

Funding

Activities

  • PARC’s rhetoric includes accusations of “apartheid,” “collective punishment,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “war crimes.”
  • According to PARC, “The blockade makes export impossible so farmers are abandoning their crops. Israeli incursions result in huge destruction to lands and enterprises. Almost every industry in Gaza is facing ruin. This is collective punishment and must end.”
  • PARC falsely accuses Israel of “war crime[s]” and erases the context of terror that necessitates security measures: “The creation of the so-called ‘buffer zone’ land is considered one of the most Israeli practices in violation of the provisions of international law that constitutes war crime [sic].”
  • In November 2022, PARC was a signatory on a letter to the ICC Prosecutor to “Urgently expedite his investigation into the Situation of Palestine, including the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.” 
  • In July 2022, PARC Director of Programs and Projects Izzat Zeidan accused Israel of “control[ling] most of the water naturally flowing from the mountains of Jerusalem and Hebron” by “d[igging] wells to divert the water paths of the spring to serve those settlements.” Israel’s use of water is entirely consistent with international law and practice, and is dictated by the 1995 Interim Agreement (Oslo II) mutually agreed to between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.(For more information, see NGO Monitor’s report: Analysis of Palestinian Water Issues and Israel’s Role.)
  • In May 2022, PARC was a signatory on a petition titled “The Return Appeal” calling on the United Nations to “take all necessary steps and measures for immediately holding the occupation’s state accountable for all the crimes, the latter has so far committed against the Palestinian people, within strict legal means that would not allow the occupation’s criminals to evade interrogation or possible trials.”
  • In May 2021, PARC was a signatory on a statement that the “Ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people reflects the extent of international complicity with the Zionist-Israeli colonial enterprise in Palestine.” The statement alleged that “the international community not only continues to disregard its responsibilities towards the Palestinian people, but it also continues to provide Israel with legitimacy, support, impunity and protection. This umbrella of protection evidently encourages Israel to further its colonial-apartheid regime.”
  • In April 2021, PARC welcomed the decision of the International Criminal Court to launch a formal investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israel in the “State of Palestine.” According to PARC, “This is a long-awaited and a critically important step towards ensuring the rule of law and ending impunity, while ensuring accountability for Israel’s crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court.”
  • In January 2021, PARC, alongside a number of Palestinian organizations, issued a declaration that the “Vaccine Roll-Out Exposes Israel’s Inhumane Acts of Apartheid.” PARC falsely claimed that Israel has “legal obligations” to “ensure that quality vaccines be provided to Palestinians living under Israeli occupation and control.” The NGOs altogether ignore that Palestinians residing in Jerusalem are part of the Israeli health care system; that under the Oslo Accords the PA is responsible for health care of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza; and that the PA has adopted its own vaccine policy for its population.
  • In June 2020, PARC was a signatory on a joint statement to the UN Human Rights Council calling for the international community to “Recognize and Counter Israel’s Apartheid.” According to the statement, “It is time to recognise that Israel has established and continues to maintain an apartheid regime of institutionalised racial oppression and domination over all Palestinians, on both sides of the Green Line, and refugees and exiles that are denied their right of return.”
  • In 2020, PARC published a report referring to Israel’s alleged use of “ethnic cleansing.” According to the report, “In order to achieve its objectives of controlling the areas…the occupation authorities practice a policy of ethnic cleansing.”
  • In October 2017, PARC was a signatory on a “World Day of Action: A World Without Walls” stating that the “Apartheid Wall” built by Israel is an “integral part of its policy to confiscate over 60% of the West Bank and imprison the Palestinian people on not more than 13% of their historical homeland.” The statement called to “Demand an immediate end to the walls that expel, exclude, oppress, discriminate and exploit… [and] Resist and defund those that profit from the walls.
  • In September 2017, as a member of the Palestinian Environmental NGO Network (PENGON), PARC was a signatory on a call to restaurant chefs to “Take Apartheid off the Menu” and cancel their participation in the Tel Aviv “Round Tables Tour” as it “uses the time-honored tradition of sharing culinary experiences as a means for whitewashing widespread violation of Palestinian fundamental rights, including the right to food.”
  • In 2012, PARC participated in an olive harvest volunteering day to send a “clear message of steadfastness and solidarity with Palestinian farmers facing continuous ethnic cleansing policies” (emphasis added).
  • In 2007, PARC helped produce the Palestinian documentary film “Jerusalem: The East Side Story,” which reveals “the history, of Israel’s occupation, illegal annexation and ethnic cleansing of the old city of East Jerusalem.”
  • In 2002, at the height of the Palestinian terror campaign, PARC made false and inflammatory claims of Israeli “savage…massacres” in Jenin and Nablus.

Ties to Terror

  • Judeh Deeb Ibrahim Jamal, founder of PARC, was formerly the General Director of Qatar Charity. In 2015, the Israeli Military Court convicted him for hid activity in the Qatar Charity – an illegal organization in Israel due to its ties to Hamas – and for his transferring of funds to the Hamas (on file).

BDS Activities

  • According to PARC’s “2014-2018 Strategic Plan,” one of PARC’s strategic goals is “Holding the occupation accountable towards Palestinian rights related to the agricultural sector and rural areas” by “Boycotting…Israelis’ settlement products” and “Supporting the cooperation and coordination with the boycott committees.”
  • In July 2020, PARC was a signatory on a statement calling for “Immediate targeted sanctions to stop Israel’s annexation and apartheid.” The statement further called for “A ban on arms trade and military-security cooperation with Israel,” “Suspension of trade and cooperation agreements with Israel,” and “Investigation and prosecution of individuals and corporate actors responsible for war crimes/crimes against humanity in the context of Israel’s regime of illegal occupation and apartheid.”
  • In May 2020, PARC was a signatory on a statement calling to “Ban arms trade and military-security cooperation with Israel,” “Suspend free-trade agreements with Israel,” and “Ensure that individuals and corporate actors responsible for war crimes/crimes against humanity in the context of Israel’s regime of illegal occupation and apartheid are brought to justice.”
  • In 2019, PARC lobbied in support of the discriminatory UN database of businesses operating across the 1949 Armistice line, aimed at bolstering BDS campaigns against Israel.
  • In May 2018, PARC created a list of “brands and products to ban” of companies that support the State of Israel.
  • On September 1, 2016, signed a letter to the Italian Association of Farmers asking them to “rethink their sponsorship and participation” in the Israeli Watec Conference due to its “role in the grave violations of human rights and water rights” and compliance with the “water apartheid.”
  • In February 2013, PARC signed a call urging “international civil society organisations to build effective campaigns and work towards ending agricultural trade with Israel that finances and rewards the destruction of Palestinian farming.” An accompanying “briefing paper” alleged that “Agricultural companies as a whole are accountable for their conduct, and any trade with companies that export from settlements or participate in other Israeli violations of international law only serves to encourage further Israeli violations of international law and is inherently unethical.”
  • In January 2013, PARC was a signatory on a letter to Azienda Comunale Energia e Ambiente (ACEA) board members calling on them to not cooperate with Mekorot, the Israeli water company, as the “experience and expertise that Mekorot is able to share with ACEA has been developed as result of the pivotal role that it plays in the appropriation of Palestinian water. Any cooperation with Mekorot strengthens its ability to violate international law and human rights.”
  • In January 2011, PARC supported the boycott of the export cooperative Agrexco as they are “in breach of international humanitarian law and trade agreements with the European Union, through exporting products of Israeli settlements, which are illegally constructed on stolen Palestinian lands.”
  • In July 2010, PARC “saluted” the Olympia Food Co-op “decision to boycott Israeli goods”as it reflects “the growing sentiment in international civil society, including in the US, that ending Israel’s impunity and pressuring it to comply with its obligations under international law have become of undeniable urgency.”
  • In May 2005 signed a petition calling for the academic boycott of Israel as a means to “isolate Apartheid Israel…forging effective solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom, self-determination and sovereignty.”
  • Signatory to the 2005 “Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS,” which calls for an end to Israel’s “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands” and promotes the right of “Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties.”

Partners

  • Receives support from Grassroots International.
  • Member of the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), which refused to sign the anti-terror clause that is a condition of US government funding, stating “that its members would not sign funding agreements that included the ATC [Anti-Terror Certificate]: this is now a condition for membership under PNGO byelaws [sic]” (emphasis added).
    • In January 2020, PNGO vehemently opposed a new clause in European Union grant contracts with Palestinian NGOs that prohibits grantees from working with and funding organizations and individuals designated on the EU’s terror lists.  PNGO claimed that Palestinian terrorist organizations are “political parties.”
    • In April 2017, PNGO called on the international community not to “use aid to undermine legitimate Palestinian resistance.” According to PNGO, “We reject all de-legitimization or criminalization of lawful Palestinian resistance, whether in form of allegations of terrorism, anti-semitism or otherwise… We call on all governments and aid providers to respect our right to lawful resistance, support Palestinian human rights defenders, and ensure equal, impartial and transparent access to funding for all.”
    • In March 2016, as a member of Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), PNGO stated that “Israel’s current government, its most racist ever, has dropped all pretences of ‘enlightenment’ and ‘democracy’. This has helped to expose Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid to world public opinion like never before.”
  • Member of Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network- Friends of Earth Palestine (PENGON).
    • In January 2022, PENGON endorsed a campaign, “Global Days of Action for Palestine,” meant to “intensify protests against Israel’s dramatic escalation of violence and ethnic cleansing across Historic Palestine.”
    • In January 2018, on the occasion of Land Day, PENGON accused Israel of “Zionist expansionism and massive Israeli land grabs,” and stated that “Apartheid, which is what we live under, is the atrocious conglomeration of colonialism, racism, denial of self-determination, and expulsion.”
    • In March 2018, PENGON published an article about the EU’s energy projects with Israel, stating that “The EU has a legal duty of non-recognition, including the duty to give no aid or assistance in the maintenance of the unlawful situation created by Israel in the OPT with these serious violations.  EU purchases of Israeli gas would enable substantial revenues to be used in Israel’s militarisation and de facto annexationist policies of the occupied Palestinian territory and appropriation and exploitation of its natural resources.”
  • Member of Habitat International Coalition.
    • Publishes a yearly newsletter titled “Land Times” that discusses “insights on regional developments that identify the human rights dimensions of land” in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.
      • The March 2017 issue included an article titled “Remembering Palestine in 2017” referring to Palestine as a “besieged habitat…which continues to run the gamut of habitat rights issues characterizing land conflicts,” as well as alleging that the “JNF has maintained a cross-border operation of organized population transfer and colonization not only throughout historic Palestine, but also from tax-exempt bases in some 50 other sovereign states.”
    • HIC’s website includes a “Housing and Land Rights Violation Database” that documents “the world’s most-common housing and land rights violations.” According to the database, there are over a million “affected persons” in Israel/Palestine.
  • Member of the Coalition of Rural Development Associations.

Grants Received (2012-2019)

Amounts based on PARC’s project funding information, as listed in PARC’s 2015 and 2016 annual report.

DonorAmountYears
European Union€4,732,8942012-2016
EU-European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI)€831,2902012-2015
Bread for the World-EED €530,0002012-2015
Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (joint funding from SwedenSwitzerlandDenmark, and the Netherlands)$97,8502015-2016
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg€2,212,0562012-2016
Diakonia€,2241,2442013-2017
UNDP-SIDA (Sweden)$468,0002015
Oxfam- EU€250,6552016-2019
CARE International€256,4632013-2016
$3,415,492
$1,385,0502016-2018
Overseas*€270,7072012-2016
$223,952
Christian Aid$1,970,4352014-2016
CCFD€23,0002014-2015
Grassroots International$46,6382014-2016
$26,9902016-2017
GIZ (Germany)NIS 204,3402015-2016
Oxfam GB£84,7142015-2016
Oxfam GB -SIDA$88,5402016-2017
Oxfam GB - DFAT$240,20152016-2017
Save the Children€1,349,5002014-2016
OCHA$482,2302014-2015
$248,167.502016-2017
Medecins du Monde$8,8802016-2017
Action Aid$205,1762014-2016
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)$283,5322014-2015
UNRWA $87,2192015-2016
UNDP$995,8502014-2016
$370,0002016-2017
Junia de Andalucía (AACID)€248,467.632014-2015
OPEC$100,0002013-2016
UNDP - Aqsa Fund/ Islamic Development Bank$1,102,1172013-2015
Netherlands Representative Office€38.5 million2008-2013

*Revealing a lack of transparency, PARC lists hundreds of thousands of dollars from unknown “overseas” donors from 2012-2016

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