Introduction

Al-Dameer is a Palestinian non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Gaza claiming to work on “raising the societal awareness in the field of democracy and human rights through working with different sectors of the local society” and on “presenting legal services to detainees inside Israeli jails, along with its activities in defending the victims of violations, whoever perpetrates them.” Many current and former officials, employees, and board members have links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel. 

Al-Dameer engages in anti-Israel demonization, refers to terrorists as “martyrs,” and speaks of a Palestinian “right to resist.” On June 6, 2017, Al-Dameer asserted that convicted terrorists have a “right” to receive salaries and “condemn[ed] and deplore[d] the Ramallah government’s decision to cut the salaries of a number of released prisoners in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This policy was implemented unlawfully and arbitrarily in response to the Israeli and American demands to stop paying the salaries of prisoners…”

Funding

Al-Dameer’s terror affiliation is antithetical to human rights norms and principles. Due to its affiliation with the PFLP, the provision of funds to Al-Dameer is in likely violation of international, EU, and domestic terror financing and material support laws. The organization is therefore an inappropriate partner for governments and individuals seeking to further human rights in the region.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Founded by George Habash in 1967, the PFLP is a secular Palestinian Marxist-Leninist terror group, originally supported by the former Soviet Union and China. The PFLP is a designated terrorist organization by the US, EU, Canada, and Israel and is involved in suicide bombings, shootings, and assassinations, among other terrorist activities targeting civilians. It is well-known for hijacking commercial airlines in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as targeting civilians in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and is responsible for countless deaths and injuries. 

The PFLP assassinated Israeli Minister of Tourism Rechavam Ze’evi in 2001. In 1976, its members joined with the Baader-Meinhof Gang (a West German terror group) to hijack an Air France Tel Aviv-bound flight, diverting it in Entebbe, Uganda. In 2011, PFLP members took credit for the brutal murder of the Fogel family, including a baby and two young children. The PFLP was also responsible for the 2014 massacre at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood, murdering four worshipers and an Israeli Druze police officer. In August 2019, a PFLP terror cell carried out a bombing against Israeli civilians, murdering 17-year-old Rina Shnerb, and injuring her father and brother.

The PFLP has never recognized the State of Israel, and opposes all negotiations, instead calling for the “liberation” of all of “historical Palestine,” regularly by means of terror.

Al-Dameer’s Organization Ties to the PFLP

Al-Dameer seminar with PFLP prisoner’s committee. Al-Dameer Lawyer Mohammed Al Bardawell seen on the left. (Source: on file with NGO Monitor.)

From left to right: Al Dameer’s Yousef Balousha, Alaa Skafi, and Mohamed Al Jaish at PFLP rally. (Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1370335576382341&set=pcb.1370327253049840&type=3&theater)

  • In 2015, the PFLP demanded security forces in Gaza bring the perpetrators of “dangerous” threats against the former director of Al-Dameer Khalil Abu Shamala to justice. An article in Palestinian media also explains that the PFLP stressed that it would “not allow continued assaults and threats against Abu Shammala and others,” noting that they have information that enables them to deal with these threats in the event of the “failure” of security services.
  • In 2009, the PFLP condemned a break-in of Al-Dameer’s Gaza offices, claiming the “intrusion” was to “obtain information about the organizations and its activities.”

Al-Dameer Staff with Ties to the PFLP

Younis al-Jarro

Al-Dameer’s Chairman of the Board.4

Galal Ismail Shabat

Al-Dameer’s Vice Chairman.5

  • According to the PFLP, Shabat spoke at a December 2016 ceremony at Al-Quds Open University in Gaza commemorating the founding of the terror group. During his speech on behalf of the University, Shabat “congratulated the comrades of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) for the launching anniversary, praising the national efforts and the great sacrifices made by the Popular Front for the Protection of the Palestinian National Project.”

Shabat speaking at Al-Quds Open University Ceremony commemorating the founding of the PFLP. (Source: https://pflp.ps/post/14369/%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%8A-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%AF-%D8%A8%D8%B0%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AE%D9%84-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%85-%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%AF%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84)

Screenshot of video of PSLF training camp. (Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP1EemYGP1E)

Yahya Yousef al-Ghulban

Al-Dameer Board Member.6

Yousef Balousha

Lawyer for Al-Dameer.8

  • According to the PFLP, in August 2018, Balousha gave a speech during the closing ceremony of a PFLP children’s summer camp. During his speech, Balousha expressed his “pride in the graduation of the ‘pioneers of culture and resistance’ from our steadfast people” and focused on how “this highlights our interest in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the cultural aspects of our sons and daughters, because the responsibility for their education is upon us. We know that without an education, we will never achieve anything. Its purpose is to implant a national identity and the Palestinian struggle in the souls of our children.” He also praised PFLP leaders, including Secretary-General Ahmad Saafat, George Habash, Wadea Haddad, Abu Ali Mustafa, Ghassan Kanafani, Abu Maher Al Yamani, and “all the martyrs of the Palestinian revolution.”
  • In December 2018, together with Fathi al-Helou (see below), Balousha participated in a PFLP “cultural evening” in Gaza with PFLP leaders, including Jamil Mazhar (see Footnote 5 and Appendix I).
  • On October 2017, Balousha posted an image of Israel’s Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze’evi with bullet wounds in his head. Ze’evi was assassinated by the PFLP in October 2001.

mage posted by Balousha of Israel’s Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze’evi with bullet wounds in his head. (Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=273389626639480&set=pb.100019053330965.-2207520000.1545045163.&type=3&theater)

Yousef Balousha sitting in front of photos featuring terrorists and the PFLP logo. (Source: Facebook, December 5, 2018: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1180768068739322&set=a.155989237883882&type=3&theater)

Mohammed S. Al-Bardaweel

Lawyer for Al-Dameer.9

  • Al-Bardaweel attended a November 2018 seminar organized by “Al-Dameer association, in coordination with the prisoners’ committee of the PFLP” on the “administrative detention and the continuation of the arrest of Khalida Jarrar” (on file with NGO Monitor, see above).
  • According to the PFLP, in September 2015, Al-Bardaweel represented Al-Dameer at a meeting in which “at the request of the PFLP, the National Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Administrative Detainees decided on a series of moves to raise the problem of administrative detainees.”

Fathi al-Helou

Lawyer for Al-Dameer.10

  • In December 2018, al-Helou participated in a “cultural evening” with PFLP leaders in Beit Lahia. Al-Dameer lawyer Yousef Balousha (above) also attended.
  • Al-Helou’s Facebook page contains numerous PFLP photos. One posted on June 25, 2019 shows him holding PFLP sign.

Ra’fat Sulaiman Salha

Secretary of Al-Dameer’s Board of Directors.11

Ties to the Democratic Association of Lawyers and Jurists (DALJ)

Multiple staff members of Al-Dameer are also members of the Democratic Association of Lawyers and Jurists (DALJ); some hold high-ranking positions. According to the PFLP, DALJ is the “Front’s [lawyers’] union framework,” a PFLP subsidiary that regularly collaborates with the PFLP and participates in the latter’s rallies, celebrations and official meetings. Furthermore, DALJ regularly praises PFLP members and disseminates its official content.

Alaa Skafi

Alaa Skafi is the Acting Executive Director of Al-Dameer as of April 2020. Skafi also held the position of Deputy Director during 2019 and Legal Unit Coordinator in April 2019–January 2020, according to Arab media sources and Al-Dameer.12 According to Al-Dameer, Skafi has been working at the NGO since 2018.

Previously, Skafi was a lawyer at Al-Mezan, another NGO with ties to the PFLP, from March 2011 to November 2018. (For more information on Al-Mezan’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Al Mezan Center For Human Rights’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”)

According to DALJ, Skafi was the head of DALJ from March 2018 to November 2018 and deputy head from December 2013 to June 2014.13 Moreover, as of February 2019, Skafi was a member of the Board of Directors of DALJ.

Al-Dameer officials Alaa Skafi and Maher Al-Attar meeting with several PFLP senior members – Hani Khalil, Muhammed Makkawi, Jamil Mazhar and Nasrallah Jarghoun

  • In August 2022, Skafi spoke at a protest held by the official prisoners committee of the PFLP.

Skafi (circled in red) speaking at the PFLP’s prisoners committee protest. Behind Skafi is a poster calling for the release of PFLP Secretary-General Ahmed Sa’adat (Source: https://pflp.ps/post/20996/)

Alaa Skafi, accompanied by Al-Dameer staff members Yousef Balousha and Fathi Al-Helou, participating in a PFLP march “to support the prisoners and against Trump’s visit to the Palestinian territories.”

  • On June 13, 2014, the PFLP reported that DALJ members, among them Skafi, participated in a demonstration in support of prisoners on a hunger strike. The report referred to Skafi as a “comrade.”
  • On June 10, 2018, Alaa Skafi posted a picture of Muhammed Skafi, a member of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the PFLP’s armed wing. According to PFLP sources, “In the evening of Monday, June 9, 2003, Muhammed Mu’in Skafi and his comrade Tarik Al-Masri died while carrying out a heroic martyr operation in the settlement known as Netzarim. The two comrades…rained bullets and grenades on several soldiers…This heroic operation caused the death of more than three Zionist soldiers and injured no less than 12 other soldiers.” Skafi wrote, “We knew him as a gallant revolutionary knight, may your pure soul rest in peace, the martyr Muhammed Skafi, ‘Abu Mu’in’. The 15th anniversary of his martyrdom.”

Alaa Skafi posted a picture of Muhammed Skafi and wrote, “We knew him as a gallant revolutionary knight, may your pure soul rest in peace, the martyr Muhammed Skafi, ‘Abu Mu’in’…”

  • On October 16, 2017, Skafi shared a PFLP poster of the late Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze’evi, with three bullet holes in his forehead, next to six PFLP members who were involved in Ze’evi’s assassination in October 17, 2001: Hamdi Quran, Bassel Assamer, Majdi Rahima Rimawi, Ahed Abu Gholma, PFLP Secretary General Ahmad Sa’adat, and Fuad Shubaki. The poster reads, “the heroes of the first assassination operation in the history of the Palestinian resistance…these heroes demonstrated that an assassination [of a PFLP official] results in an assassination [of an Israeli official]. They carried out the order of Secretary General Ahmad Sa’adat, who avenged the blood of our commander [former PFLP Secretary General] Abu Ali Mustafa …Freedom to our prisoners, freedom” (emphasis in original). Skafi wrote in his post, “May the men of October 17 be well every year.”

Skafi’s poster hailing PFLP members involved in the assassination of the late Israeli Minister of Tourism, Rehavam Ze’evi. Skafi wrote in his post, “May the men of October 17 be well every year.”

  • On October 9, 2015, Skafi shared a poster reading “Your Knife is Freedom” and wrote, “Resistance with words does not cancel the need for resistance with weapons.”

The poster reading “Your Knife is Freedom,” and Skafi’s post: “Resistance with words does not cancel the need for resistance with weapons.”

  • On November 18, 2014, Skafi shared a picture of Uday and Ghassan Abu Jamal, who, on that day, killed five Israelis in the Har Nof synagogue massacre.
  • On July 8, 2019, Skafi posted on Facebook a portrait of Ghassan Kanafani, former PFLP spokesperson and member of its Political Bureau, and wrote, “…Ghassan was mistreated because he loved Palestine and wrote on Palestine…he didn’t get his deserved appreciation from his nation’s sons, only after his passing…Ghassan has prevailed in the mind of every free Palestinian and deserves the appreciation of every Palestinian.”

Maher Al-Attar

Maher Al-Attar held the position of Chairman of Al-Dameer’s Board as of August 202014 and Head of the PFLP’s DALJ as of February 2019.15 Al-Attar was a member of the Union of Health Work Committee (UHWC)’s Board as of July 2019.16

(UHWC is identified by Fatah as an official PFLP “affiliate” and by a 1993 USAID-engaged audit as the “the PFLP’s health organization.” For more information on UHWC’s PFLP ties, read NGO Monitor’s report “Union of Health Work Committees’ Ties to the PFLP Terror Group.”)

  • According to the PFLP, on March 30, 2021, the PFLP registered its electoral list with the CEC for the PA’s elections, “The People’s Pulse.” The list, comprising 65 candidates, includes Al-Attar (#12) among other PFLP leaders. Al-Attar also participated in the PFLP’s official delegation in registering the list with the CEC.

Al-Attar (circled) participating in the PFLP’s delegation for registering the People’s Pulse list with the CEC. Also present are Jamil Mazhar (forefront left), Hani Khalil (right, next to Al-Attar), and Mariam Abu Daqqa (forefront center).

  • On March 22, 2018, the DALJ published a statement by Al-Attar, in which he refers to himself as a “comrade in the PFLP.”
  • In March 2018, Al-Attar attended the aforementioned Democratic Association of Lawyers and Jurists’ meetings with PFLP General Central Committee members Hani Khalil and Muhammed Makkawi, Head of PFLP’s Gaza Branch and member of its Political Bureau Jamil Mazhar, and PFLP General Central Committee member and Head of its Khan Yunis District Nasrallah Jarghoun.
  • On May 14, 2018, Al-Attar shared on Facebook a picture of the Dome of the Rock with a Palestinian flag and wrote, “…those who normalize and who are prostrated will not sever us, this is Palestine, here the Tatars of this time will be defeated and eliminated, the savage and artificial state will be eliminated and crushed, the entity state and all the backward normalizing regimes will be eliminated by the will and resistance of a people who love life, this is Palestine” (emphasis added).

Ilham Jarghoun

Ilham Jarghoun is Al-Dameer Vice Chairman of the Board since December 2019.17

Jarghoun participated in the PFLP’s delegation for registering the People’s Pulse list with the CEC

Mousa Ayyad

Mousa Ayyad is the Secretary of Al-Dameer’s Board as of August 202018, and the Head of the PFLP’s Progressive Scouts Groups as of June 2015.19

  • On April 1, 2021, Quds News reported that Ayyad was placed in the nineteenth spot on the PFLP’s “The People’s Pulse” electoral list.
  • On June 17, 2015, the PFLP reported that Ayyad participated in the Progressive Scouts’ official event for the conclusion of their study of former PFLP spokesman Ghassan Kanafani with “a number of commanders, leaders and members of the PFLP” also present. During the event, Ayyad praised PFLP Secretary General Ahmed Sa’adat and Senior Leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Khader Adnan. The PIJ is designated as a terrorist organization by the US, EU and Canada.
  • In June 2014, Ayyad was referred to by the PFLP as a “comrade and leader in the PFLP.”
  • On August 27, 2020, Ayyad posted on Facebook a picture of former PFLP Secretary General Abu Ali Mustafa and wrote, “a national and international symbol…the doctor [George Habash, PFLP founder] said that ‘he planted a gun on every hill’ for our people, in his life he was fierce and that his martyrdom was a source of pride. Avenging his assassination is an honor. May God have mercy on him, he left us a lantern to guide us and guideposts for whoever did not want to stray from the road.”
  • On January 3, 2019, Ayyad posted on Facebook a picture of Archbishop Atallah and Mufti Abd Al-Majid Amarna Hanna next to a Christmas tree decorated with pictures of “the moons of Palestine, our righteous martyrs,” such as former PFLP Secretary General Abu Ali Mustafa.

Qosay Al-Zaaneen

Qosay Al-Zaaneen is the treasurer of Al-Dameer as of August 2020.20

  • On December 11, 2018, Al-Zaaneen posted pictures from a PFLP event honoring the organization’s founding anniversary. Al-Zaaneen wrote, “Long live the anniversary my comrades.”

Al-Zaaneen’s pictures from the PFLP event, and his post: “Long live the anniversary my comrades.”

  • On December 5, 2018, Al-Zaaneen shared an official PFLP poster congratulating its members on its anniversary. The poster included a picture of Al-Zaaneen and referred to him as a “comrade.”

Al-Zaaneen’s PFLP poster referring to him as a “comrade.”

  • Al-Zaaneen’s Facebook profile picture21 is of George Habash, Yasser Arafat, and Abu Ali Mustafa.

George Habash, Yasser Arafat and Abu Ali Mustafa in Qosay Al-Zaaneen’s Facebook profile picture.

  • On August 7, 2018, Al-Zaaneen wrote on Facebook, “I am totally convinced, without exaggerating…that the struggle between us and the Zionist enemy is a decisive life and death struggle…who said: ‘is there a people in the world that lives under occupation and wants to assist his cause by satisfying people? This will never be.’ One of the sayings of the eternal martyr, the moon of martyrs, Abu Ali Mustafa.”
  • On June 28, 2018, Al-Zaaneen shared a poster calling to “Free Khalida Jarrar, Palestinian feminist, political leader and parliamentarian…”
    • Jarrar, a senior member of the PFLP, was sentenced on March 1, 2021, by the Judea Military Court to two years in prison for holding office in the PFLP from 2016 until her arrest in 2019.
  • On July 8, 2016, Al-Zaaneen shared a picture of Ghassan Kanafani with the quote, “The bodies may fall but not the idea.” Al-Zaaneen wrote, “He presented a greater danger to the occupation state than a thousand fighters. This, just with his pen. The 44th anniversary of the martyrdom of Ghassan Kanafani, the author ”

Ayman Al-Hour

Ayman Al-Hour is a Board Member of Al-Dameer as of August 2020.22

  • On December 7, 2019, Al-Hour posted pictures from his participation in an official PFLP rally celebrating its establishment anniversary, and wrote: “…All salutations and appreciation to all who participated in commemorating the anniversary of the glorious start. 52 years of sacrifice and maintaining the principles.”

Al-Hour’s pictures from an official PFLP rally, and post: “…All salutations and appreciation to all who participated in commemorating the anniversary of the glorious start. 52 years of sacrifice and maintaining the principles.”

  • In February 2014, Al-Hour participated in a PFLP workshop on “Palestinian youth and the refugees’ issue.” The PFLP referred to Al-Hour as a “comrade.”
  • On July 4, 2020, Al-Hour shared a picture of George Habash, quoting him: “‘Israel is not stronger than the US and the Palestinian people is not weaker than the Vietnamese people.’ The doctor, George Habash.”
  • On December 1, 2019, Al-Hour shared a video of a PFLP rally with George Habash and wrote: “Long live the launch of the stubborn revolution. Long live the bullet that is faithful to the land and people. 11/12/67 [the date of the PFLP’s establishment].”

Al-Hour shared a YouTube link of a PFLP rally with George Habash and wrote, “Long live the launch of the stubborn revolution. Long live the bullet that is faithful to the land and people.11/12/67.”

  • On October 17, 2017, Al-Hour wrote on Facebook, “Eternal October 17 [the date of Israeli Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze’evi’s assassination by the PFLP], when the bullets of the Front’s retaliation voiced cries of joy. It was like an earthquake that made shocks all over the free world due to the forgotten heroes.”

 

Appendix 1: Jamil Mazhar at PFLP Youth Military Summer Camp