GAZA, December 14, 2009 (WAFA) – “Attacks against non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have continued as the office of Palestinian Non-governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) in Gaza City was broken we condemned this violations against us,” three human rights organizations said in a joint press release. 

 Al Dameer Association for Human Rights, the Independent Commission for Human Rights, Al Mezan for Human Rights, and the An-Najd Development Forum were condemned the attack. An office of an international NGO, the Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF), which is located in the same building that hosts PNGO in Gaza City, was also broken into yesterday.

 These organizations strongly condemned the continued attacks on civil society organizations and called on the authorities in the Gaza Strip to act in accord with their legal obligations, investigate these crimes, make public the results of the investigations, and bring to justice those who prove to be involved in them.

PNGO staff members reported that they noticed a clear mishandling of papers and documents in their office. A small amount of cash (NIS 2,369) was also lost. They also noticed that there was no forced breaking into or damage to any doors or windows in the office, which suggests that the trespassers had the ability to open closed doors without forcibly breaking them.

It noted that the office of CHF was broken into the same way as PNGO, despite that the office door was closed by a high quality locks (multi-lock) and was closed when the staff left the office yesterday. The perpetrators entered the office and destroyed one of two empty safes.

It is worth mentioning  that PNGO had just won the French Republic Human Rights Award and are still being exposed to a defamation campaign by the pro-Israel lobby due to their role in confronting Israel's human rights violations and the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, and for their pioneering role in the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns against Israel's violations of international law.

The undersigned organizations expressed their deep concern by the repetition of such assaults against NGOs and international organizations in the Gaza Strip. The nature of assaults raises doubts about the real motivations of the perpetrators, particularly as the stolen objects are not valuable, but there was extensive mishandling of papers, documents and computers in most assaults.