Accompanying Human Rights Defense in the Middle East

In 2021, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened an investigation into alleged war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 2014. This development reflects decades of effort by a vibrant network of Palestinian human rights organizations to monitor and document all violations, regardless of the perpetrator. By representing hundreds of Palestinians seeking justice and reparations, Palestinian human rights organizations have also thoroughly shown that there is no avenue for accountability through Israeli systems, which are designed to ensure complete impunity. Finally, Palestinian human rights organizations have played a foundational role in applying frameworks such as settler colonialism and apartheid to Palestine, which are crucial to understanding the root structures of human rights violations.

Since Palestine joined the ICC, Israeli authorities have dramatically escalated attacks on the Palestinian human rights community, banning six prominent Palestinian organizations in 2021. Israel’s deployment of its so-called “counter terrorism” laws against these organizations is part of a wider global phenomenon of governments weaponizing such laws to silence dissent. In light of these coordinated attacks, it is more important than ever to support the vital human rights work in Palestine with funding and solidarity.

Grassroots International accompanies work such as:

• Monitoring and documentation of human rights abuses against Palestinians
• Legal aid for Palestinian survivors of human rights violations
• Advocacy seeking justice for war crimes and violations of international law (e.g., imprisonment of children; torture and detention without due process) through international courts