Brussels: A total of 114 international civil society organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have called on the European Union to suspend its association agreement with Israel, citing what they described as “genocide and gross human rights violations” against Palestinians.
According to Jordan News Agency, in a joint statement issued Monday, ahead of an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting set to review the agreement, the groups said any impartial assessment should reach the clear conclusion that Israel has blatantly breached a core condition of the accord.
The organizations pointed to Article 2 of the agreement, in force since 2000, which underpins political and economic ties between the EU and Israel and stipulates that the partnership is conditional on “full respect for human rights and the principles of international law.”
Claudio Francavilla, Associate Director at Human Rights Watch, said in Brussels that efforts at dialogue with Israel have largely failed. “Maintaining this partnership without meaningful accountability is no longer acceptable,” he asserted.
Francavilla noted that pro-Palestine protests have swept across European streets for months, as people find it increasingly difficult to ignore images of daily violations circulating on news outlets and social media.
He added that Israel’s judiciary has not seriously pursued perpetrators of such abuses, citing data from Israeli rights organizations indicating that accountability rates stand at less than 3 percent.