Violation: Closing Union of Agricultural Work Committee headquarter.

Location: Ramallah city.

Date: Wednesday, July 7^th 2021.

Perpetrator: The Israeli Occupation Forces.

Victims: The Agricultural Development Sector.

Description:

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, July 7^th 2021, the Israeli Occupation forces raided Agricultural Work Committee headquarter in Sateh Marhaba at the heart of Ramallah. The NGO’s headquarter is at the first floor of Saida building, the occupation troops broke into the building, smashed and confiscated properties, then barred the main door with solid metal plates and hanged a military order in Arabic, entitled “Closure order” number 1651, 5770-2009 signed by the Israeli Occupation Army Commander at the West Bank, and issued in reference to the British emergencies law foe 1954.

Union of Agricultural Work Committee General Director, Foad Abu Saif (46) told LRC:

“July 7^th 2021 About 6:00 am of Wednesday, I received a call from one of my colleagues informing me that the occupation forces raided UWAC headquarter in Ramallah and closed it, I took my car to Ramallah from my Hebron house, and got there at 8:00 am, I got inside through the emergencies exit, to look at the trail of destruction inside. The troops took files, CDs , a laptop, and a DVR, and left without a confiscation notice. We only found a closure order for six months, we rented a new office and started working from there immediately.

UAWC was established in 1986 to improve the Agricultural sector in “C” area and support farmers. UAWC receive their funding from the EU besides other organization, about hundreds of families in the West Bank and GAZA benefit from their projects, and more than 20 employees work at the headquarter of Ramallah.

Noteworthy, last June the occupation closed UAWC headquarter in Ramallah, and confiscated part of their properties on the pretext of supporting the occupation.