The European Union (EU) and the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO), a coalition of 135 local NGOs, are engaged in talks to clarify a perceived change in EU funding criteria to Palestinian civil society.

Since the start of this year, the EU has been under fire by Palestinian civil society for an alleged “anti-terror” clause in their general grant contracts used to fund NGOs worldwide. 

The line in question relates to Article 1.5bis, under the title “Role of the beneficiary(ies)” in the General Conditions – Annex II to the Special Conditions of the EU grant contract, which states that grant beneficiaries and contractors "must ensure that there is no detection of subcontractors, natural persons, including participants to workshops and/or trainings and recipients of financial support to third parties, in the lists of EU restrictive measures.”

The EU restrictive measures list indicates seven Palestinian groups under the category of “terrorism” and issues a restriction in the form of “asset freeze and prohibition to make funds available.” Some groups on the EU list are official political parties under the Palestinian Authority (PA), such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.