GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Women’s Technical Affairs Committee (WATC) issued a press statement Oct. 29 saying that the European Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat (HR/IHL Secretariat) decided to entirely defund the organization on the grounds of incitement to violence against Israel.

The HR/IHL Secretariat is a joint donor program sponsored by four European governments, namely Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, and is dedicated to supporting Palestinian and Israeli nongovernmental organizations in bringing about real and sustainable societal change while applying human rights based approaches.

Al-Monitor attempted to contact the HR-IHL Secretariat representatives in the Palestinian territories to no avail. No official statements have been issued regarding the decision to defund the WATC organization.

Samia Bamya, the chairperson of WATC, told Al-Monitor that the secretariat recently decided to defund her organization because of the organization’s participation in the May 15 establishment of a women's center named after Palestinian Dalal Mughrabi. The center for culture and community was established to serve the people of the town of Burqa in Nablus, north of the West Bank.