The Netherlands stops subsidy to aid organization | Inland
It concerns the aid organization UAWC, which focuses on the professionalization of farmers in the West Bank. Kaag previously posted the grant to temporarily stop there was already that two employees of the organization were involved in a bomb attack that killed a 17-year-old Israeli girl. The men were members of the terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). They claim that their salary is partly paid from Dutch aid money to the UAWC.
With the temporary suspension of the aid, which had amounted to about 21.5 million euros, Kaag promised to have further investigations carried out into the upcoming ties between UAWC and the terrorist organization.
This shows that, of course, no evidence has been found between money flows and the PFLP, nor evidence for ‘existing unity with or control by the PFLP’. However, the research bureau establishes individual ties with the terrorist organization at 34 employees of UAWC. In 12 cases there was even a double mandate. “They both held senior positions at UAWC, as well as positions at the PFLP, for an overlapping period of time.” According to the research, there are also links between the two organizations on an organizational level.
“According to the cabinet, the external investigation has made it sufficiently plausible that there were high-level ties between employees and board members of UAWC and the PFLP throughout the period,” De Bruijn wrote to the House of Representatives. “The large number of UAWC board members with a dual mandate is particularly worrisome.” The cabinet also stops payment to the agricultural organization.
The cabinet does want to start a new land and water program in the West Bank with other organizations.