Bring it on, says defiant doyen of Palestinian NGOs

Veteran rights campaigner Shawan Jabarin peers down the street from his office in the occupied West Bank as if awaiting the imminent arrival of Israeli forces after a crackdown on NGOs.

"I dislike going to jail, but if this is the price to defend human rights and to keep speaking out in the face of the oppressive regime, I'm ready for that," said 62-year-old Jabarin, doyen of the small world of Palestinian non-governmental organisations.

On August 18, Israeli forces raided the offices of Al-Haq, the legal organisation that defends Palestinian rights and is headed by Jabarin, and six other NGOs in Ramallah.

The move came 10 months after Israel's defence ministry designated Al-Haq and other NGOs as "terrorist" organisations, over their alleged links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a leftist militant group.

The allegations have been rejected by the organisations, which argue that Israel is trying to silence defenders of Palestinian rights.

- 'Moment of truth' -

Since the raid, Jabarin said he received a series of phone calls from an Israeli intelligence officer identifying himself only as Fadi, and calling on him to stop working with a "terrorist organisation".

Israel's Shin Bet intelligence service did not respond to AFP enquiries about the phone calls.

"This is not a job," Jabarin said of his role.

"This is beliefs, it is international law and human rights –- we have to stand by our commitment.

"This is a moment of truth, and we have to decide, but maybe we will pay a personal price," he added.

Jabarin started out as a field researcher for the organisation in the 1990s, when he was repeatedly put into administrative detention -- an Israeli measure under which people can be incarcerated without charge.

Those stints in jail followed a nine-month prison term after he was convicted in 1985 of recruiting for the PFLP.

Another Palestinian NGO worker, lawyer Salah Hammouri from the prisoner support group Addameer, has been imprisoned since March under the controversial measure.

Appointed director of Al-Haq in 2006, Jabarin has spearheaded a campaign to label Israel's treatment of Palestinians an "apartheid" system.

This characterisation, which Israel vehemently denies, has been adopted by global rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Jabarin said his organisation "crossed a red line" by using the term apartheid, which he believes prompted the terrorism designation.

"They failed to shut us down, they failed to dry up our resources," he said.

"They came with the idea of using their heavy hands as a political state, and declare us a terrorist organisation.

"They did that as a step to discredit us, and to disseminate fear over our partners and our funders."

- 'Pay the full price' -

Nine European nations have committed to continuing their funding for Al-Haq and the other rights groups outlawed in the Jewish state.

"(Israel) didn't listen to us so far, so why should we think that our condemnation will make any difference this time?" one European diplomat told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

If Jabarin is arrested, the international community is "fully aware that it would not be enough to issue a statement", said Sahar Francis, director of Addameer which Israel has also designated a "terrorist" group.

"This is a time for actions," added Francis, a longtime associate of Jabarin who she said is willing to "pay the full price" for his convictions.

Jabarin, who along with the other NGO leaders has received the support of 45 Israeli organisations, said he has no alternative but to keep running Al-Haq.

"It's not my choice (to go to prison), but if (it) is imposed on me, for sure, I will not collapse," he said.