Council for European Palestinian Relations

The Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR) is a not-for-profit organisation which has been established to promote dialogue and understanding between European, Palestinian and Arab parliamentarians and policy-makers. It seeks a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on justice and the restoration of Palestinian rights in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights law.

CEPR serves as Hamas’ representative in Europe, and as such, was banned from Israel by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon in December 2013.^[1]

CEPR is based in Brussels and London.

Aims and activities

The CEPR is engaged in political lobbying work across Europe, particularly the European and British Parliaments.

According to the CEPR's Official website, the aim of the CEPR’s work is to increase understanding of the Palestine issue and related Middle Eastern issues in Europe and to increase dialogue between European, Arab and Middle Eastern politicians.

The CEPR focuses on taking parliamentary delegations to the Middle East while meeting with Hamas leadership in the area. In 2010 the CEPR was involved in taking a large number of European parliamentarians to the Gaza Strip and Egypt on the anniversary of 'Operation Cast Lead’. The delegation, the biggest ever to Gaza, was led by British Labour MP Sir Gerald Kaufman and included over 50 parliamentarians 13 European countries. The visit included meetings with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas,^[2] Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa.

In October 2010 the CEPR took a delegation of parliamentarians from the European, British, Scottish and Polish parliaments to the occupied West Bank and Jordan. The trip included meetings with Hamas representatives in the Palestinian Legislative Council seeking sanctuary at the International Red Cross, United Nations Relief and Works Agency Director John Ging and the Jordanian Prime Minister Samir al-Rifai and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.

Between the 6th and 9 February 2011 the CEPR was the co-organiser of a delegation of seven European parliamentarians to Lebanon, where they met with senior government figures including President Suleiman and Prime Minister Designate Mikati and visited the Palestinian refugee camps Bourj el-Barajneh, Nahr al-Bared and Shatila.

Following the popular uprising in Egypt in February 2011, the CEPR organised a delegation there to meet organisations likely to have a role to play in the forming of a new look Egyptian government and to engage with them on the issue of ending the blockade of the Gaza Strip. The CEPR has in the past held meetings with EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek and President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

The CEPR also prepares research briefs for parliamentarians and for download on their website.

Leadership

The director of the Centre for European Palestinian Relations is Arafat Shoukri, an expert and media commentator on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with longstanding experience as a PR and lobbying specialist.^[3] Shoukri is also the executive director of the Palestinian Return Centre, which advocates the cause of Palestinian Refugees in Europe and has strong ties with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.^[4] The Palestinian return Centre was outlawed by the Israeli authorities in 2010.^[4] Shoukri chairs the European Campaign to End the Siege in Gaza (ECESG), a major sponsor of the attempted second Gaza Flotilla in support of Hamas-ruled Gaza.^[5] Ramy Abdu, the Palestine Office Manager for the CEPR in Gaza,^[3] was known to have been a spokesperson for the same organization.^[6]

Notwithstanding, on several occasions Shoukri has denied being a Hamas advocate.^[7] An article posted by Haaretz reports Shoukri declaring: “The CEPR is a non profit organisation and is not affiliated to any political party whether inside or outside Palestine.”^[7] However, Shoukri played a prominent role in the negotiations to include Hamas-controlled Gaza into the political process aimed to reach a peaceful agreement between Israel and the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority.^[8]

The CEPR’s affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood is suggested by the strong ties of two of its trustees - Anwar al-Gharbi and Mazen Kahel - with the global movement.^[5]

Anwar Gharbi was a founding member of ECESG and one of the coordinators of the second Gaza Flotilla.^[5] Gharbi was an officer of the Association de Secours Palestiniens (ASP),^[5] the Swiss member of the Union of Good, an umbrella organization including over 50 charities funding Hamas chaired by the radical preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Moreover, Gharbi was also a founding member, former President and now honorary President of the Switzerland-based NGO member of ECESG Droits pour Tous.^[5]

Mazen Kahel was instead the Treasurer of Comité de Bienfaisance et de secours aux Palestiniens (CBSP), a French-affiliate to the Union of Good.^[5] The CBSP was designated as a terrorist entity in 2003 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.^[9] It is also regarded as a partner organization to ASP.^[5]

Controversy

Hamas was included in the blacklist EU-designated terrorist groups in 2003,^[10][11] but the European Union later retracted the designation in December 2014. Hamas is still banned by Jordan and designated as a terrorist organization by the United States,^[12] Canada,^[13] Israel,^[14] and Japan.^[15]

The Council for European Palestinian Relations was outlawed in December 2013 by the then Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon citing emergency defense regulations.^[7][16] However, multiple sources concur that the Israeli authorities thereby intended to sanction the CEPR’s advocacy of Hamas’s cause.^{[5][7][8][17]}

As a consequence, the Israeli authorities are authorized to confiscate the Council’s money and to try its members, associates and contributors.^[16]

Among the implications of the 2013 designation as an “illicit association” is that four European members of Parliament who are also members of CEPR are in danger of arrest if they landed at Ben Gurion International Airport.^[7][16] An article recently published by The Independent revealed that the European members of Parliament involved were the British Labour member of European Parliament Richard Howitt, the German representative Alexandra Thein, Swiss member of Parliament Geri Müller and British member of Parliament Norman Warner.^[8] Norman Warner was “was a health minister in Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government, and now serves on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Palestine.”^[8]

According to the same article, Clare Short, the former British International Development Secretary who resigned in 2003, could also be arrested the next time she lands in Tel Aviv as she was a prominent member of the Council for Palestinian European Relations at the time of the CEPR’s designation.^[8]

References

External links

• Official website