A Dutch foundation has jointly awarded their Annual Prize for Human Rights action to Al-Haq, a Palestinian Human Rights organization and B'Tselem, an ISraeli Human Rights organization. The Award honors the actions of the Dutch Resistance in WWII. The Director of Al-HAq is being denied the right to travel to Netherlands to accept the prize.
Israel is preventing the director general of the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, Shawan Jabarin, from travelling to the Netherlands to accept a prize. The Supreme Court has been asked to review Jabarin's petition to reverse the Shin Bet's decision.
The Geuzenpenning Prize for Human Rights Defenders will be given at a ceremony next week. The country's royal family is scheduled to attend, and Israel's refusal to allow Jabarin to travel to the Netherlands is straining relations with the European country
Haretz
More below the fold:
Last month, al-Haq and B'Tselem were jointly awarded the “Geuzen Resistance 1940-1945” prize. Jabarin is scheduled to accept the award on behalf of al-Haq at a ceremony to be held on 13 March. Three weeks ago, he was informed that he is still prohibited from exiting the West Bank by the Commander of Military Forces in the West Bank.
Jabarin has been barred from travel by the military authorities that control the West Bank because of his alleged membership in the Palestinian Liberation Front, and thaat his travel might endanger regional security.
For the past three years, the Shin Bet has prevented Jabarin from traveling abroad, arguing he is a member of the People's Liberation Front for Palestine, and "his travel may endanger regional security."
Haaretz
He has been allowed to travel in the past, but since he assumed the directorship of Al-Haq in 2006, he has been banned from travel.
Between 1999 and 2006, Jabarin was permitted to leave the West Bank eight times. Since his appointment as executive director of al-Haq, however, the Israeli authorities have not permitted him to go abroad. Three petitions that Jabarin filed in the Israeli High Court of Justice against the prohibition were denied, based on privileged material provided to the court, on the grounds that he is active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Jabarin was given no opportunity to confront the allegations against him, and was never questioned or summoned for interrogation.
B'Tselem
He has never been tried, much less convicted, of illegal activities, the evidence produced against him to justify the travel ban is secret.
Ironically, the Dutch prize honors the memory of the Dutch Resistance to the Occupation of the Netherlands by the Germans 1940-1945.
The Geuzenpenning ('Beggar Medal') is a Dutch award given to persons or organizations who have fought for democracy and against dictatorship, racism and discrimination. It has been awarded annually since 1987 in the city of Vlaardingen.
The Geuzenpenning is an intiative of the Geuzen Resistance 1940-1945 foundation. The organization takes its name from the a resistance group called 'De Guezen' which was active during World War II around Vlaardingen, Maassluis and Rotterdam....
After the war, surviving members of the group started the foundation to honor the memory of their fallen comrades and the Geuzen ideals, to promote and maintain democracy in the Netherlands and to heighten global awareness of all forms of dictatorship, discrimination and racism.
Wiki
Is Israel's action to bar Jabarin's travel necessary and appropriate? Does it make the situation worse?