NGO Monitor Analysis (Vol. 1 No. 5) 11 March 2003

UNICEF Funding Political Activities

The organization describes its main aims and objectives as:

• "Expanding awareness of one's roots and identity, environment and culture, as well as of other countries and the world at large.
• Creating a lively Palestinian youth culture, with both a light and a serious touch, in which things are done which have never been done before, in which life style is explored, social borders crossed, and in which pleasure and joy are not forbidden.
• A commitment to developing one's community, people and nation."
  Source: PYALARA Website

PYALARA is also an officially registered NGO at the Palestinian Ministry of Interior Affairs and works closely with the Palestinian Ministry of Education, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Palestinian Universities and Colleges and a wide national network of schools.

Despite its non-political mission statement and its commitment to UNICEF not to engage in political activities, NGO Monitor is concerned by the organization's covert ideological agenda. Of particular concern is the publication of an article on Abu Ali Mustafa, the leader of the PFLP terrorist organization and killed by Israeli forces in 2001. The article can be read on the PYALARA website at http://www.pyalara.org/after%20thoughts/ali.htm.

The NGO Monitor's objective is to expose contradictions between mission statements and activities.  As will be seen in the quotes below, in this publication, PYALARA has used funds that are donated explicitly for non-political and non-violent projects in order to promote blatantly political objectives, including the indirect support for terror attacks on civilians. The article calls Abu Ali Mustafa "a political leader...whose history prides his nationalistic activism." Further on it states, "this is a human being who has a family that awaits his arrival every day."

There is no mention of the fact that Abu Ali's Mustafa's organization, the PFLP, has been responsible for 3 car bombs in Jerusalem, the death of an Israeli government Minister and many other terrorist attacks since September 2000. This comes from an organization that with Red Army assistance carried out a massacre of 24 people at Tel Aviv's International airport in 1972. Four years later, the PFLP hjiacked a Paris-Athens Air France flight and diverted it to Entebbe in Uganda demanding the release of jailed militants. Founded by George Habash in 1968, the Marxist-Leninist PFLP has changed alliances and shifted positions several times since its establishment, but it has always been consistent in its opposition to peace negotiations with Israel.

The report goes on to say that "the Israelis could have turned to Abu Ali Mustafa to talk peace if peace were what they truly wanted." Mustafa was famous for his refusal to engage with the Israelis.

In an interview with the Qatari satellite television station Al-Jazeera shortly before he became leader of the PFLP, Mustafa stressed his movement's commitment to the struggle against Israel, regardless of peace efforts:

"We believe the conflict and the struggle against Israel is a strategic [principle] that is not subordinated to any consideration," he told the interviewer.

"We believe the Palestinian people, both in the Diaspora and under occupation, have the right to struggle using all means, including the armed struggle, because we think the conflict is the constant, while the means and tactics are the variables."

"The world talks a lot about the young Palestinians who have willingly sacrificed their lives in the name of their homeland and condemns their actions, but one has to remember that we are talking here about a new generation whose innocence was taken from them the minute they were born. The youth in question were raised amidst evil war crimes and exposed to the most terrible acts of violence, and as their ears were deafened by numerous explosions and their lungs filled by gas and smoke, they were expected to settle for ruins for playgrounds and missiles and spent bullets for toys. Tell me, in all honesty, who is to 'blame' for their actions?"

NGO Monitor's objective is to expose the fact that PYALARA has not been open or honest regarding its hidden agenda. Moreover, its main funder UNICEF regularly uses its materials in its school systems, as shown below. It is unclear whether its other funders realize the full extent of PYALARA's activities.

PYALARA's main activity is the publication of The Youth Times (TYT), a 16-page monthly youth newspaper in English and Arabic, produced with UNRWA funding. The newspaper is distributed at the major Palestinian universities, colleges, and community centers. UNRWA headquarters also receive 2000 copies of each issue. This puts the organization in a powerful position to influence public opinion both among the young Palestinian population and in the UNRWA. PYALARA has received permission to distribute the newspaper at government and UNRWA schools and has already made arrangements with principals. It should be noted that the newspaper has been funded by CORDAID, the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung/German Fund for Palestinian NGOs, UNICEF, and the European Union.

The organization provides a major contribution to education in Palestinian society and is attempting to train a new generation of journalists. It is a shame that it undervalues its own successes and cause by engaging in selective criticism and education. No effort is made to understand the Jewish position and there is no criticism of Palestinian society. This is surprising as its mission statement promises "expanding awareness of one's roots and identity, environment and culture, as well as of other countries and the world at large." Instead PYALARA resorts to superficial and easy criticism of Israel.

Conclusion

NGO Monitor calls on UNICEF, CORDAID, the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung/German Fund and the International Red Cross to monitor PYALARA's activities more closely and to pressure the organization to adhere to its own values.