the Palestinian CSOs as they “investigate the claims”, while the EU formally suspended its funding to two of these organizations, Al-Haq and Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.166 Funding for these organizations has since resumed more than a year after the decision, but the decision remains to be harmful, unlawful, and performed in bad faith.167 These EU policies are perilous because they impede on Palestinian CSOs’ work, while also avenue a dangerous precedent which validates the Israeli-Zionist false allegations of terrorism and antisemitism. Generally, these various policies of delegitimization, securitization, and decontextualization are unlawful because they neglect the Palestinian people’s right to legitimate resistance and violate the principles of humanitarian action. They are ultimately rooted in a fundamentally false Israeli conflation of legitimate resistance with terrorism and criticism of the Israeli colonial-apartheid regime with antisemitism. 1.3.4. Palestinian Refugee Living Conditions and Rights Palestinian refugees’ living conditions have continued to deteriorate over the past several years, especially in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. Lebanon’s current severe economic and financial crisis, aggravated by COVID-19 and the explosion at the Port of Beirut in August 2020 along with the US financial restrictions imposed upon Lebanon,168 has had a detrimental impact on Palestinian refugees in the country. They are facing rapidly increasing levels of food insecurity, unemployment, poor housing conditions, poverty, as well as a lack of access to health services, gas, electricity, and heating. The legal status given to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, where they are still categorized as foreigners rather than refugees, prevents them from obtaining a work permit, limiting them to low-paid jobs in the informal sector which do not offer any social protection.169 Palestinian refugees in Syria continue to face severe hardships resulting from war, poverty (further worsened by the US sanctions imposed upon Syria), and multiple displacements. Palestinians in refugee camps in Syria face a consistent depletion of medication and food stocks, electricity and water cuts, and limited access to As for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, who make up more than 78.8 percent of the population, many are living in abject poverty, dependent on food assistance and living in one of the eight overcrowded refugee camps.170 Over 80% of the Palestinian population in Gaza is aid166 OHCHR, ‘Israel/Palestine: UN experts call on governments to resume funding for six Palestinian CSOs designated by Israel as “terrorist organisations”’ (OHCHR, 25 April 2022) <https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/04/ israelpalestine-un-experts-call-governments-resume-funding-six-palestinian> accessed 3 October 2022. 167 Al-Haq, ‘European Commission Lifts its Unlawful Suspension of Funding for Al-Haq’ (Al-Haq, 30 June 2022) <https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/20237.html> accessed 3 October 2022. 168 The World Bank, ‘The World Bank In Lebanon’ (The World Bank, 17 October 2021) <https://www.worldbank.org/ en/country/lebanon/overview> accessed 3 October 2022. 169 UNGA, ‘Visit to Lebanon: Report by the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Olivier De Schutter’ A/HRC/50/38/Add.1 (11 April 2022) <https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/ G22/306/19/PDF/G2230619.pdf ?OpenElement> accessed 3 October 2022. 170 OCHA, ‘Gaza Strip | The humanitarian impact of 15 years of the blockade - June 2022’ (OCHA, 30 June 2022) <https://www.ochaopt.org/content/gaza-strip-humanitarian-impact-15-years-blockade-june-2022> accessed 3 October 2022. 32

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