Fédération Internationale de Droits de l’Homme (FIDH)
https://www.fidh.org/International-Federation-for-Human-Rights
Orientation: Western far-left, Arab far-left
Fields of operation: “direct action,” BDS promoting, human rights
FIDH is an international human rights organization founded in 1922 and centered in Paris, with branches all over the world. FIDH has about 150 human rights organizations from 92 countries under its wing. It deals with human rights in various countries and promotes boycotts against Israel. It is represented in the UN Human Rights Organization in Geneva.206 Palestinian partners of FIDH include NGOs like Al Mezan, Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies, AlHaq, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Israeli partners include Adalah, The Public Committee against Torture in Israel, and B’Tselem.
In 2013, FIDH and AlHaq lobbied the Human Rights Council and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights to adopt measures against corporations that conduct business activities in settlements. The NGOs argued that “corporations are contributing to the violation of Palestinians human rights, such as, inter alia, their rights to self-determination, equality and nondiscrimination, freedom of movement, the right to food, water, housing, an adequate standard of living, access to natural resources and effective remedy.” Internationally, FIDH promotes boycotts against Israel. In August 2014, FIDH published an open letter against the Israeli military operation, launched in response to terror attacks from Gaza. FIDH calls boycotting Israeli products a legitimate response to Israel’s “murderous policies for the Palestinians and suicidal [policies] for the Israelis.”207 NGO Monitor notes that FIDH’s funding is not transparent. It most recently published a financial report on its website in 2011. Government donors include the European Union, Finland (€1,755,000 in 2014), France, Ireland (€200,000 in 2011), the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.208
FIDH is headed by Iranian-born lawyer Karim Lahidji, who represented political prisoners in Iran and was forced to flee the country in 1982 for fear of the authorities. Among the leadership of FIDH is also a Palestinian delegate – Shawan Jabarin.209 Jabarin is the CEO of Al-Haq in the Gaza strip, and Israeli sources also associated him with the PFLP, though this affiliation had been denied. One of the member organizations in FIDH is the Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights, the center of which is in Jabalia.210
Union générale des étudiants palestiniens/de Palestine (GUPS)
https://gups-aixmarseille.over-blog.com/
https://www.facebook.com/gups.france
https://www.facebook.com/gups.france.3
Orientation: Arab far-left, PLO
Fields of operation: BDS, campus activism
The General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) France was founded in 1959 to unite Palestinian students in France. It is a national branch of the wider – PLO affiliated – General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS),211 the website address of which is https://www.gups.org/.
It currently seems to be operating mainly in Marseilles. GUPS France is a signatory on a 2010 PACBI-initiated Palestinian youth call against any form of normalization with Israel.212
In December 2017, following U.S. President Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem, GUPS posted a blog charging that Israel has been implementing a process of “Judaization” since the occupation began, blaming the Israeli government for Right-wing Apartheid policies, and supporting “resistance” and BDS.213
Campagne BDS France
Orientation: Arab far-left, Western far-left
Fields of operation: BDS promoting
A website coordinating and promoting BDS activities in France and beyond is registered to an organization called Génération Palestine (https://generation-palestine.org/).214 Génération Palestine describes itself as an organization of “young European activists” that seeks to “strengthen the colonized and weaken the colonizer.” It “supports the self-determination of the Palestinians” and their right “to decide on their forms of resistance.”215 Génération Palestine is also connected to GUPS.216 In May 2016, Campagne BDS France had its PayPal account cut off and the option to use it for donations removed from the website.217
Campagne BDS France has claimed to have been effective in a 2016 decision that the French military should not buy drones from the Israeli Elbit company.218
