Israel News

he 2019-2021 project “towards the youth of East Jerusalem” was initiated by the “Decentralized cooperation network for Palestine” (Le réseau de coopération décentralisée pour la Palestine; RCDP), a French association that “intends to coordinate and support French local authorities wishing to establish or maintain cooperation with local Palestinian authorities,” “in partnership with the Consulate General of France [in Jerusalem] and the support of [the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs] MEAE.” The local project partner is the Al Bustan Center, “a socio-cultural center.”The project is funded by various local French government bodies, including   MEAE (€204,000), the municipality of Rennes (€34,286), the municipality of Ivry-Sur-Seine (€21,429), the municipality of Gennevilliers (€21,429), and the Loire Atlantique departmental council (€12,857). The total project budget is €394,928 (see appendix for details).Daoud Ghoul, who is referred to as an Al Bustan cultural center founder, serves as the official project contact and is described as a “member of the administrative council and treasurer.” Another official document describes him as Al Bustan’s project supervisor while in the same document stating that Ghoul is not employed by the organization.On November 27, 2016, Al Bustan cultural center published a Facebook post marking Ghoul’s release from Israeli prison. The post referred to his arrest and explained that Ghoul “was convicted by the Israeli Occupation Court of membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”In addition, in February 2019, a member of the French communist party posted a picture on Facebook of a regional French politician standing next to Salah Hamouri in Al Bustan’s offices. The  photo caption states that “Abdel Sadi (the local politician) with our comrade and friend Salah Hamouri at the Al Bustan Center in Jerusalem for a meeting with the association that runs the social center of which Salah is a member. We are happy to see our comrade and compatriot free in his country.”In 2008, Hamouri, a Palestinian-French citizen, was sentenced by Israel to seven years in prison for belonging to the PFLP, and for an attempt to attack the former chief rabbi of Israel. In 2017-2018, Hamouri was incarcerated for being a “security threat.”