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Israel/Palestine: The Palestinian Progressive Youth Union (PPYU), including (especially with respect to Bethlehem) its history, founding members, membership, structure, mandate, activities, and links or relationships, if any, with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) or other "terrorist" organizations

In 20 August 2004 correspondence with the Research Directorate, a public relations officer for the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG), a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in East Jerusalem (PHRMG 20 Aug. 2004), provided the following information:

The public relations officer stated that the Palestinian Progressive Youth Union (PPYU) endeavours to promote the concepts of freedom, justice, and social improvement by teaching, assisting Palestinian youth to improve upon their talents, and advising them of their rights. Composed of approximately 6,000 members from both the West Bank and the Gaza strip, the union's activities include providing leadership courses, communicating with youths from around the world, setting up conferences, publishing press releases, and organizing summer camps. The officer also indicated that the PPYU "participat[es] in the Intifada activities," for instance "visiting martyrs' parents" and "participating in solidarity." The officer did not indicate whether she was aware of any connection between the PPYU and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) or any other groups.

The organization International Action for Liberation (Intal), a Belgian-based NGO whose slogan is "Globalize solidarity" (intal n.d.) corroborated the fact that PPYU organizes summer camps and facilitates communication with international youths (intal 22 May 2003). Intal and "Médecine pour le Tiers Monde," another Belgian NGO which is also part of intal and whose goal is to combat underdevelopment (intal n.d.), both support the PPYU, particularly with regards to a project in the Jalazone camp near Ramallah, in which the NGOs envision an Internet café, to allow children to learn from and communicate with the outside world and refugees worldwide (ibid. 22 May 2003; M3M n.d.).

In 30 August 2004 correspondence, a spokesperson for the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI), a joint Israeli-Palestinian partnership founded in 1988 to develop cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians (IPCRI n.d.), provided the following information to the Research Directorate:

The spokesperson's experience led him to believe that the PPYU is associated with the PFLP. As such, the spokesperson maintained that the PPYU is opposed to either normalization with Israel or cooperation with any Palestinian organization that promotes peaceful relations with the Jewish state. The spokesperson additionally indicated that he was in possession of information that alleged that the PPYU is "a very extreme organization." This information could not be corroborated by the Research Directorate with the time constraints of this report.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

International Action for Liberation (intal). 22 May 2003. "Palestinian Progressive Youth Union." <http://www.intal.be/site/article.php?langId=2&articleId=106&menuId=35> [Accessed 17 Aug. 2004]
_____. n.d. "À propos d'intal." <http://www.intal.be/site/organisation.php?langId=2&menuId=2b&articleId=59> [Accessed 30 Aug. 2004]

Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI). 30 August 2004. Correspondence from a spokesperson.
_____. N.d. Website-MainPage. <http://www.ipcri.org/main.html> [Accessed 30 Aug. 2004]

Médecine pour le Tiers Monde (M3M). n.d. "Palestine." <http://www.m3m.be/project.php?langId=2&menuId=38&articleId=45> [Accessed 17 Aug. 2004]

Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG). 20 August 2004. Correspondence from a public relations officer.

Additional Sources Consulted

Attempts made to contact Amnesty International – Israel/Occupied Territories, the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, B'Tselem, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), and the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations' Network (PNGO) were unsuccessful.

Internet sites, including: Amnesty International (AI), Arabic News, European Country of Origin Information Network (ECOI), Freedom House, Haaretz, Human Rights Watch (HRW), International Herald Tribune (IHT), The Jerusalem Times, Maariv, Middle East Times, The Palestinian Information Center, Palestine News Agency, United States Department of State, World News Connection (WNC).

Topics: Militias, Militias,