The thesis “Unpacking the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Decision to Stop Funding UAWC” examines how security narratives led the Netherlands to end its funding in 2022 for the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC). For many years, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs had supported this Palestinian NGO, which worked to improve the livelihoods of Palestinian farmers, particularly in Area C — the part of the illegally occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank that remains under direct Israeli military control. The research into the reasons behind the decision to defund UAWC is based on documents obtained through the Dutch Transparency Act (Wet Open Overheid, or WOO), comprising more than 1,100 pages of written communications.

Palestinian farmers in the illegally occupied territories have long faced systematic dispossession by Israeli settlers, who appropriate their land and disrupt agricultural and water infrastructures. As part of that, also dozens of Netherlands-funded projects in the West Bank were among those destroyed. Farmers have also been banned from accessing and cultivating their fields. In 2015, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid fines imposed by Israel on Palestinian farmers for “illegally” cultivating their own land. UAWC’s support to Palestinian farmers, and Dutch support to UAWC, must have been a source of great discomfort.

Pressure from Israeli-aligned lobby groups and parliamentary questions in the Netherlands triggered an investigation into alleged ties between the UAWC and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), designated as a terrorist organization. The thesis argues that the Ministry initially functioned as an audience to pro-Israel lobbying and securitizing discourse aimed at severing ties between the Netherlands and UAWC. However, over time, as the thesis shows, the Ministry itself became a securitizing actor—amplifying narratives that justified defunding of UAWC. Yet, as the analysis demonstrates, these narratives rested on fragile foundations.

The defunding decision centered on alleged links between UAWC and the PFLP following a 2019 bomb attack near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank and the subsequent arrest of two former UAWC employees. The suspects were tortured and held in administrative detention, and Israel presented no evidence of their involvement in the attack. Moreover, internal documents from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that UAWC had already been screened and investigated, with the conclusion that the organization’s funds were used solely for agricultural projects and that no ties with the PFLP had been found.

Nevertheless, after questions were raised in the Dutch Parliament, and apparently fearing reputational damage from being associated with the PFLP through its support for UAWC, the Ministry commissioned a new investigation. When this investigation found no direct organizational or financial ties between UAWC and the PFLP, the scope of inquiry was expanded to include family relations, social connections, and even shared religion or ethnicity as potential indicators of affiliation.

The thesis concludes that, on the basis of these increasingly elastic definitions, “ties” between UAWC and the PFLP were effectively constructed. Despite serious internal doubts within the Ministry about the credibility of these conclusions, the Minister ultimately decided to defund UAWC—a long-standing and trusted partner. This decision not only undermined an organization dedicated to peaceful resistance against occupation and colonization but also further marginalized Palestinian farmers already struggling under severe constraints.