In response to the disinformation campaign waged by electronic flies

Last Wednesday, three websites published a report accusing me personally, and Pal-Think for Strategic Studies, of corruption. These sites used my photo and my name in the report's headline, even though the original material, published on a fake foreign site, does not mention my name at all.  The alleged site, Inform Europe, is an entirely fictitious platform, carrying no address, no identifying information, and no known editor. Its Twitter account has no followers and contains no content or evidence of any real existence — a clear specimen of the electronic-flies platforms created to mislead, spread rumours, and sow national discord. As for the three papers that republished this fabrication, they are marginal sites that do not publish regularly. Some WhatsApp groups rushed to circulate the report without any effort to check the credibility of what was written — perhaps understandable amid the atmosphere of war, uncertainty, suspicion, psychological warfare, and tension the Palestinian territories are living through.

By way of clarification and reply:

• There is no official or unofficial investigation against me or against the institution.

• German and international support for Pal-Think has never stopped and continues to this moment — confirming the continuing confidence in the institution's credibility, its transparency, and its internal financial reports, audited by external auditors and published in Arabic and English, available on the institution's website.

• Pal-Think for Strategic Studies is a fully independent Palestinian national institution, founded with self-funding — indeed the institution is indebted to me.  Pal-Think represents an exceptional, distinguished case in Palestine and the region.  Despite the small size of its team (3–5 employees) on very modest salaries, it has built relationships with dozens of prestigious institutions and universities across most countries of the world. Pal-Think has played an active and influential role in the Palestinian scene, through historic milestones:

• Preparing the first reconciliation paper published in the Palestinian press, September 2007.

• Producing the Swiss reconciliation paper, which became the reference document for every round of reconciliation.

• Issuing dozens of rigorous studies and public policies.

• Training a generation of young Palestinian researchers at home and in the diaspora.

• Launching dialogue initiatives among the various student and political frameworks in the Palestinian territories.

• Cooperating with a network of 57 Palestinian civil institutions from Jenin to Rafah.

• Pal-Think's office in Gaza has received representatives of every political bloc from the far right to the far left.

• Pal-Think follows no political or security body and takes pride in its complete independence. It is one of the few institutions in Palestine that refuses party alignment or subservience to politically conditioned funding.

As for me, I affirm once more that this campaign, and other attempts at intimidation and defamation, will not turn me from my position or my path. I know exactly who stands behind these lies, and I know his motives — a man who fled Gaza ten years ago for Europe and its neighbours. I know that some of what I write disturbs the sleep of certain people in hotels and various capitals; that may be their right. But it is also my right to write and to express my convictions, with a free conscience and national responsibility. I have received messages of reproach — some gentle, some harsh — but I still stand by everything I have written since the beginning of the catastrophe; indeed my conviction of its truth grows day by day, for I am in intensive, high-level contact with international policy that exceeds many of those who amplify nothing but their own voices. My children's education was paid from our own pocket without any assistance, despite their high grades, and my wife and I have worked for 40 years as a striving family like most Palestinian families.

I carry nothing but my Palestinian nationality. I never once sought a foreign passport despite the opportunities, and I lived in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip all my life until I left beautiful Gaza because of the catastrophe. I will continue my effort in defence of the Palestinian cause with a clean conscience and sustained labour that at times exceeds the performance of 10 embassies and five foreign ministries, as many people used to describe it.

In closing:

• There is no investigation. The site that started the campaign is fictitious.

• International support continues, sustained and regular.

• Pal-Think is a transparent, accountable institution and will continue its work despite every attempt at defamation.

• As for me — these cheap methods, and those behind them, will not succeed in silencing my voice or affecting my course.