Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR)

The Coun­cil for Euro­pean Pales­tin­ian Rela­tions (CEPR) was a Brus­sels-based lob­by­ing group estab­lished to pro­mote engage­ment between Euro­pean par­lia­men­tar­i­ans and Pales­tin­ian offi­cials, func­tion­ing pri­mar­i­ly as a bridge for polit­i­cal dia­logue with the Hamas-led gov­ern­ment in Gaza. Led by its direc­tor, Dr. Arafat Shoukri, the orga­ni­za­tion focused on orga­niz­ing high-lev­el par­lia­men­tary del­e­ga­tions to the Gaza Strip, facil­i­tat­ing meet­ings between Euro­pean law­mak­ers and senior Hamas lead­ers. The orga­ni­za­tion was heav­i­ly scru­ti­nized by intel­li­gence mon­i­tors; the Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood Dai­ly Watch report­ed that the CEPR’s lead­er­ship and infra­struc­ture over­lapped sig­nif­i­cant­ly with the Pales­tin­ian Return Cen­tre (PRC) in London—sharing the same office address and tele­phone numbers—and assert­ed that its trustees, such as Anouar Ghar­bi, held posi­tions in enti­ties tied to the “Union of Good,” a coali­tion led by Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood spir­i­tu­al leader Youssef Qaradawi. In 2013, Israel des­ig­nat­ed the CEPR as an “unau­tho­rized asso­ci­a­tion,” describ­ing it as Hamas’s lead­ing front in Europe, and the orga­ni­za­tion was sub­se­quent­ly dereg­is­tered from the EU Trans­paren­cy Reg­is­ter in 2017.

References:

• Coun­cil for Euro­pean Pales­tin­ian Rela­tions (Glob­al Mus­lim Broth­er­hood Dai­ly Watch)
• Coun­cil for Euro­pean Pales­tin­ian Rela­tions — Back­ground (Wikipedia)
• Coun­cil for Euro­pean Pales­tin­ian Rela­tions — Dereg­is­tra­tion (LobbyFacts.eu)
• Ter­ror­ists in Suits: The De-Legit­imiza­tion Net­work (Gov.il)
• Israel bans Euro­pean group advo­cat­ing Pales­tin­ian rights (Elec­tron­ic Intifada)