I work for one of the leading Palestinian human rights organisations, Al-Haq, which was recently declared a “terrorist organisation” by the Israeli regime along with five prominent civil society organisations in Palestine. Friends and acquaintances keep asking me how it feels to be a member of a “terrorist organisation”. I always respond by saying: it seems like we’re doing something right.On November 7 2021, the Israeli military commander in the West Bank issued a military order adding six leading Palestinian civil society organisations Al-Haq, Addameer for Prisoner Support and Human Rights, Defense for Children International- Palestine (DCI-P), the Bisan Center, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, and Union of Agricultural Work Committees, to the list of proscribed organisations under the former British Mandate’s Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945. This decision was preceded by Israel’s designation of the same six organisations as “terrorist organisations” two weeks prior, referring to its domestic “Combating Terrorism Law of 2016”, one of the regime’s deliberately vague, discriminatory and repressive laws. With the issuance of this blatant and arbitrary military order, the organisations’ offices are, effectively and imminently, under threat of being invaded and closed by the Israeli occupying forces, staff members are in danger of detention, and financial assets are in jeopardy, paralysing the critical work of the six organisations.Why is this allowed to happen? Because the international community is doing a lot of things wrong.Also read: Israel’s Colonisation of Palestine and the Pursuit of International JusticeDangerous, yet unsurprisingWhile both this designation and the military order entail dangerous repercussions, this attack is not surprising. In fact, it is what you would expect from a settler-colonial apartheid regime.This latest escalation should not be understood in a vacuum. It represents a continuation of decades of smears and delegitimisation campaigns targeting Palestinian civil society organisations and human rights defenders, orchestrated by the Israeli occupying authorities, and actively supported by their notorious affiliated organisations, including NGO Monitor. Inherent in its settler colonial and apartheid regime, Israel has, since its founding, aimed to dominate and control the indigenous Palestinian people. Its widespread and systematic policies and practices of extrajudicial killings, collective punishment, military raids, arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, and 24/7 surveillance, among many others, stand still as proof.Photo: Luke White/UnsplashIf anything, this shows that any kind of resistance by Palestinians to their oppression is prohibited by Israel. Even when using international law, which too is inherently linked to colonial legacies, Palestinians are labelled as ‘terrorists’. Palestinians know that the coloniser will always find a way to oppress and circumvent protests against its hideous actions. What Zionists should understand is that the colonised, steadfast and resilient, will not rest until liberation and justice are achieved.Expressing ‘concerns’ and doing nothingA lot has been said since the designation was announced, yet, little has been done. We are used to the international community expressing its concerns, but also frustratedly used to them failing to contextualise the root causes of the Palestinian struggle and taking concrete actions; undermining possibilities of justice.My hope and trust fall on the peoples of the world, rather than their governments. Call things by their name. Address the lived reality of Palestinians under Israeli apartheid. Acknowledge that Israel’s apartheid is a tool to maintain its settler-colonial domination over the Palestinian people. Demand an end to the status quo.Business as usualWith its unlawfully-enjoyed culture of impunity, Israel continues its ‘business as usual’.Since the announcement of the designation and the issuance of the military order, Israel’s occupying forces shot and killed fifteen-year-old Palestinian Mohammad Da’das, and continued to provide protection and support to Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians. The occupying power further approved the construction of more than 3,000 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank, continues to detain six Palestinian hunger strikers protesting their administrative detention, under which around 500 Palestinian are currently held without charge or trial, and persists in its unlawful plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, in order to forcibly transfer and replace them with illegal Israeli settlers.Also read: Why Modi and Hindutva Love Israeli Settler-Colonialism and See It as a Model for KashmirWe’re doing something rightI didn’t join Al-Haq because I believed that as a civil society organisation it “gives voice to the voiceless”. I think this statement is absurd. Palestinians, and all those who are oppressed, have a voice. It’s just the oppressor that attempts to silence these voices and the international community who refuses to listen. Rather, I joined Al-Haq because I recognise the importance of having human rights violations documented, and Israel’s impunity challenged.Israel wants human rights organisations closed. And so do I, but not just yet. The only difference is that Israel wants them closed to have no one over its tails when it carries out international crimes and human rights violations. I hope that one day, Al-Haq and all other human rights organisations in Palestine are no longer needed, because perpetrators are held to account, because human rights violations are no longer committed with impunity, because Palestine is free and we can finally enjoy our right to self-determination. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet. Until then, our voice of justice will remain loud.Shahd Qaddoura is a Legal Researcher and Advocacy Officer at Al-Haq. She’s currently on sabbatical leave pursuing an LLM in International Human Rights Law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland, Galway.This article was originally published on Mondoweiss and is republished via Progressive International.