British Muslim NGO, Human Aid & Advocacy (HAA), has launched a campaign to support a legal battle to halt the sale of Palestinian land stolen by Israeli settlers.
The purpose of the Stolen Lands Initiative is two-fold:
- To encourage individuals who are passionate about Palestinian justice to engage in tangible advocacy, such as supporting the efforts of the legal organisation PAL Commission, and to raise awareness of illegal Zionist settler expansionism.
- And to raise further funds for the PAL Commission to challenge these illegal stolen land sales
Human Aid & Advocacy is hosting its first advocacy event July 26, 2025.
Speaking to 5Pillars, HAA said: “Almost two years into the genocide, Israeli impunity coupled with Western institutional apathy has left us bereft of hope that we can affect change. The work PAL Commission undertakes is the candle of hope, burning brightly, showing us the way forward, and proving that the actions we choose to take do matter.”
Founded in 2010, Human Aid & Advocacy is an international NGO, supporting survivors of war and persecution through access to sustainable aid programmes, while addressing the real causes of conflict.
The NGO’s mission statement is “to see a world where believers can worship Allah free from the fear of war and persecution.”
Teaming up with the PAL Commission on War Crimes, the legal and diplomatic arm of the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation, HAA are investing in a groundbreaking Palestinian-led and devised effort to utilise legal mechanisms to prevent the spread of Zionist settler colonialism.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
This is the first initiative of its kind to tackle these sales at the root, setting a powerful precedent for “legal resistance” to settler colonialism.
Since its inception in 2024, the PAL Commission has successfully deployed notice and demand letters and other legal measures, preventing over 400 American and Canadian settlers from travelling to Palestine for the purpose of illegal land acquisition.
Additionally, 93% of agencies involved in these illegal land sales were forced to withdraw after PAL Commission’s legal interventions, and 16 planned settler sales events saw their attendance reduced to zero or nominal attendance.
This intervention is timely, following the illegal seizure of 23.7sq kilometers of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. This exceeds the combined total of Palestinian land seized by Israel for illegal settlements over the past 20 years and is the equivalent of 17 Hyde parks in London.
Human Aid & Advocacy says it is “proud to support” PAL Commision in expanding their legal work as “land theft and foreign settler arrivals continue, scaling up this intervention is more urgent than ever.”
Israel’s escalating crimes
At least 58,386 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023, the Health Ministry said on Monday.
However, Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians are far-reaching and affect Palestinians living in the West Bank also.
Direct occupation and Jewish settler expansion projects are ongoing crimes which have been widely condemned but political pressure alone has failed to curb the practise.
The UK was forced to condemn its ally Israel at the UN on this issue in September 2024. Calling Israel’s Jewish settler expansion in the West Bank as “wholly unacceptable and illegal.”
Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are therefore illegal under international law.
On the 12 February 2025, the United Nations released a list of businesses involved in the illegal Israeli settlements. TripAdvisor, alongside Airbnb, Expedia, Booking.com, JCB, Opodo and Greenkote are included in this list.
Advocacy Coordinator at HAA, Maira Mirza explained why “legal resistance” is an incredibly important tool to help fight settler colonialism.
“Given the arbitrary restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip, the traditional aid model is increasingly recognised as merely palliative – a gauze bandage wrapped over a bullet wound, unable to staunch the flow of Palestinian blood.”
“By directly targeting the fraudulent deals and insidious gatherings that encourage and enable Zionist settler expansion, this initiative addresses the systemic causes of Palestinian dispossession and dehumanisation. This emergence of legal resistance to settler colonialism represents an innovative approach, situating effective and tangible advocacy as crucial paths on the journey towards Palestinian liberation.
“Protecting Palestinian lives and the rapidly diminishing land that Israel permits Palestinians, these proactive measures, effectively recenters Palestinian rights within a legal framework amidst the chaos of genocide, apartheid and constant displacement.”
The first HAA advocacy event for the legal work by the PAL Commission, Not Your Land will be hosted in London on July 26. Book your spot and purchase a ticket here.
