The workshop «National reconciliation through the eyes of political researchers» opens

The Arab Network, in cooperation with Pal-Think for Strategic Studies, held on the morning of today, Tuesday 14/11/2017, a workshop titled the national reconciliation from the perspective of the political researchers. The joint-thinking meeting was moderated by the media worker Lana Shaheen, and Dr Abeer Thabet, director of the political department at the Arab Network, welcomed the attendees and affirmed the importance of holding such a workshop, which came to enrich more discussions from the various cultured strata — writers, academics, and researchers — around the national reconciliation and the Palestinian situation as a whole, and to come out with recommendations that may benefit the reconciliation file.

From his side, Mr Omar Shaban, director of the Pal-Think institution, expressed his happiness at participating in this workshop, affirming the researchers' role in the national reconciliation, being part of the Palestinian situation and having a great role in formulating the state's public policy. A number of political researchers from the homeland's universities participated in the workshop and expressed their optimism at the achievement of the reconciliation, affirming the importance of accomplishing it to reach national unity. They demanded of the national factions the necessity of agreeing on a unified political programme to strengthen the Palestinian position, and demanded of the Palestinian factions that the decision of war and peace not be in the hand of one faction in isolation from the rest of the other factions — there must be an agreement on the decision of peace and war.

The researcher Ahmed al-Ghourani from Birzeit University spoke of the existence of arrangements to implement the agreements and not return to the square of resorting to arms and blood, so long as the constant in the parties' policy is liberation, and he affirmed that the Palestinian national project is greater than all the Palestinian parties. The researcher Shadia al-Ghoul from Al-Quds University Abu Dis noted that the woman is effaced and absent from the agreements and understandings — and this is a question directed to the political leaders. She said that the division did not have only a political dimension but also had a social and economic dimension, and noted that the woman was exposed to repression in the freedoms and to violence in light of the division and the guarantee of her rights must be observed, and she demanded the reconsideration of the agreements in a way that guarantees the woman's participation in the political situation. As for the researcher Ramez al-Mughni from al-Azhar University, he expressed his optimism at the achievement of the reconciliation, being a Palestinian, regional, and international affair, and said that President Mahmoud Abbas sees that the political horizon is lost and the two-state solution has become difficult in light of the Israeli obstinacy rejecting the peace process. He also said that what the American president Trump proposes requires a Palestinian accord in order to strengthen the Palestinian position in any probable political process. The researcher Hassan Lafi from Al-Quds University Abu Dis affirmed that everyone desires the Palestinian reconciliation: the American president Trump has become convinced of the reconciliation to pass the deal of the century, and likewise the regional variables are a push toward the reconciliation, as there is a redrawing of the political map in the region in light of the Iranian-Sunni conflict — all that formed pressure on the Palestinian parties to achieve the reconciliation. On another side, the Hamas movement failed in managing the rule, and this is a motive that compelled it to walk toward a national reconciliation with the Fatah movement.

The researcher Ahmed Breika from the Islamic University spoke, saying that the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the diaspora live a real suffering, and this requires restructuring the Palestine Liberation Organisation, being the incubator of the Palestinian whole, and it must be strong and effective. Then the media worker Lana Shaheen opened the door of interventions to the attendees: the leader in the Islamic Jihad movement Khader Habib spoke, affirming that the reconciliation is a national demand par excellence and a popular demand, and it needs sincere intentions that were not available before — and now there exists a real desire and an international will to achieve the reconciliation, and a desire that was not available before. He said: we want a reconciliation and an ordering of the Palestinian house and an activation of the Liberation Organisation on the basis of national partnership, because the homeland is for the Palestinian whole. In a second intervention the journalist writer Hani Habib demanded placing the resistance's weapons as a fundamental item on the table of the dialogues in Cairo, and affirmed that the decision of war be a collective decision agreed upon among all the Palestinian factions. From his side, Mr Kamal al-Rawagh, secretary-general of the Arab Network, said that the reconciliation is a popular demand and has become a political choice, and that we walk today in a narrow corridor drawn for us by great powers that have ambitions in the region, and for this the division has continued to our present day; therefore the reconciliation must be accomplished, and the reconciliation needs mass and popular pressure so that we impose on the international community the completion of the reconciliation, which strengthens our Palestinian position until reaching the achievement of the hopes of our Palestinian people. In the conclusion he thanked the Pal-Think institution for the continuous cooperation with the Network in holding these workshops that touch and simulate the Palestinian reality, and he also thanked everyone who contributed and participated in this workshop.