DECLARATION FROM REPRESENTATIVES OF PALESTINIAN CIVIL SOCIETY

Numerous structures of Palestinian civil society, working closely with the associations, organisations NGOs listed in the Appendix are requesting that the European Parliament contact the appropriate structures of the European Union in order to inform them about the “Framework Programme” attached. They also request that the means necessary be found to carry out the concrete action plans, some of which are undeniably urgent, even vital, for a part of the Palestinian people.

This request is of an exceptional nature due to the gravity of the situation in the Occupied Territories and the consequent need for exceptional measures to deal with this.

The aim is to set up a programme of reorganisation, construction and development which will ensure that the future Palestinian state has the necessary means for its independence and autonomy in all the spheres where civil society is active or called upon to intervene.

It should be emphasised that temporary solutions are not the answer. The actions to be put in place, with the help of the European institutions, should form part of a long-term structural process which minimises any notion of assistance replacing political strategies.

The main sectors in which civil society is present and in which they would like to see greater resources through European support are listed below in no order of priority. These sectors are interdependent and, at this early stage, it is not easy to put them in order of urgency.

In order to keep this document simple, concrete and precise examples are not given. They will be presented before end September 2005 and will enable better targeting of the projects which are to be set up, if possible without delay.

Attached are 10 components of the Framework Programme and we would ask the European delegations to examine them, offer any comments they consider helpful and necessary and ensure its transmission and follow-up to the European structures qualified to receive and reply to such proposals.

Framework Programme

1)Develop ongoing training for managers of different organisations and institutions in order to ensure good governance of future projects of reconstruction and rehabilitation. This is particularly required in the education, health, engineering, research and legal sectors as well as training for elected representatives.

2)Support the development of an internal economy with the capacity to develop links abroad to enable the Palestinian people to become as independent as possible through new production and commercial infrastructures. It is important that this new economy is able to undertake its own reconstruction, modernisation and reorganisation of destroyed, or seriously damaged, infrastructures. These infrastructures concern the following sectors : health, education, industry, communication, administration, culture and sport.

3)Urgently develop preventative medicine and health care (vaccinations, social reintegration of wounded, enumeration of orphans...) within the framework of a modern, mobile and reorganised social action plan.

4)Encourage the development of Palestinian voluntary organisation networks and their initiatives which reinforce the social fabric and are themselves a generator of social cohesion and even political cohesion.

5)Offer concrete support to encourage Europeans to become personally involved, or via twinning initiatives, in educational projects which reach out to a population thirsty for knowledge.

6)Encourage cultural and sportive exchanges between Palestinians and European citizens and organisations with a view to reducing as rapidly as possible the feeling of exclusion resulting from the occupation of the Territories.

7)Contribute to the dissemination and the development of an international campaign of solidarity with the Palestinian people based, quite simply, on the obligation to respect international law and all the Conventions.

8)Denounce as firmly as possible the situation facing thousands of prisoners who, in defiance of the 4th Geneva Convention, have been held in the occupiers’ prisons, sometimes for years, very often in arbitrary and indefinitely renewed “administrative detention”.

9)Help reinforce contacts between the Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories and the refugees living abroad. Such contacts exist, but are hindered by the occupying force.

10)Encourage the modernisation of the judicial system which should be completely independent of the political power.

All the above is only a framework for reflection and for work ; many reflect the extreme urgency of the situation and require no further comment. Taken together they could progressively and provide solutions to two major problems this text will conclude with : the poverty and the unacceptable rate of unemployment.