The Social and Cultural Aspects of Youth Participation in Conflict Resolution
and Prevention,
- Palestine would be
ready to become a state in 16 weeks
Speaking
at an informal meeting with youths from 12 different Euro-Med countries in
Jericho, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Palestine would be ready
set up a state in 16 weeks if Israel propose a two-state solution to end the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Euro-Med Movement Malta was taking part in a seminar organized by Palestinian
youth organization Ta’awon in Ramallah and Jericho. The event was the first of
its kind in the Palestinian territory. Euro-Med Malta was represented by two of
its members, David Vella and Kurt Farrugia. Both were presented with a
certificate at the end of the seminar by the chief Palestinian negotiator.
The eloquent Mr Erekat said that Palestine is ready for peace and that it is
ready to negotiate any sort of agreement in order to achieve peace. He said that
Palestine would be ready to both the one-state solution (given that one person
equals one vote and Palestinians would have the same rights as Israelis) and the
two-state solution. He had tough words on the United States and President Bush
and said that the United States could hold the key to a long-lasting solution to
end the conflict. Mr Erekat eloquent speech ended on a very positive note saying
that Palestine will always be open to negotiations for a peaceful solution with
the condition that negotiations would be fair and that a solution would mean a
win-win situation for both Israel and Palestine.
The International Youth Exchange 2005 “ALL 4 PEACE” kicked off on Sunday 25 June
with a brief by Dr Amal Jadou, advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,
about the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.
The seminar on Monday took a more hands on approach and it was time for
participants to put in some of their experiences in conflict resolution
management. Khaled Salim from the Ta’awon Youth Forum was the trainer during the
day. On the same day national representatives were asked to give a presentation
about Youth Experience in Conflict Prevention. Euro-Med Malta teamed up with the
other Maltese representatives Claire Azzopardi and Stephen Camilleri from the
European Experience to present the Maltese youths experience in Conflict
prevention. We started presenting the historical and geographical perspective of
the Maltese Islands and then presented a case of conflict in Malta, which is the
problem of irregular immigration. The third phase of our presentation consisted
in giving our perspective of how we can solve the conflict and also mentioned
the participation of Euro-Med Malta in other youth exchanges, seminar and
training such as on Anti-Social Behaviour in Israel, Conflict Management in
Austria, Bridging through Arts in Israel, Human Rights in Poland and Peace and
Understanding in Israel (to mention just a few.)
In the evening we visited the tomb of ex-Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in
Ramallah. Mr Arafat represents liberation for Palestinian people whilst for the
rest of the participants Mr Arafat represents the past of an ongoing conflict
with a hope that the president in power builds on what the late president had
started.
On Tuesday morning we started off with some exercises on conflict and we watched
a documentary about peer mediation and conflict resolution. During the afternoon
we visited Al-Amari refugee camp. The refugee camp was a shocking experience as
we could see and touch the horror of years of conflict and its consequences on
Palestinian people and youths. In the evening we had a presentation by Delal
Erekat about the Apartheid wall which by now we had seen several times. We had
also another presentation by Dr Gregory N. Khalil who is legal advisor in the
Negotiations Support Unit. During both presentations we were told how the
Apartheid Wall is eating up Palestinian territory and that this goes against any
international convention.
Wednesday was left to us to discover Jerusalem, the city of peace, centre to the
bloody conflict in the region. We visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque and toured around
the narrow colourful streets of Jerusalem. During the afternoon we were taken to
another resort in Jericho were we had free time and in the evening, during
dinner, we met Mr Saeb Erekat which gave us the most enlightening speech of our
Palestinian experience explaining how Palestine has been suffering through the
lack of action by the international community.
Mr. Erekat who met Euromed coordinator Joe Mifsud on other occasions, told us of
the close ties between Palestine and Malta and showed great appreciation at
Malta support to the Palestinian cause. Mr Erekat presented certificates to all
participants of ‘All 4 Peace’ International Youth Exchange Seminar: The Social
and Cultural Aspects of Youth Participation in Conflict Resolution and
Prevention.
Report by Kurt Farrugia
Ramallah, June 2005
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