Contents
Introduction
Opening speech - Ghassan al-Khatib
First Session - Settlement realities in the current
situation
- Settlements -- Goals and Results -- Khalil Tufakiji
- New features of Israeli settlement policy -- Khader
Shqeirat
- The legal aspect of the settlement reality in the current
situation
- The political dimension of settlements -- Haidar ‘Abdul
Shafi
- Discussion of the first session
The Second Session - An Israeli perspective
- Settlements and borders -- Yossi Alpher
- Discussions of the second session
The Third Session - Palestinian strategic
options on the settlement issue
- Ahmad al-Khaldi
- Khalil al-Shiqaqi
- Camille Mansour
- Discussions of the third session
The Fourth Session - Palestinian political options
in dealing with settlement activity
- Faisal Husseini
- Hashem al-Saleh
- Bashir Barghouthi
- Discussions of the fourth session
Introduction
Jerusalem Media and Communication Center (JMCC) is pleased
to present the proceedings of our second conference, focused on the challenges
facing Palestinian society in this critical period.The theme of this conference
was “Settlements: a Challenge to Peace”, since Israel’s implementation
of its expansionist settlement policy has escalated during the recent period
when Palestinians were making serious efforts to bring about peace.
Israeli settlement has been an issue of major political
concern to Palestinians throughout the years of occupation, but especially
in recent years. Therefore, a group of Palestinian politicians and strategic
experts were invited to discuss the dangers posed by settlements to the
Palestinian cause and the most effective short- and long-term methods to
combat this threat.
The audience was particularly struck by the strong consensus
in opinion about the dangers of settlement activities, and resistance to
settlement was widely seen as a top priority for Palestinians, since one
of the objectives of this policy is to forcefully create facts on the ground
which draw the final status map of the Palestinian territories. The Palestinian
position should include standing firm on the principle of Palestinian rights
as stipulated by international law, especially UN Security Council resolution
242.
The discussions at the conference included many new and
significant ideas about strategies to be adopted, whether in the formulation
of the Palestinian position, the political negotiations, or in daily acts
of political resistance aimed at defeating the objectives of Israeli settlement
activity. National unity as a resistance tool was emphasised. The deliberations
of the conference included some important Israeli contributions, not only
by shedding light on the Israeli mentality, but by sparking serious discussions
between the Israelis and Palestinians in a spirit of dialogue and democracy.
It was the high standard of the discussions and contributions
to the conference which convinced us that the proceedings should be published,
and presented both to the Palestinian public and leadership, with the hope
that these ideas would contribute to enhancing the Palestinian political
performance and enabling it to better confront such challenges as that
presented by Israeli settlement.
