The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) organized on Tuesday its annual conference on the state of the civil society in Palestine in 2017.

The conference held under the title of "National Reconciliation from the  Civil Society Perspective", in Lighthouse Restaurant in Gaza City.

The conference held as part of project of "Strengthening Democracy and Building the Capacity of NGOs" in partnership with Norwegian People's Aid (NPA).

The Participants in the annual conference called to remove all impediments to achieve the reconciliation in order to unite the Palestinian position to combat the US administration's recent recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Israeli Occupation State and decision to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

They warned against surrender to the obstacles that hinder the implementation of the national reconciliation. They called to avoid  entering the phase of reconciliation management, and stressed on the importance of  devoting efforts to protect Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the state of Palestine and strongly rejecting and combating US president Donald Trump's decisions.

The participants discussed the importance of the role played by civil society organizations in supporting reconciliation efforts in the Palestinian arena on the basis of promoting human rights to reach a unified and cohesive society that can overcome plots and fragmented solutions that aim to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

They  pointed out that CSOs are a partner and an essential component in the national struggle and steadfastness.

They called for formulating a political strategy that would safeguard the national project and protect the unity and national identity of the Palestinian people.

The participants stressed the need to cancel all the PA punitive measures against the Gaza Strip and solve its problems and crises.

They also stressed the need to address the crises issues that hint nation-building and reconciliation; such as identity, legitimacy, political participation, social justice, upholding rule of law, and achieve independence of the judiciary.

The participants called upon the national consensus government to develop an urgent plan for the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip by creating community incubator and in partnership with civil society organizations and the private sector and with the participation of youth and women.

The participants stressed their absolute rejection of a conditional political funding, particularly what is known as counter-terrorism strategy. They stated that the Palestinian issue is a national and political issue and not a humanitarian issue, and stressed on the need for continued efforts to boycott the occupation and hold it accountable for the crimes committed against the Palestinian people.

The conference began with a welcoming speech delivered by Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) in Gaza; who stressed that the conference held annually and has become a national event to assess the achievements of civil society organizations over the year which nearly comes to an end and lay out plans for the coming year, study the challenges they face and ways to enhance their role in the protection of the Palestinian national project and national identity.

Shawa pointed out that "the convening of the conference at this particular time conveys a message of support for the popular masses and marches that broke out in support of Jerusalem and the rights of our people," adding that these steps require ending the internal division and achieving national unity.

Dr. Yousef Awadallah, member of the coordinating body of PNGO, said "achieving reconciliation and ending the internal division is an important step towards national independence''. He stressed on the need to unify the political system and uphold democracy and adhere to a unified law.

Awadallah referred to PNGO efforts to pressure for achieving reconciliation and upholding rule of law and rights protection. He insisted on the need to achieve justice as a condition to combat poverty, unemployment and social justice.

Ismail Abdelaal, NPA representative in Gaza, confirmed NPA's continued support for the rights of the Palestinian people. He pointed out that NPA aims to support the principles of democracy and community participation by supporting individuals and NGOs for their freedom of expression and freedom of association and supporting women rights and youth participation in decision making and developing their communities.

He expressed his pleasure in partnering with PNGO as a permanent partner with NPA.

Dr. Yaghi, stressed the importance of the conference in light of the current challenges faced by the Palestinian people, especially the recent US decision on Jerusalem, and assured  the need to boost the popular movement and struggle with political decisions, to confront all political projects that undermine the rights of the Palestinian people.

Dr. Mukhaimar Abu Saada, a professor of political science at Gaza's Al-Azhar University, in his presentation titled as "Reconciliation and Protection of the National Project" shed light on the implications of the political division on the Palestinian national identity, pointing to problematic issues of legitimacy, political participation, distributive justice and State's access to the population.

"If we do not address the problematic issues of identity, allegiance and belonging to the homeland first before loyalty to the party and the tribe, the reconciliation project may not continue," he said.

Abu Saada called to address the crises of identity and legitimacy and political participation in order to build a national project and achieve reconciliation which till this day has not gone well.

He explained that the failure to find solutions to the crises experienced by the Palestinian people, would indefinitely prolong the process to achieve reconciliation.

He stressed the importance of building reconciliation on the basis of partnership and avoiding exclusivity, monopoly and quotas.

Dr. Rabah Muhanna, member  of Gaza's Community Reconciliation Committee, in his presentation titled as "Civil Society's Contribution to Reconciliation" stated that civil society organizations are an essential component of the Palestinian society due they played an important role in national action and in lobbying for reconciliation, rights and freedoms maintenance, ensuring women and youth participation, and strengthening citizens resilience.

Muhanna pointed out the need to agree on a minimum strategy to be based on the "Document of National Accord" and Cairo agreements. He pointed to the importance of activating the PLO and agreeing over the minimum political project and holding elections according to the principle of proportional representation.

He stressed that the political partnership is a basic principle for achieving reconciliation due the policy of exclusion, domination and monopoly would never help to achieve unity. He called for an immediate halt to all the measures taken by the PA against the Gaza Strip.

Bakr Turkmani, lawyer and coordinator of the Investigations and Complaints Unit of the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), in his presentation titled as "Reconciliation and the vision of civil society in the unification of the legal and judicial system," noted that the judicial and legislative system has been a victim of the Palestinian political division over the past eleven years as many laws and decrees have been passed for political and ideological considerations.

He wondered how could any country achieve progress without a legal system which ensures elements of independence and integrity. He stressed that the quality of justice embodies the state of law.

He called upon the parties of the political division to implement a human rights-based approach and called upon the Palestinian consensus government to reverse decisions and revoke all measures that have been taken since March 2017 against the Gaza Strip.

Turkmani called on the National Consensus Government to take immediate action to solve the civil and political problems without delay, specially the issue of political arrests in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the issue of ministerial decisions that restricted the right to form associations and non-profit companies during the years of division as well as the issue of certificates of good conduct widely used in the West Bank to deny political opponents to exercise of their political rights or to hold public office.

He stressed the importance of activating the Legislative Council in an urgent manner in line with the reconciliation understandings that will be conducive to reconciliation, in order to carry out field actions without interruption in any administrative procedures that will push towards the implementation of reconciliation and call for urgent presidential, legislative (PLC), Palestinian National Council elections.

The second session of the conference, focused on reconciliation to promote resilience and achieve social and economic development.

Hala Jabr, executive director of Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights, chaired the session and called for providing all the necessary elements to promote the active participation of civil society organizations in reconciliation and the protection of the national project.

She called for the exploit youth's and women's energies and to allow them to play advanced roles in the national reconciliation and combating the internal division.

Taysir Muheisen, director of the Agricultural Relief Committees in the Gaza Strip, in his presentation titled as "Ways to Enhance the Role of Civil Society Organizations in Providing Resilience" called for abiding by two conditions: first, to stop violations of public rights and freedoms, and provide enabling environment, second NGOs has to redefine their identity and relations with the authorities, the donor community, the business sector, marginalized groups deprived of access to resources, and reject marginalization by clearly declaring unequivocal alignment with the marginalized groups.

Muheisen said "there is no alternative to NGOs to carry out the huge burden; especially in light of a possible failure of the reconciliation process  and a possible unprecedented deterioration," calling for continued pressure to complete the reconciliation dialogue and achieve unity and integration.

He also called for effective participation in the formulation of the basic future choices, activate dynamics to represent marginalized groups and maximize their ability to participate in drafting the national agenda.

Muheisen called for preserving freedoms and rights, restoring the social balance, building democratic society to be engaged in  a sustainable development process and all of whose members enjoy equality, justice, efficiency and equity. That is to say, relief and development must be linked by strengthening resilience until the historical conditions for development, especially sovereignty will be once achieved. He also called for a continued efforts to fully achieve the legitimate national objectives.

Mariam Zaqout, director of the Cultural and Free Thought Association, in her presentation titled as  "The Role of CSOs in Supporting Marginalized Groups", stressed that the Palestinian civil society organizations are distinguished from their counterparts around the world due to the special status of Palestine as an Occupied State and the occupation-related challenges and problems which gave the Palestinian civil society different characteristics and features and increased the burdens placed upon it.

Zaqout spoke of the challenges that limit the role of civil society organizations; such challenges as the Israeli occupation as a main cause for organizations' vulnerability due it impedes all government and non-governmental efforts to help and serve the Palestinian society, and the political instability which affects governmental and non-governmental service regularity and reduces their impact, and the weak resources available to CSOs and their independence on external financing.

She called for working on the liberation from the Israeli occupation, the main cause of the problems facing the Palestinian society, and called to unite and overcome the disagreements and disputes, to ensure the unification of laws and legislation of civil work and enhance the participation of marginalized groups in the decision-making processes and planning, implementation and evaluation of all interventions led by civil society organizations, to ensure the marginalized groups participation in the interventions and enhance their needs.

Omar Shaban, director of the PalThink for Strategic Studies organization, in his presentation titled as "Ways to promote the economic reality in the face of the unemployment and poverty crisis", stressed the importance of exploring the expected economic challenges and opportunities available to the National Reconciliation Government in the current atmosphere of reconciliation that has prevailed since the signing of reconciliation deal in Cairo on 12 October 2017.

Shaban called for implementing intensive job creation projects in the fields of housing, infrastructure, agriculture and fisheries, and coordinating with international and local organizations to unify efforts to maximize benefits and prevent duplication. He also called for continued efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip to achieve complete restoration of the Palestinian society. He pointed out that the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip will be an opportunity for the Palestinian society to regain its wellness, balance and harmony.

Shaban also called for developing the political and economic relations with Egypt, activating the agreements with Arab and foreign countries and activating the free trade agreements with some Arab and European countries and exploring the benefit from the accumulated deposits in the banking sector, which have reached $8 billion.

He called to launch of mortgage programs in banks to addresses the housing crisis and enable the real estate owners can recover their investments.

He called for discussing the monopolistic contracts that have been signed previously and that have harmed the economic situation, especially in the sectors of telecommunications, electricity, energy and others. This includes reviewing the agreements for the sale of Palestinian gas in the Gaza Sea, which was granted the concession of exploration and sale to British Gas.

Shaban stressed the importance of encouraging the Palestinian Diaspora to contribute with money and expertise to promote reconciliation and make it irreversible through the establishment of guaranteed investment funds to be provided by the Palestinian Diaspora. He marked the importance of expanding mechanisms and investment instruments known internationally.

At the conclusion of the conference, the participants made interventions and recommendations on the role of civil society organizations and the importance of achieving reconciliation in order to protect the identity and the national project.