Palestinian issues

PARIS, 1 June — Civil society organizations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel must play a more active role to bring about a just, stable peace in the region, speakers said today during the day-long United Nations Meeting of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace, which took place in Paris. Entitled “Civil society action towards ending the occupation: harnessing the power of youth and women”, the event featured four workshops.

PARIS, 31 May — The need to change the Israeli mindset towards Palestinians, dismantle Israeli settlements, apply rights-based diplomacy to end the conflict, and better coordinate civil society and United Nations efforts on the ground took centre stage as the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine concluded this afternoon in Paris.

PARIS, 31 May — The role of information technology in Palestinian social cohesion and state-building, strategies to bolster education and the need to hold Israel to account for human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory were examined this morning as the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine continued in Paris.

PARIS, 30 May — Stressing the important role of Palestinian women and youth in achieving a durable peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a greater say for both groups in decision-making, as he kicked off the United Nations International Meeting in Support of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process this morning in Paris.

PARIS, 30 May — The Israeli occupation’s harsh socio-economic impact on Palestinian youth and women and the subsequent challenges and home-grown and global efforts to improve their lot were examined this afternoon as the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine held its first plenary session in Paris.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine on 30 and 31 May at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, in Paris. The theme of the Meeting is “The role of youth and women in the peaceful resolution of the question of Palestine”.

The lack of confidence-building measures on the ground, as well as the absence of a time frame in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, were among the challenges making the possibility of a two-State solution “slimmer every day”,a key member of the Palestinian delegation to those negotiations told the Palestinian Rights Committee this afternoon.

In the wake of the Israeli Government’s announcement to grant legal status to three settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, the Security Council must resolve to condemn Israel’s illegal settlement activity, Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, told the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People this afternoon.

The Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People issued the following statement today, 25 April:

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene the United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine on 3 and 4 April at the United Nations Office at Geneva. The theme of the Meeting is “The question of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention facilities: legal and political implications”.