The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), Ittijah (Union of Arab Community-Based Associations inside Israel), the Alternative Information Center (AIC) and European Coordination Committee for Palestine (ECCP), supported by the MEWANDO Network1, would like to invite you to participate in the "Bilbao Initiative: Towards a Just Peace in Palestine" that will take place between October 29th and 31st.
As organizers of this initiative, we are organizing it as a civil society assembly where various solidarity groups, particularly in Europe, can share perspectives and challenges in order to develop an active and
joint coordination tool for practical campaigning in solidarity and towards a just peace in Palestine. The main focus will be on developing concrete plans of action that can be implemented effectively.
In this civil society assembly we intend to host a representation of the most significant civil society’s bodies and organizations from:
Palestine, coordinated through the PNGO and Ittijah
Israel, coordinated through the AIC
European social movements, coordinated through Mewando and the ECCP
International personalities related to the Palestinian cause
Inspired by the concept of struggling for justice and peace, the main themes for our panels will cover the following areas:
Opening session:
"From Besieged Gaza to Colonized Jerusalem: Israeli War Crimes and Impunity"
PANEL 1: The Political Impasse and the Role of the International Community
PANEL 2: Palestinian Refugee Rights – Moral, Legal and Possible
PANEL 3: Israel: Between Settler Colonialism and Institutionalized Racism
PANEL 4: The Palestinian BDS Campaign: Effective Solidarity and Civil Resistance
These presentations in the above panels are chiefly intended to inspire, guide and lay the foundations for the action-oriented work to be done in the following, corresponding workshops:
Workshop 1: Putting Palestine Back on the Political Map
Workshop 2: The Refugees: Connecting the Right with the Return
Workshop 3: Re-defining Israel: Political and Legal Prospects
Taller 4: Workshop 4: Mainstreaming BDS in Europe and the World
The results of “The Bilbao Initiative” will be published as a “white paper on solidarity with Palestine” in conjunction with the Spanish edition of Le Monde Diplomatique-December 2008, to be publicly available
as a useful conceptual and practical tool that can be used by all organizations involved in Palestine solidarity campaigns.
