Officials call for strengthening community and media work to end the division in Palestine

Hebron, Publication and Information Unit:

Officials and specialists called for pressing for media waves that strengthen national unity and for intensifying workshops for groups in society in order to increase the spirit of brotherhood, freedom of opinion and respect for others in Palestinian society, as well as for empowering members of society intellectually in order to advance citizens and close the social and psychological gap the division has produced.

These calls came during a round table held by the Coalition of Civil Forces at the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution in the hall of the North Hebron region, entitled "The negative effects of the division on the social situation", in Hebron governorate, with the participation of representatives of civil society organisations, media professionals and youth activists.

At the start of the discussion, the director of the Palestinian Center for Conflict Resolution branch, Saad Shalaldeh, set out the main efforts and achievements the Centre has secured in working towards community reconciliation and pressing to end the division, through several programmes and projects supporting national unity. He spoke about the Centre's programmes in the service of community groups and about providing psychological and legal support services to those groups as part of moving towards a safe environment for every member of society.

For his part, Dr. Mohammed Al-Haroub, an academic specialising in political science, described the division as a serious illness that has been reflected negatively on all Palestinians and weakened the Palestinian people's strength in facing external challenges, foremost among them the occupation. He called for focusing on running awareness campaigns and larger workshops with groups in society such as students and young people, in order to help them restore the path of unity by strengthening mutual dialogue between the parties and the people within society.

For his part, Dr. Youssef Abu Hashem, a lecturer at Al-Quds Open University, spoke of how Palestinians have lost their cohesion and national unity because of the splits and problems existing within a single house, adding: "We have lost the collective thinking of striving for one goal as people of one blood and one family, so that the majority now think in terms of party allegiance and factional quotas and move away from the concepts of dialogue and unity between the generations in Palestine."