Politicians and thinkers discuss the crisis of national identity

Gaza, Publication and Information Unit:
Politicians and thinkers discussed the crisis of national identity between secularism and Islamism and its effect on the Palestinian cause, at an intellectual meeting held in the hall of the Marna House in Gaza
Mr. Iyad Abu Hjair, director of the Gaza branch, explained that this meeting aims to discuss the intellectual differences and their reflection in the state of Palestinian division, the intellectual frame of reference of the Palestinian parties and factions, the form of Palestinian national identity, and the ability of the Palestinian political system to accommodate all these intellectual differences.
For his part, Mr. Hani Habib said the region suffers from a conflict of identities, between a manufactured identity and an identity springing from culture, customs and traditions. He stressed that there is a confusion between national identity and the identity of the state: national identity is not a matter of religion but of national belonging, and is a set of elements that together form that belonging, whereas the identity of the state is a matter of ideology and differing ideas.
For his part, Mohammed Hijazi explained that national identity exists and is not in crisis, but that it is the national project that is in crisis. He noted that all the political groupings have something in common, namely defence against the occupation, stressing that secularism does not mean atheism but the separation of religion from the state and the establishment of a pluralist political system with respect for intellectual plurality, which is called the civil state.
Mr. Jamil Salama stressed that the Islamic current is an intrinsic part of Palestinian society, that plurality is natural and exists, and that the challenge is how to manage this diversity. He stressed that the Islamic current is not Hamas alone but also Islamic Jihad, the Salafis, Hizb ut-Tahrir and others, and that speaking of them all as a single model is therefore mistaken.
This workshop is one of a series of workshops to be held in both the West Bank and the Strip to discuss the same subject with different groups in society, after which their results will be presented at a closing conference in Gaza and distributed to the bodies concerned.