A study day entitled: the role of civil organisations in developing Palestinian society. Prepared by Iyad Abu Hjair. Definitions: civil (or non-governmental) organisations are one of the components of civil society. They are an organised grouping of a local, national or international group brought together by shared values and objectives that they work to achieve voluntarily, relatively independent of the official state, complementing its role and influencing its performance. Civil organisations can reach where the government cannot reach and can possess better information about the needs of local communities and knowledge of the best ways of meeting them, in addition to identifying the social groups that deserve them, in a way more flexible and effective than the state's bureaucratic apparatus, which is far from living the reality and sensing developments. Civil organisations also play a pivotal role in the process of development through coordination and complementarity of role with the official and private sectors. Civil organisations can be divided into four types according to the activity they carry out: 1. Charitable civil organisations, which include all the organisations working in the charitable and humanitarian relief field in the familiar traditional form. 2. Service and social and cultural welfare organisations, which are active in providing health, economic and social services and in caring for children, women, people with disabilities and the elderly, and in sporting, cultural and artistic activities and others. 3. Advocacy civil organisations, which are organisations of opinion and influence such as human rights organisations and those defending women, the rights of people with disabilities, children, the environment and so on. 4. Developmental civil organisations, which aim at achieving development within a specific local community through development projects, capacity building and providing opportunities for the community's energies to work and create in various fields. Some organisations may combine in their vision and mission more than one of the four preceding types. Social peace: it can be defined as a state of peace and harmony within society itself and in the relationship among its groups and forces, and it reflects the soundness of the internal relationship among society's components and the possibility of its development and renaissance. If the state of social peace is lost or weakened within society, the natural result is the deterioration of security and the shaking of stability, and thus a decline in the opportunities for development and advancement, leading society towards backwardness. The most important foundations for strengthening social peace in any society are: \u2022 The legitimacy and centrality of authority. \u2022 Social justice. \u2022 The rule of law. \u2022 The independence of the judiciary. \u2022 Respect for human rights and the rights of minorities. The reality of social peace in Palestine: there is no doubt that whoever follows the reality of internal Palestinian relations sees in recent years a deterioration in the nature of these relations, whether at the political or social level. What has increased the severity of this deterioration is the Palestinian political and geographical division, which came as a result of accumulations and negative practices that contributed to bringing about rounds of internal fighting, the last of them the events of June 2007, which resulted in the current division and the subsequent entrenching and deepening of this division, necessarily reflected in Palestinian social relations in both Gaza and the West Bank. Although Palestinian society does not have the elements for a continuing division, civil war and internal fighting as is the case in other societies made up of different ethnicities and various religious sects, social peace has declined noticeably in the nature of social relations among the components of Palestinian society, particularly the sharp polarisation of both the Fatah and Hamas movements at almost every level, such as young people, student unions, professional unions, sports clubs, women, non-governmental organisations and various groups, to the point that in some cases marriage to someone of a different political affiliation is refused. Social relations have deteriorated to an unprecedented degree among Palestinians, who realise that what unites them is far more than what divides them. Despite the relative stability of the security situation and the near elimination of the chaos and lawlessness the Palestinian territories witnessed at the end of the second intifada, the belief prevails in Palestinian society that the current division is the most dangerous thing Palestinians have faced for decades, since the question of political detention still prevents any progress on national reconciliation and contributes to deepening the state of division and shaking social peace, while incitement continues through the media, the mosques and the various platforms. This contributes negatively to increasing the disintegration of internal Palestinian relations, which need repair and restoration rather than further tearing and deterioration. This is accompanied by extremely difficult living conditions: in the Gaza Strip the siege is still imposed on the movement of goods and people, and rates of poverty and unemployment have risen to more than 80%. The West Bank is still cut up and filled with checkpoints, Jerusalem is still being Judaised and the settlement fever is raging, and the wall is being completed. If we add all this to the tearing of social peace and the weakness and deterioration of internal Palestinian relations, it means that we are contributing with our own hands to the loss of our future and the future of our cause as a whole, which makes this stage we are living in one of the hardest and most dangerous stations of the Palestinian people. This fact places its weight on the Palestinian leaderships in both Gaza and the West Bank to carry out a comprehensive review of the whole state of affairs, particularly at the political and social level, and to bear their responsibilities faithfully in halting this dangerous deterioration. The role of civil organisations in strengthening social peace: a case study of the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution. Civil organisations are an essential component of civil society in Palestine, and these organisations carry out their role in many relief, service, developmental and educational fields, which qualifies them to play an important and pivotal role in achieving Palestinian national reconciliation and in strengthening social peace among the components of Palestinian society. But this hoped-for role remains faint, weak and limited in influence. It is only fair to say that the weakness of the Palestinian civil organisations' role in pressing the two parties to the conflict, Fatah and Hamas, to achieve national reconciliation and ease the severity of the social division is due to subjective and objective causes and factors, and the objective factor may be too great for these organisations to break through. By the objective factor here we mean the following: 1. The complexity and entanglement of the files of Palestinian national reconciliation. 2. External interference that obstructs the achievement of reconciliation. 3. The political factions and resistance movements are what lead change within Palestinian society. As for the subjective factors relating to civil work organisations that have weakened their role, they are: Competition and weak coordination among these organisations. Limited means and the lack of support from the government and the lack of interest of most donors in the subject of reconciliation. The politicisation of the work of many civil organisations, particularly those following one of the parties. A relative distance from the public and weak credibility in society. Amid this entanglement and complexity, the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution launched the \"popular campaign for national reconciliation\", which included, among other things, strengthening social reconciliation among Palestinians and rooting the concepts and literature of social peace within society. Here we briefly summarise the main activities and events of the popular campaign for national reconciliation: 1. Launching the popular campaign for national reconciliation during a march the Palestinian Center organised in Gaza City for this purpose in November 2007. 2. Issuing the national reconciliation document in February 2008, which we still consider suitable as a basis for achieving reconciliation between the Fatah and Hamas movements. The document included practical proposals and solutions for every part of the disagreement, particularly in the following files: a. The Palestine Liberation Organisation and its reform. b. The components of the Palestinian political system. c. Elections. d. The security file. A quarter of a million copies of the document were printed in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and hundreds of volunteers were recruited to gather signatures on this document after it had been read and approved by citizens over the age of 18. The number of signatures reached more than 330,000, and it genuinely contributed to strengthening community awareness of national reconciliation. 3. Three simultaneous popular marches were organised in three cities, Gaza, Hebron and Nablus, in April 2008, with the aim of pressing the leaderships of Fatah and Hamas to accept reconciliation and achieve it. Thousands of citizens took part in an unprecedented gathering by a civil organisation around an important cause such as national reconciliation. 4. The document was delivered to the leaderships of the Fatah and Hamas movements together with hundreds of thousands of signatures, at official meetings with the leaderships of the two movements in the West Bank and Gaza, in a clear message to them that the Palestinian citizen is aware of his cause, demands reconciliation and moves for it in order to achieve it, because it means his future and the future of his children. This step came in support of reconciliation efforts on the one hand and as a further exercise of pressure on the two parties on the other. 5. The conference \"Palestine chooses reconciliation\" was held in June 2008 in both Gaza and the West Bank by video conference, and leaders from both sides took part in the conference to help strengthen a common language and halt incitement and divisive practices. 6. Dozens of workshops were held in Gaza and the West Bank, particularly among young people, to strengthen tolerance and a culture of dialogue and acceptance of the other. 7. Many media activities were carried out that contribute to strengthening social peace. 8. Many sporting activities were launched in which young people from both sides took part, such as a sports marathon for reconciliation, and football, tennis, volleyball and swimming leagues and so on, all aimed at presenting a model of tolerance and affection among the young people of Palestine despite their different political affiliations. These activities did indeed bring together young people from both sides to present a model of tolerance and affection. 9. Engaging with the social reconciliation committee in the Cairo dialogue with the aim of facilitating steps and procedures to bring social reconciliation into being after full agreement on all the issues raised. We at the Palestinian Center consider that launching the popular campaign for national reconciliation is a completion of and a building on the effort of the various forces in Palestinian society to achieve reconciliation, but what distinguishes the popular campaign from other initiatives are two things: 1. The campaign's presentation of the national reconciliation document with precise details addressing every part of each problem, with proposals for resolving it and an explanation of the purpose of each proposal, while leaving the door open for judgement on some parts. 2. The campaign's reliance on popular pressure and its going out into the street and sensing the needs and concerns of the Palestinian citizen. We at the Palestinian Center, while recognising the importance of achieving national reconciliation and ending the state of division, have begun to direct more effort towards social reconciliation and to strive seriously and persistently to achieve social peace and resolve the problems existing among individuals and families as a result of the state of division. Despite the speed with which the social reconciliation committee in the Cairo dialogue agreed on resolving the problems arising from the events of the division, this file is still thorny and needs the joining of official and popular civil efforts to accomplish it and get past it, otherwise it may blow up any agreement or consensus. Thus true social peace constitutes a real lever for achieving national reconciliation, God willing. In conclusion we recommend the following: 1. The need for the leaderships of the Fatah and Hamas movements to bear their responsibilities towards strengthening social peace in both the West Bank and Gaza, and to spare the people at large political tugs of war and squabbles. 2. That the national and Islamic factions take their role in strengthening social peace within Palestinian society. 3. Halting media incitement through the various media platforms. 4. Strengthening a language of tolerance and dialogue, particularly among young people from the parties to the conflict, through joint cultural, artistic and sporting activities. 5. Raising the level of coordination among civil organisations in order to root the concepts of social peace and to exert pressure on officials to strengthen peace in society. 6. The need for the media to play a positive role and to be a reconciliatory media that calls for unity and harmony within society and keeps away from tension and strife. 7. At the family level, it is the parents' duty to spare their children any party or political fanaticism and to root in them the values of love and tolerance. 8. That the Ministry of Education and Higher Education adopt programmes and activities inside schools that strengthen the concepts and practices of social peace and spare pupils party fanaticism.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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