Palestinian diaspora in US and Holland prep for 'National Conference for Palestine'

A number of online meetings attended by well-known figures from the Palestinian diaspora took place recently in order to prepare for a "National Conference for Palestine".

Palestinians residing in the US and the Netherlands attended online meetings on Zoom on July 6 and 7, in line with calls for such a conference which have been building among prominent Palestinians in recent months.

According to organisers, the National Conference for Palestine will aim to unify the Palestinian leadership and rebuild the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in order to face the current challenges facing the Palestinian people amidst the ongoing war on Gaza.

Participants in the meetings included activists, businessmen and women, doctors, engineers, academics, researchers, and university students.

Writer and political activist Osama Abu Irshaid opened the US meeting, and emphasised the urgency of the situation facing the Palestinian people as a result of the war of extermination in Gaza and Israel's increasingly aggressive policies in the West Bank.

Abu Irshaid explained that the conference would seek to give rise to an authentic Palestinian voice that could give voice to the sacrifices and resilience of the people in their struggle for liberation.

This was essential in light of the Palestinian political vacuum, as well as regional and international plots seeking to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

Mustafa Barghouti, a member of the conference's preparatory committee, said the genocidal war on Gaza and the reoccupation of the West Bank had generated a new situation.

This was characterised by Israeli plans to secure a political and military resolution based on liquidating the Palestinian cause and completing its project of annexation and Judaization.

He said the conference would endeavour to address the Palestinian political deadlock which had resulted from failures of the both the PLO's political leadership and of Oslo, as well as the absence of democracy and the lack of elections since 2006.

Mueen Taher, also in the preparatory committee, said the conference sought to rebuild the PLO on democratic and representative foundations for Palestinians both inside and outside of Palestine.

The goal was to form a unified Palestinian leadership capable of rising to the challenges of the current phase and opposing Israeli plans to completely separate the West Bank from the Gaza Strip, he explained.

He emphasised the importance of there being a Palestinian body capable of rejecting the plans being concocted for the "day after" the war on Gaza and navigating the difficulties ahead.

Dr. Azmi Bishara, director of the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, spoke of the importance of a unified Palestinian political framework in order to ensure the sacrifices and resilience of the Palestinian people were not in vain.

He remarked on how the PLO – which had represented the symbolic homeland for Palestinians -  had been marginalised after the Oslo Accords.

Bishara stated that the Palestinian national conference would seek to mobilise the energies of the Palestinian people, and strengthen the role of the PLO as a unified body of leadership.

Only then, he said, could it confront the regional challenges such as current efforts to find a party willing to manage the Gaza Strip under Israeli "tutelage".

Rabab Abdulhadi, a professor at San Francisco State University, emphasised the need for a Palestinian national political framework which would adhere to the core principles and rights of the Palestinian people, including the right of return.

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, activist Amro Wawi opened the meeting by giving an overview of the idea to hold a Palestinian national conference and its main objectives.

He also stressed the need to intensify efforts to take advantage of the upsurge in global solidarity with their cause.

Ahmad Jamil Azem, also in the preparatory committee, pointed to the lack of national unity among Palestinian factional leaders, which heightened the need to rebuild the PLO.

He also confirmed that over 1,390 Palestinians from 45 countries had signed the initiative's statement.

Ayman Najmeh, the head of the Palestinian community in Holland, discussed tools the initiative had to achieve its goal of rebuilding the PLO and unifying Palestinian communities, and noted the importance of focusing on a single goal to achieve success.

The two meetings followed several similar preparatory meetings held in recent weeks in occupied Palestine, the UK, Lebanon, Qatar, Kuwait, Spain, Belgium, France, and the US.

Further meetings are expected in the coming weeks in other Arab and Western countries.

Last month, the initiative to hold a Palestinian national conference faced criticism from the Fatah movement and the PLO's executive committee which both issued identical statements attacking the preparatory meetings for the conference, reportedly accusing organisers of attempting to create an alternative to the PLO.

The preparatory committee responded that the initiative was in fact calling for the revival of the PLO's institutions; a halt to its ongoing marginalisation and for it to be transformed into a truly inclusive framework for the Palestinian people, including the resistance factions and various political and civil forces.

The statement calling for a National Conference for Palestine can be found here.