By Ali Abo Rezeg
ISTANBUL
Organizers of a major conference for Palestinian communities in the diaspora have dismissed claims that the first-ever gathering was an attempt to replace the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
In exclusive interviews with Anadolu Agency, organizers say the two-day event aims to invigorate the PLO, not to replace it.
Themed “Conference for Palestinians Abroad”, the gathering is scheduled to close later on Sunday in the Turkish city of Istanbul.
More than 5,000 Palestinians from around the globe have attended the conference to discuss ways of rallying Palestinians worldwide around a common vision for their national project.
PLO officials have accused the conference’s organizers of seeking to replace the umbrella body, a claim dismissed by organizers.
“The Palestinian diaspora has gathered to put some sort of pressure on Palestinian leaders, especially in PLO, to allow the reshaping of the PLO congress and allow Palestinians abroad to have their right to vote,” Majid al-Zir, the U.K.-based deputy head of the conference’s organizing committee, said.
Palestinians living abroad have called for holding elections for the Palestinian National Council (PNC) -- which functions as a parliament for the PLO -- to activate their role in the Palestinian decision-making.
The last two sessions of the PNC were held in the Gaza Strip and Ramallah in 1996 and 2009, respectively.
Al-Zir said there is a “vacuum” in the Palestinian diaspora that should be filled.
“The Palestinians are taking their initiatives to do something for themselves and for the coming generations,” he said.
“Our goal is a noble one and should be supported by the Palestinian leadership and by the PLO itself,” al-Zir reiterated.
Created in 1964 with the purpose of liberating Palestine from the Israeli occupation, the PLO was recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
In 1993, the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist in peace following the signing of the U.S.-sponsored Oslo Accords, which created the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Several Palestinian groups, most notably Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have accused the PLO for dominating the Palestinian decision-making.
No alternative
Al-Zir, who heads the annual conference of Palestinians living in Europe, said the conference was not seeking to create an alternative to the PLO.
“We have gathered here from 50 countries across the globe with a main goal that Palestine is still in our mind,” he said.
“We have no aim to create a new entity. Rather, we want to offer something for Palestine from the countries we are living in.”
Jordan-based Rawan al-Damen, member of the organizing committee, said the meeting aimed to give a push to the Palestinian struggle.
“From day one, we said we don’t want to be an alternative to the PLO,” she told Anadolu Agency. “We are an addition to the Palestinian popular struggle abroad.”
“Our main aim is to network and coordinate between different institutions working for Palestine with a view to making all of these institutions work together under one umbrella,” she stressed.
Al-Damen said organizers did not expect the strong participation in the conference.
“We were surprised by the number of people who registered to attend our conference,” she said. “We expected 1,000 to attend, but found that more than 5,000 are participating.”
Al-Damen, a well-known Palestinian filmmaker, said reactivating the PLO has been requested by Palestinians for 25 years.
“When PLO transformed itself into PA, the Palestinians abroad felt they have been deprived from taking part in the Palestinian decision-making,” she argued.
“The same thing is felt by the Palestinians living within the 1948 borders,” she said, referring to the Israeli Arabs.
Why Turkey chosen as host of conference?
Palestinians view Turkey as a main backer for their struggle to regain their national rights and establish their future state.
“We have chosen Turkey to hold our conference as Turkey is one of the biggest supporters of the Palestinian rights and the Palestinian people,” Turkey-based Mohammed Musheinish, the conference’s executive manager, told Anadolu Agency.
Musheinish, who heads many pro-Palestine NGOs in Turkey, said the gathering aimed to restore the role of the Palestinian diaspora in the decision-making process.
“No one came here with a view to creating a new alternative entity to PLO; rather we have come here to invigorate it,” he said.
There are estimated six million Palestinians living outside Palestine, mainly in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Gulf region.
