INTERNATIONAL MEETING IN SUPPORT OF ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE

The urgency of addressing the permanent status issues —
Borders, Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, water

Qawra, Malta
12 and 13 February 2010

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean will convene the International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace at the Dolmen Hotel in Qawra, Malta, on 12 and 13 February 2010. The theme of the Meeting is “The urgency of addressing the permanent status issues – Borders, Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, water”.

The purpose of the Meeting is to provide a forum for the exchange of views on the current state of the peace process and encourage a constructive dialogue among the stakeholders on how to create a political climate conducive to the resumption of the peace negotiations on permanent status issues. The Meeting, among other things, will discuss the terms of reference for all permanent status issues, including in the context of peace initiatives. It will also look into modalities for bridging gaps and building trust between the parties; international approaches to promoting a comprehensive, just and lasting solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and the role of parliamentarians and inter-parliamentary organizations in supporting Israeli-Palestinian peace and stability in the region.

Invited to participate in the Meeting are member delegations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, other parliamentarians, Government officials, and experts, including Israeli and Palestinian ones, on the issues under discussion. United Nations Member States and Observers, as well as intergovernmental and civil society organizations, have been invited as observers. The Meeting will be open to the media.

The Opening session will take place on Friday, 12 February 2010, at 9:30 a.m. in the Oracle Conference Centre of the Dolmen Hotel. Participants will be welcomed by Louis Galea, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta. The Meeting will then be opened officially by Tonio Borg, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Malta. Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, will deliver a message on behalf of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Rudy Salles, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, and Pedro Núñez Mosquera, Vice-Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, will speak on behalf of the Meeting’s organizers. High-level speakers from the Mediterranean region will include Ahmed Fathi Sorour, President of the Egyptian People’s Assembly and Cemil Çiçek, State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey. Tayseer Quba’a, Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian National Council, and Yuli Tamir, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, will also address the Meeting. Sa’eb Erakat, Head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Negotiations Affairs Department, will speak as the representative of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. [Jordanian FM deleted]

All sessions of the Meeting will be held in the Oracle Conference Centre and will be open to the media. Access is from the ground floor of the hotel (main lobby). The meeting hours are from 9.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and from 3.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. The official languages of the Meeting will be Arabic, English and French. The following two plenary sessions will address a variety of issues and feature discussion periods.

Plenary I, entitled “The state of the peace process,” will begin at 12:00 p.m. on Friday,
12 February and continue in the afternoon. The sub-themes of the session are “The current overall situation” and “Terms of reference for the permanent status issues – borders, Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, water”. The panelists in this session include: Sa’eb Erakat, Head of the Negotiations Affairs Department, Palestine Liberation Organization, Ramallah; Alon Liel, Lecturer, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem; Michael Kingsley-Nyinah, Director of the Executive Office, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Amman; Peter Gubser, President (Retired), American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), Maryland; Geoffrey Aronson, Director of Research and Publications, Foundation for Middle East Peace, Washington D.C.; and Helena Cobban, Executive Director, Council for the National Interest Foundation, Washington D.C.

Plenary II, entitled “Breaking the status quo: Creating a political climate conducive to the advancement of the peace process,” will start at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, 13 February. The session will suspend at 1:00 p.m. and resume at 3:00 p.m. It will focus on “International and regional approaches to promoting a comprehensive, just and lasting solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, “Modalities for bridging gaps and building trust between the parties”, and “Role of parliamentarians and inter-parliamentary organizations in supporting Israeli-Palestinian peace and stability in the region”. Addressing this session are: Azzam Al-Ahmad, Head of the Fatah Caucus, Palestinian Legislative Council, Ramallah; Hesham Youssef, Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary General, League of Arab States, Cairo; Mohamed Abou El-Enein, Member of the Egyptian People’s Assembly, Roving Ambassador, Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, Cairo; Robert Rydberg, Head of Middle East and North Africa Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Stockholm; Mohammad Barakeh, Member of the Knesset, Secretary-General of Hadash Party, Tel Aviv; Yossi Beilin, President, Beilink – Business Foreign Affairs, Former Member of the Knesset, Tel Aviv; Ibrahim Khraishi, Permanent Observer of Palestine, UN Office at Geneva; Yuli Tamir, Member of the Knesset; George Vella, Member of the Parliament of Malta, Chairman of the ad hoc Committee on the Middle East, Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, Valletta; and Suleiman Ghneimat, Member of the Parliament of Jordan, Vice-President, Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, Amman.

The Closing session of the Meeting will take place from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, 13 February. Addressing this part of the Meeting will be: Saviour Borg, Rapporteur of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, who will introduce the concluding remarks by the organizers; George Vella, Chairman of the ad hoc Committee on the Middle East of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean; Mohammad Barakeh, Member of the Knesset; Tayseer Quba’a, Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian National Council; Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations; and Louis Galea, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta.

Two press conferences are scheduled: one on 12 February at 12:00 p.m. and one on
13 February at 6:00 p.m. More information about the venues and participants will be provided on the ground. Interested journalists will also have the opportunity to arrange individual interviews with the members of the delegation of the Committee and participating speakers.

Participants and observers, including the media, are kindly requested to register with the United Nations Secretariat upon arrival and obtain their colour-coded badges. Registration will take place in the foyer to the conference room on the first floor of the Conference Centre and will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on 11 February. On 12 February, registration for media representatives starts at 10:00 a.m. in the foyer to the conference room on the first floor. If you arrive at any other time, please contact the Secretariat. The Secretariat is operating at the first floor of the Conference Centre, Room “Ammon”, tel.: + (356) 2355-2540 (direct line) or 2355-2355 (hotel Operator), fax: + (356) 2355-2529, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The media registration form is attached to this message and should be e-mailed in advance by 11 February to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Updated versions of the programme, as well as information on previous Meetings, will be available on the web site of the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat at http://www.un.org/depts/dpa/qpal/calendar.htm

The report of the Meeting will be issued, in due course, as a publication of the Division for Palestinian Rights of the United Nations Secretariat.