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As
Peter Leidenmühler, representative
of the Union for Antiracism and Peace
Policy 'Dar al Janub' reported, the
symposium Remapping Palestine will take
place as scheduled from October 19-21
despite strong interventions and protests
from agencies associated with the Israeli
Likud government. 'This symposium is
highly relevant with regard to development
and peace policy. The ongoing debate
concerning the recognition of a Palestinian
state shows the necessity to listen
to the opinions of high-ranking Palestinian
experts as well as highly regarded Israeli
scientists critical of the government
and peace activists even in Austria.'
The withdrawal of a funding comittment
by the Austrian Development Agency is
indeed precarious as NGOs have to rely
on commitments by public funding agencies,
says Leidenmühler. ADA's statement,
according to which the event would suddenly
lack any relevance with regard to developmental
policy, is irreproducable. Especially
in Austria - which counts Palestine
as a developmental priority country
- a critical discussion of the reasons
for the Middle Eastern conflict and
the refugee issue as well as a discourse
between Israelis and Palestinians interested
in peace is crucial for sustainable
peace and development policy. After
the withdrawal of the ADA, further financing
is not yet clarified
Some of the major topics of the symposium
will be historical lines and structures
of the conflict in Israel/Palestine;
the recent situation in the occupied
areas; the reception of the Israeli/Palestinian
conflict in the Western World; the recent
policy of financial contributors and
the perspectives of an equitable and
long-term peace settlement in the Middle
East. Key speakers will be the Palestinian
historian Salam Abu Sitta, the American-Palestinian
scientist Joseph Massad, the Israeli
historian Ilan Pappé, Umar Al
Ghurabi as a representative of the Israeli
NGO Zochrot and the German Bundestag
member Anette Groth.
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