Cairo: The second session of the "Palestine and the Role of Civil Society" conference was held today in Cairo, under the slogan "Rebuilding the Social Fabric of Gaza".
The conference addressed the evaluation and analysis of the current situation in the Gaza Strip in light of the horrific destruction it has been subjected to during the 15 months of the Israeli occupation's aggression that targeted all aspects of life, by highlighting the importance of the role of civil society in providing basic social services and formulating proposals regarding the process of rebuilding Gaza with the hands of its people.
In her speech during the conference's opening session Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Social Affairs Sector of the Arab League, Ambassador Dr. Haifa Abu Ghazala said that the conference focuses on mechanisms for cooperation between local, regional, and international parties.
These efforts aim to secure the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, accelerate the adoption of reconstruction plans, abandon displacement policies, and implement emergency relief plans to assist the Palestinian people, with specific controls to monitor their execution.
She added that the Arab League's sponsorship of the second conference reflects its commitment to efforts aimed at resolving the Palestinian issue and implementing the internationally agreed-upon two-state solution, with the establishment of a Palestinian state along the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, while upholding these established principles.
Abu Ghazala explained that these principles have received broad Arab and international consensus, based on the firm belief that the Palestinian cause is one of land and people, adding that attempts to remove the Palestinian people from their land through displacement, annexation, or settlement expansion have failed over decades and are rejected as violations of international law, constituting ethnic cleansing and an attempt to erase the Palestinian cause.
