Press Releases

Highlights from Al-Majdal, BADIL’s quarterly magazine, Issue 21 - March 2004 "Democratization may be slow but it can’t be imposed"

For Immediate Release

No. (E/14/04)

27 April 2004


Now they want to impose democracy, reform and their view of the future on the Middle East as witnessed by recent pronouncements by the United States and Israel.  Only an indigenous plan for regional reform, beginning with the issue of Palestinian refugees and including Palestinians in the planning process, will work says the latest issue of BADIL’s quarterly magazine Al-Majdal.

This idea is addressed in the summary report of the third BADIL Expert Seminar held in Cairo with the participation of UNRWA, UNHCR and the European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and representatives of Palestinian/Arab human and refugee rights groups from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt.  The seminar focused on closing the gap from protection to lasting solutions to the Palestinian refugee issue. A feature article on past approaches to crafting durable solutions also draws conclusions about reform of the Middle East peacemaking process.

This issue also provides updates on Palestinian organizing and right-of-return initiatives, including refugee community workshops with Dr. Karma Nabulsi (Oxford University) about rebuilding Palestinian civil society structures and participation of refugees in exile, Palestinian responses to the Geneva Accord and a report on a joint Israeli-Palestinian conference in Haifa on the right of return and a just peace.

On protection and assistance to refugees, Al-Majdal reports on the impact of Israel’s separation/apartheid wall, renewed calls for restitution in Iraq and Libya, ongoing dispossession in the Negev and Israel’s massive destruction of refugee housing and livelihoods in Rafah, Gaza.

 


Copies of Al-Majdal issue No. 21 (March 2004)will be mailed to subscribers shortly and a PDF version will be on: www.badil.org/Majdal/2003/majdal03.htm.  Annual subscriptions for four issues are available from [email protected] for $20.