Abnaa elBalad Movement June 7, 2010
Dear Participants and Supporters of the 2nd Haifa conference for the Return of the Palestinian Refugees and the Democratic Secular State in Historic Palestine,
We thank the many hundreds of dedicated activist for the rights of the Palestinian people and for justice and freedom that made the long way from different parts of Palestine and from all over the world and shared with us their enthusiasm and insights through three long days of networking, discussions and commitment to struggle together for the just cause.
We thank the many hundreds of organizations and individuals that couldn’t come to attend the conference but send us their warm greetings and supportive messages or signed the petition in support of the goals of the conference.
We want to assure all of you that our common effort was not in vain. The conference was an important step forward for analyzing the roots of the racist regime, critically study many different experiences in the struggle and revive the old vision of a democratic framework for the restoration of the rights to their natural owners and the formation of a better democratic future for all.
All the conference was built to assure that all this effort will lead to a formation of a local and international coalition toward its goals, opening the way for many more organizations and individuals to take part in this vital struggle. We held three special activists meeting through Saturday to let everybody take active part in formulating the vision for the future coalition. We dedicated Sunday 30/5 to a long meeting in the presence of many delegations and individuals to start building the coalition and decide about practical steps.
This meeting decided to adopt the political position of the “Declaration of the Preparatory Committee” from 9/4/2010 as the basis for the concluding document of the conference. This document should be edited in the near future to express the wish of all the delegations to go forward from the conference and start building the coalition.
The meeting also decided about the following practical steps:
· We establish the coalition to support the goals as defined in this document.
· All delegations that attended the meeting expressed their determination to be part of the coalition and to cooperate and contribute for its expansion and building in order to achieve its essential goals.
· Many delegations expressed their views concerning the political basis of the coalition. All these proposals will be discussed and considered in the near future between all partners to the coalition in order to build a wide and effective coalition.
· It was agreed by all participants that the current coalition is only the nuclei of a much wider coalition, as many supporting organizations and individuals couldn’t attend the conference. The central task of the coalition in the near future will be to open discussion with all the potential partners, first and foremost with the representatives of the Palestinian refugees and with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, in order to widen the coalition.
· All members of the coalition will make their own initiatives in their different locations to mobilize support for the goals of the coalition and to open wide discussion in order to raise public awareness to them.
· The organizers of the Haifa conference will continue to coordinate the effort for building the coalition.