International Meetings and Conferences
Through its international meetings programme for 2014, the Committee intends to focus the world's attention on the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. It seeks to further generate widespread support for a peaceful solution to the conflict, based on international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, and to promote worldwide solidarity with the Palestinians and support for the realization of their rights. The Committee will continue to engage Governments, parliamentarians and civil society organizations, including youth and women's groups, to mobilize support for a just solution to the conflict and solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The Committee will focus its programme of international meetings and conferences in 2014 on, inter alia, promoting support for the objectives and themes of the International Year and widening international support for the permanent status negotiations for the achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict. These meetings will contribute to the creation of an atmosphere conducive to the conduct of negotiations in good faith and will further raise the international community's awareness of the substantive issues in this regard.
The Committee intends to continue to draw the attention of the world community to the developments on the ground, including those which constitute obstacles to negotiations and the achievement of a peaceful solution, in particular the situation with regard to Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem; the need to compel Israel, the occupying Power, to end its settlement campaign, as well as all other illegal policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and the legal obligation of third parties not to support or contribute to the breaches of international law by Israel and the responsibility to hold the occupying Power accountable for its breaches.
The Committee will support peaceful civil society action worldwide challenging Israeli impunity and promoting the concept of Israel's accountability for its illegal actions towards the Palestinian people. The Committee will pay special attention to highlighting the plight of the most disadvantaged Palestinians, such as refugees, the Palestinians living in Gaza and Palestinian political prisoners. The Committee will continue to mobilize support for the institution-building and State-building efforts of the State of Palestine and all other efforts to promote and strengthen the independence and viability of the Palestinian State.
In so doing, and mindful of budgetary constraints, the Committee will make the most cost-effective utilization of resources a priority. It will endeavour to organize its events in cooperation with interested intergovernmental organizations and national Governments, with due regard to cost-sharing arrangements. It will invite the Division for Palestinian Rights to streamline documentation while making maximum use of modern information technologies. It will mobilize social media and bloggers to promote global coverage and interaction during these events in a cost-effective way. It will strive to achieve gender and geographic balance among invited experts, and it will encourage the active participation of Governments from all regional groups. The Committee, through its Bureau, will regularly assess the outcomes of the international meetings and conferences and, where required, decide on steps that could be taken to enhance their contribution to the mandated goals of the Committee, streamline the format of the meetings and of the documentation, and boost media exposure, attendance and interaction. It will disseminate the practical recommendations emanating from the conferences and meetings to the United Nations membership at large and systematically review them with a view to taking follow-up action, as appropriate.
A special meeting of the Committee dedicated to the launch of the International Year, to which all United Nations Member States and observers will be invited, will be held at United Nations Headquarters on 16 January 2014.
In 2014, the Committee intends to organize, among others, the following events, all of which are expected to be entirely dedicated to or incorporate a segment devoted to the International Year:
- A high-level meeting of the League of Arab States, with the Committee, to be held in Cairo;
- A United Nations seminar on assistance to the Palestinian people;
- A United Nations international meeting on the question of Palestine, to be held in Quito;
- A round table on the legal aspects of the new international status of the State of Palestine and on the status of Palestinian political prisoners under international law, to be held at the United Nations Office at Geneva.