The Palestinian National Initiative: Leading the Palestinian People Toward Freedom, Independence, Ju

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The Palestinian National Initiative Leading the
Palestinian PeopleToward Freedom, Independence,
Justice, and a Life of Dignity
Al-Mubadara

• Dr. Khalil Barhoum
• Stanford University

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The Palestinian National InitiativeLeading the
Palestinian PeopleToward Freedom, Independence,
Justice, And a Life of Dignity
Overview
Al-Mubadara stands for

• Continuing the struggle for self-determination
  and for overcoming occupation and the building of
  settlements
• Freedom, independence, justice, and equality
• Creating an independent, democratic, and fully
  sovereign Palestinian state
• Protecting the rights of refugees
• Safeguarding the sacrifices of the Intifada
• Aiding the poor and the needy

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Al-Mubadara stands for

• Securing a good standard of living, health,
  education, and social welfare
• The release of prisoners
• Activating and organizing Palestinian communities
  in exile
• Launching the largest international solidarity
  movement to support the Palestinian people and
  their struggle for justice
• Fighting unemployment and putting to work those
  unemployed
• Sovereignty of the law as well as safety and
  security for all citizens
• Supporting Independent Nation-Building,
  Campaigning against Poverty, and Fostering the
  Ability to Meet the Needs of Citizens

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Aims of Al-Mubadara

• To strengthen the Palestinian people and to
  reinforce their national unity
• To deepen their commitment to a national program
• To instill confidence in them and in their
  abilities to build an independent Palestinian
  state
• To empower and organize the Palestinian people in
  order to achieve the goal of a just peace by
  ending the occupation and settlements by
  establishing an independent, democratic, and
  sovereign Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as
  its capitol, on all the Palestinian land occupied
  since 1967 by safeguarding the right of
  Palestinian refugees to return to their homes by
  implementing United Nations resolutions by the
  and by foreclosing any attempts to annex occupied
  land or any efforts to isolate, discriminate
  against, and racially oppress the Palestinian
  people.
• To realize the Palestinian dream of building an
  independent homeland through the practice of real
  citizenship in order to bring about freedom and
  the building of a strong, modern, and sovereign
  state.

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Flexibility of the Initiative

• This program is proposed not as a final
  prescription but as a framework to rally the
  popular, intellectual, cultural and political
  contributions of the Palestinians. It is
  unconditionally open for revision, development,
  enrichment, and addition, until it becomes a
  productive banner in creating a national and
  democratic movement that does its duties in
  serving the goals of the Palestinian people. This
  program relies on the deep-rooted nationalist
  expertise of the Palestinian struggle, on the
  forces of Palestinian nationalism, and on the
  Palestinian liberation movement and the
  institutions of the Palestinian people, both
  official and civil.

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Call for Reform

• The absence of real and radical reforms, as well
  as the absence of a unified Palestinian strategy,
  poses a weakness that Israel attempts to exploit
  in order to draw political concessions that
  undermine the national Palestinian project or to
  foster internal conflicts. This opening has to be
  closed by bringing about real reforms and by
  supporting nation- building through a Palestinian
  vision of struggle and optimism, with the aim of
  endearing national resistance and unity by
  reaching out to the Palestinian people in their
  goals of ending the occupation, creating social
  and economic growth that respond to the needs of
  the poor and of those with limited income.
• Real reform, change, and the protection of the
  legitimacy of Palestinian nationalism will not be
  achieved with half solutions but with an
  initiative to undertake radical and comprehensive
  measures that restore the confidence of the
  people at home and in exile.

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Palestinian Vision Rationale

• This national initiative expresses the will and
  ambitions of the entire Palestinian people, of
  those who agree on the need for a just struggle
  for freedom, independence and dignity. We present
  this national initiative in response to demands
  that have been made for many years.
• It is an effort to join all Palestinian men and
  women in a common cause to achieve their freedom
  and to build their future and the future of their
  children. We also present it in order to
  accomplish the building of nationhood, to work
  for positive change, to celebrate national
  resistance against occupation, and to present an
  opportunity to all Palestinians who have the
  interest of their homeland at heart to
  participate productively in national and social
  giving. In sum, we present this national
  initiative in order to be victorious in our just
  struggle and victorious in the building of a
  Palestinian state that is free, democratic,
  prosperous, and able to provide security,
  justice, dignity, and equality before the law for
  our citizens.

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Components of the Initiative

• As envisioned, this program is composed of the
  following components

(1) Supporting Independent Nation-Building,
Campaigning against Poverty, and Fostering the
Ability to Meet the Needs of Citizens
It is necessary in this area to

• Create an interim unified national leadership
  that can produce a strategic plan and put forth
  collective national goals to which everyone is
  committed, on the basis of complete
  decision-sharing that will subsume factional
  expressions and interests for the greater
  interest of the homeland.
• Honor and activate the institutions of the
  Palestine Liberation Organization through a
  democratic process, including elections for our
  national parliament.

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(1) Supporting Independent Nation-Building,
Campaigning against Poverty, and Fostering the
Ability to Meet the Needs of Citizens

• Meet the needs of the poor, support those
  injured, plan for healthy growth, honor and
  expand the formations of popular and national
  committees so they can take on the tasks of real
  reforms, honor internal resistance, and achieve
  popular participation in directing and observing
  efforts of reconstructions and distributions of
  aid so that they are carried with complete
  fairness
• Resist and break the siege and the disruption of
  communication and transport. Create ways to
  protect the collective, national and social
  fabric

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(1) Supporting Independent Nation-Building,
Campaigning against Poverty, and Fostering the
Ability to Meet the Needs of Citizens

• Conduct frequent elections that are free and
  democratic for all national institutions,
  including the presidency, the parliament of the
  Palestinian state, and the mayorship of the towns
  and villages, on the condition that they take
  place with international presence that can
  guarantee their honesty and without any Israeli
  intervention in them. Democratic elections are an
  essential part of establishing a Palestinian
  state, which is to include all the occupied lands
  and at the forefront of them the sacred city of
  Jerusalem, and we have to treat elections as an
  issue of resistance that Palestinian national
  self-determination demands.
• Separate the different authorities and balance
  their roles with checks in place, respecting the
  independence of legal committees in the active
  application of law

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(1) Supporting Independent Nation-Building,
Campaigning against Poverty, and Fostering the
Ability to Meet the Needs of Citizens

• Create a unified and organized treasury, a fair
  distribution system that meets the needs of the
  people, and sound organizations with known
  financial expenditure
• Establish ministries and governmental
  institutions with clear structures that specify
  the various interests, positions, roles, and are
  able to place the appropriate person in the
  appropriate position without favoritism or
  discrimination these institutions, which are in
  great need of administrative reforms, must meet
  the needs of their workers so that they are
  provided with the elements of a dignified life.
• Instill the principle of service, considering it
  the main goal for public and civic institutions
• Implement the principal of law immediately,
  putting into effect all laws by the legislative
  council, with civil service being foremost

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(1) Supporting Independent Nation-Building,
Campaigning against Poverty, and Fostering the
Ability to Meet the Needs of Citizens

• Ensure the value of organization organize the
  possibilities of investing in the available
  resources and placing them at the service of the
  collectivity
• Specify in detail the interests,
  responsibilities, and commitments of all official
  and popular institutions, with a proper balance
  between fulfilling ones duties and achieving
  ones rights
• Honor the role of the mayorships in the towns and
  villages through elections that take place as
  soon as possible ensure that the citizen is the
  basis for the work of the mayorship provide
  independent funds for these mayorships according
  to laws that are clear and fair, laws that end
  the bad distribution of funds and that meet the
  needs of the areas that are poorer and less
  developed, especially areas threatened by
  settlements
• Prevent any elements that may lead to corruption,
  misuse of public money, or misuse of position for
  personal gain from existing, by instilling values
  of responsibility and competency in the work
  place

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(1) Supporting Independent Nation-Building,
Campaigning against Poverty, and Fostering the
Ability to Meet the Needs of Citizens

• Reform security apparatuses
• By doing away with the hierarchy in its lines
• By preventing its leaders from intervening in
  political and media matters. This can be done by
  constraining them with specific resolutions
  passed by the elected legislative body
• By distancing them completely from economic
  activities and from investment, by assigning a
  clear and official treasury for this apparatus
• By submitting them to the rule of law and to an
  independent legal system
• By instilling in them the interest and will to
  protect national Palestinian security and safety
  of the citizens

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(2) Achieving Sovereignty of Law, Independence of
the Legal System, as well as Security and Safety
for every Citizen
All Palestinian workers have to be treated
equally before the law without any need for
mediation or conditions. They should be able to
have recourse to a just legal system if their
rights are violated or if their properties are
attacked. The role of laws and courts is to be
fair to the oppressed, to protect the weak, and
to guarantee their rights. This calls for

• The building of a legal apparatus that is
  independent and effective, providing the
  necessary resources to appoint and train judges
  and determining the structure of their work so
  that the door may be closed to any external
  interference or political pressure
• Doing away with the courts of the state security
  apparatuses
• Reinforcing the role of the higher court so it
  forms a complete legal source
• Putting forth clear laws and mechanisms to
  protect investment projects so that they take
  place without interference or pressure

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(3) Fighting Against Unemployment and Providing
Work for the Unemployed
Fighting against unemployment, by providing work
for the workers and for those unemployed as well
as by training and incorporating new graduates
into the work force, is one of the most important
elements of human, social, and economic
resistance in the face of occupation. And this
is the best option to which financial support can
be directed. We must work on

• Creating infrastructure projects with the aim of
  putting to work workers
• Developing support programs for training and
  employing new graduates in the different national
  institutions and in the private sector
• Supporting Palestinian farmers and supporting
  their noble stance against the cancerous spread
  of settlements
• Directing foreign aid towards creating
  opportunities for work for the tens of thousands
  of Palestinians and towards bolstering the
  national economy

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(3) Fighting Against Unemployment and Providing
Work for the Unemployed

• Dismantling all economic monopolies, reviewing
  corporate companies, and safeguarding the freedom
  of investment in a fair and egalitarian manner
  for all Palestinians, and in accordance with what
  the law dictates.
• Supporting all activities of economic growth in
  order to achieve the most possibility of social
  justice for those deprived, especially the
  displaced, the refugees, the villagers, the young
  workers and the poor classes.
• Supporting the production sector, protecting it
  from monopolies, and outlawing the use of
  political and security positions to gain economic
  advantages
• Imposing detailed monitoring of the procedures of
  employment, especially in the government, to
  prevent abuses of power
• Developing programs and activities that build the
  individual and institutional abilities

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(4) Securing Health, Education, Social Welfare,
and the Rights of Women
Through

• A comprehensive plan for health care that
  provides quality treatment for all citizens, that
  offers the appropriate treatment for cancer and
  for terminal illnesses, that improves childcare
  and maternal care, and that establishes developed
  rural centers capable of treating its citizens
• Honoring the role of the Palestinian woman for
  her great contribution by acknowledging her
  rights and meeting her needs
• Offering a fundamental solution to the crisis of
  higher education by establishing loan programs
  that are available to all students, and thereby
  realizing the dream of Palestinian families in
  providing education for their children.
• Honoring education in all its stages, supporting
  kindergarten children and schools, and moving
  education to more modern levels

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(4) Securing Health, Education, Social Welfare,
and the Rights of Women
Through

• Providing a dignified living for teachers by
  making their salaries regular and by establishing
  an incentive program to encourage those talented
  to remain at the local universities
• Creating laws for social welfare and for social
  security that guarantee dignified retirement in
  cases of old age, disability, and injury. This
  also applies to those who participated in the
  struggle, including old fighters, families of
  martyrs and of the wounded, those imprisoned, as
  well as new retirees, in accordance with the
  rules of civil service
• Investing in Palestinian youth in all areas of
  health, education, and culture, since they are
  the future of the Palestinian people in its
  entirety
• Supporting the role of mothers, families, and
  teachers of the kindergarten and elementary
  stages in shaping a moral person in the
  Palestinian citizen
• Responding to the needs and protecting the rights
  of those with disability or those injured in all
  fields.

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(5) Working to Free All Prisoners
in the prisons of the occupiers, those whose
freedom represents the first condition for
progress towards a just peace.
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(6) Organizing Palestinian Communities in the
Diaspora

• To support the national struggle and to establish
  solidarity groups with the Palestinian issue
• To support the economic and social resistance of
  the Palestinian people
• To honor the spiritual, cultural, and political
  belonging to the Palestinian people and to the
  Palestinian state
• To attract the youth to return to Palestine and
  to volunteer for it

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(7) Honoring the Role and Independence of Civic
Organizations

• To honor their role in instilling and nurturing
  democratic principles in their work.

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(8) The Continuation and Expansion of the
International Solidarity Movement
with the Palestinian people in their just
struggle, with an eye toward emphasizing the wide
global support for the Palestinian issue.
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Conclusion

• What is at stake here is the unity of the
  Palestinian people, with its strong ties, its
  spirit of cooperation within national
  institutions, and within a unified strategic
  framework.
• We invite you to participate in enriching this
  program and joining this national initiative for
  a prosperous future for Palestine, so that the
  Palestinian people will get what they deserve in
  stature, standing, and dignified living.
• Dr. Haydar Abdel Shafi
• Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi
• M. Ibrahim al-Daqqaq

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• For your comments and suggestions, or to become a
  member of the Palestinian National Initiative,
  you can reach us by Phone [phone] or by
  Email almubadara_at_almubadara.org. Please check
  our website at www.almubadara.org