Dr. Azmi Bishara, the Director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies(ACRPS), Doha, has called upon the Arab world to accelerate its ongoing efforts to mobilise global opinion on full-fledged statehood for Palestinian territories without bowing to the pressures of those opposing it.
Speaking at a symposium on the “Future of Palestinian National Project’ yesterday, Bishara said owing to their preoccupation with many other issues, it was doubtful if the Arab leaders have been able to focus wholly on the issue of the statehood for Palestine even though they have been deliberating on the same at intervals.
Even though the Palestinians are frustrated at this juncture at the slow progress in the issue of statehood, it is good to see that considerable momentum has taken place in the last few years owing to the formation of networks between the Palestinians scattered all over the world, especially the youngsters, said the Dr. Bishara.
While calling upon the Arab world to step up their ‘Boycott Israel’ campaign, Dr. Bishara said such an initiative would go a long way in mobilising public opinion in a big way.
Dr. Bishara said even though Israel is pretending before the US and the rest of the world as the only democratic country of the Middle East, it is far from being a democratic state as far as the issue of Palestinian statehood is concerned. “It is nothing more than a state which was founded on a fundamental religious agenda which never recognised democratic practices elsewhere in the region,” said Dr. Bishara.
The institution chose to hold the symposium this month as November always had a significant place in the history of all Palestinian struggles for close to 100 years, said Marwan Kabalan, ACRPS Researcher and Head of the Policy Analysis Unit.