Vision and Organizational Plan

Vision and Organizational Plan

The Alternative Palestinian Path Conference – Madrid 2021

Introduction

The organizational plan for the Alternative Palestinian Path Conference – Madrid 2021 is based on three main premises that must be achieved in order to implement our vision and reach our shared goal:

The highest level of organization and maximum participation in decision-making.

These three objectives can be formulated as follows:

  • First: facilitating public participation in the preparation for the Conference on a Palestinian, Arab, and international level; to expand dialogue and discussion channels, and to enable a wider participation in the work of the Conference and the decision-making process by adopting multiple flexible mechanisms that respond to our reality and our capabilities.
  • Second: To support local preparatory committees in occupied Palestine and diaspora.
  • Third: To ensure the progress of the democratic process, enforce the values of voluntary and collective work, and encourage individual and collective initiative.

Chapter one: name and role

Article 1: The Alternative Palestinian Path is the title of an interactive, democratic and popular Palestinian, Arab and international process, whose goal is to organize and hold a Conference of the Palestinian Alternative Path in the capital of Spain, Madrid, between October and November of 2021.

Chapter two: organizational chart of the preparatory period

Article 2: The organizational chart of the preparatory stage consists of the following committees:

  • The General Preparatory Committee (GPC)
  • The Local Preparatory Committees (LPC)
  • The Plenary session

Chapter three: General Preparatory Committee (GPC)

Article 3 – Definition: The General Preparatory Committee (GPC) is a Palestinian popular entity taking the initiative to prepare for the Alternative Palestinian Path Conference as a response to the Madrid-Oslo phase. The GPC’s mission ends with the Conference, which will be held to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of the 1991 Madrid liquidation conference, specifically at the end of October and the beginning of November 2021.

Article 4 – Membership: The GPC comprises of the initiating committee, which can be gradually expanded, by decision of its own, in order to guarantee the broadest democratic and territorial representation, with emphasis on women and youth.

Article 5 – Functions: Taking the necessary decisions to guarantee the success of the Conference, following up on the logistical and preparatory aspects to ensure holding the Conference at the planned time and place, and dealing with news and any unforeseen events.

Article 6 – Daily functions of the GPC:

  • Contacting organizations, associations, entities and committees of the Palestinian civil society, activists, and different Palestinian groups. It will also contact popular Arab and international organizations of interest, with the purpose of introducing the Alternative Palestine Path as well as forming local preparatory committees, with the intention of guaranteeing the widest possible participation in the Conference.
  • Monitoring, supervising, and supporting the creation of local committees and facilitating their work in the different geographical areas where Palestinian groups are found, whether it’s within occupied Palestine or in the diaspora.
  • The GPC is in charge of organizing workshops and talks with the aim of promoting the Palestinian Alternative Path Conference, debating Palestinian, Arab, and international issues with the popular masses with the participation of representatives of different sectors and Palestinian and Arab intellectuals. It is also in charge of taking political stances and make appeals to Palestinian public opinion, when necessary.
  • The GPC will draft the necessary documents and reports to be presented at the Conference. It can, if necessary, entrust these tasks to appropriate personnel outside the GPC’s members.
  • The GPC will carry out the functions indicated through the following action committees: the Political Committee, the Programs and Documents Committee, the Logistics Committee, the Information Committee, the Financial Committee and any other secondary or specialized Committees.

Article 7 – Resolutions: The GPC’s decisions are approved by consensus or overwhelming majority, and when necessrary a vote will be held, an absolute majority being necessary to approve the decision put to the vote. Any member of the GPC can show their reservation to a decision that they do not approve, without questioning the decisions duly taken.

Article 8 – The Quorum of the meetings: the meetings are given quorum when two thirds of the members are present.

Article 9: The GPC’s role ends with the election of the presidency of the Conference, at which point the Conference will be considered sovereign.

Chapter four: Local Preparatory Committees (LPC)

Article 10 – Definition: The local preparatory committees are local action committees that lead the efforts for the preparation of the Conference. They are formed in coordination with and under the sponsorship of the GPC, in different regions of our national territory and the diaspora. Its effort will focus on ensuring the widest possible participation, in addition to promoting the leadership of Palestinian women, youth and students.

Article 11 – Membership:

  • Each local or territorial preparatory committee is made up of at least three members that can be representatives of associations, active Palestinian entities, and individuals. It will bear the name of the area in which it operates.
  • A Palestinian or Arab civil association can form a committee consisting of its own members with the coordination and advice of the GPC. It will act as a local committee for the Alternative Path Conference.
  • In specific cases, LPCs can be formed at a city level, especially in large countries or continents. These local committees must be coordinated by a single committee or work independently but with the necessary presence of a link with the GPC. In special cases, local committees can be created within the framework of unions, universities, and academies.

Article 12 – The rights of LPC members

  • It is a right and a duty of each member of an LPC to express and defend their point of view with absolute freedom, within the meetings of the committee to which they belong.
  • Any member has the right to participate in the Plenary Conference or any of its committees. Members also have the right to appear and / or vote in its different sections.

Article 13 – LPC meetings:

  1. LPCs hold their meetings at least once a month or more frequently if deemed appropriate. Their resolutions and recommendations will be forwarded to the GPC at the end of each meeting.
  2. Each Local Committee determines the date and place of its meetings, sets up its own agendas, and distributes the tasks among its members (financial, informational, logistical, cultural, or others) as appropriate depending on its circumstances.
  3. Decisions are taken by consensus. When that is not possible, direct free voting is carried out, with the minority respecting  and complying with the opinion of the majority.

Article 14 – LPC tasks and functions:

  1. Each LPC establishes its own action plan that outlines the political, financial, and public activities to be held by it in the period between its first meeting and the date of the Conference in October 2021.
  2. LPCs will be in contact with local media and will organize bilateral or collective meetings with the entities working in the area, in order to involve them in the preparatory work for the Conference.
  3. Each LPC will conduct studies and write articles reflecting the reality of the Palestinian community in its country of activity, which includes individuals and local Palestinian and Arab associations, entities, and centers. The studies/articles will also focus on Palestinian solidarity movements and will assess the approximate Palestinian presence in the country and compare it with the presence of Zionist entities and other hostile forces. In short, anything that will assist the GPC in writing reports for the Conference.

Chapter five: The Plenary session

Article 15 – Name: the preparatory plenary session of the Alternative Palestinian Path Conference.

Article 16 – Definition: It is a periodic meeting, attended by the representatives of the local preparatory committees together with the members of the General Preparatory Committee as well as prominent Palestinian and Arab public figures invited by the GPC.

Article 17 – Meetings:

  1. Plenary sessions will be held once every two months: February, April, June, August and October: the last meeting will be held at the end of September, one month before the Conference.
  2. A plenary meeting can be held, exceptionally, outside the established timeline, at a reasoned request made by the General Preparatory Committee.

Article 18 – Tasks: reviewing the GPC’s reports on the preparatory work of the Conference, and making observations and proposals to guarantee the efficiency of the preparations and consequently the success of the Conference.

Article 19: The minutes of the Plenary session will end with the last plenary meeting, as long as there is no postponement.

Chapter Six: The Conference

Article 20 – Name: The Alternative Palestinian Path Conference – Madrid 2021.

Article 21 – Membership:

  1. The Conference members belong to one of three categories: active members, observing members, and honorary members.
  2. Active (natural) members of the Conference are considered to be the members of the General Preparatory Committee and members of the local preparatory committees.
  3. Any Palestinian or Arab has the right to participate in the work of the Conference as a natural/active member, in accordance with the conditions stipulated in the Organizational Plan.
  4. Members of liberation movements and internationalists supportive of the struggle of the Palestinian people have the right to participate in the Conference as observers. Exceptionally, some of them could choose to be an active or natural member at the proposal of the General Preparatory Committee and the approval of the Conference itself.
  5. The GPC reserves the right to invite Palestinian, Arab, and international legal, intellectual personalities to attend the Conference as honorary members.

Article 22 – The rights of the Conference members:

  1. Each natural member has the right to participate in one of the Conference committees, and to debate, comment, present proposals, vote and be voted on at the Conference.
  2. Observing members have the right to participate in the plenary sessions of the Conference, and to organize conferences to present their ideas on the role they can play in supporting the Palestinian national struggle, always within the framework of the activities that are organized at the margin of the Conference, and after coordinating with the Conference presidency.

Article 23 – Conference Committees: The Conference will be divided into a series of committees to debate the reports and present proposals (Note: a specific document will be drawn up to indicate how the committees operate). The resolutions will be announced in the plenary sessions held for this purpose.

(A specific detailed document on the work during the Conference will be drawn up later).