Palestinian Youth Conf.

Palestinian Youth Conf.

ok kiddies, who wants go?

(from an email i got)

Dear all,

In two months dozens of Palestinian youth from 28 different countries
will be gathering in France to assert their connection to the
Palestinian struggle, Palestine's history, culture, politics, and her
future. The meeting in France will be an opportunity for young
Palestinians (18 - 35 years) from all over the world to connect with
and learn from each other, and build a network that will help draw
together the Palestinian youth in the Occupied Territories and the
Diaspora. The organizers of this project have been working hard to
raise the money to cover most of the costs of the conference,
including 50% or more of participants' airfares. Due to financial
constraints the decision was taken to cap the number of participants
from each country, but with the understanding that conference
attendees are representatives to the summit and will be contact people
to carry the energy, ideas and plans back to their respective
organizations, communities, and countries.

The application deadline has passed, but they did not receive enough
applications from the US, so they are opening it back up to US
applications, in addition, if you can pay for yourself to attend, then
you are welcome to come aside from any restrictions on numbers of
people. You can represent an organization or yourself as an
individual. I have talked in email a few times to Saif AbuKeshek, who
is the person who has been taking the lead, with others in Europe, in
putting this together, and they would really like to get more US
representation. The conference is Nov. 21-30, 2007, so it does fall
during the school year but you may be able to get special permission
to miss classes if you speak with your professors.


Information about the Palestinian Youth Network, the application form,
and a draft program are available here:
http://www.palyouth.blogspot.com/.


Palestinian Youth Network
Paris, France
21-30 November 2007


We would like to announce that our second conference will be held in
Paris, France between the 21st to the 30th of November 2007, in
coordination with the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS).


Applications:


Every organization or group may present five participant applications.
Three of these five will be selected, with both genders taken in
consideration. New participants will be favoured during the selection
process. The deadline for applications will be the 1 August 2007.
Coordination committee members will have to be in France two days
before the start of the Summit.
Due to the increase in international participation as well as funding
limitations, we will limit each country/group representation to three
participants (not including coordination committee members). As such,
we aim to ensure a diverse, gender-balanced and global representation.


Participation Criteria:
Palestinian origin.
18-35 years of age.
Must represent an individual organization or group
Be fully committed to participate during the entirety of the Summit.
Be committed to building the future of the Youth Network


The application can be downloaded from here in English or Arabic


The seminar agenda can be downloaded from here in English or Arabic


All Applications must be sent to: pal. youth.network@gmail.com





Introduction to the Palestinian youth Network





In Arabic
In English
Palestinian Youth Network
Introduction:


Who We Are


We are Palestinian young professionals and students from across the
world united by our commitment to our people and its cause. Together,
we seek to preserve our cultural and political identity and ensure
that our national cause remains paramount in all local and
international fora. We aim to spur our generation to seize the
initiative and play a leading role in affecting the future of our
national community.


Goal
To create a global network for Palestinian youths, with the aim of
enhancing our direct connection and involvement with the issues and
challenges facing Palestinians worldwide.


Objectives:
To preserve and contribute to Palestinian identity.
To extend and bring together the diverse capacities of Palestinian
youths the world over, so as to impact both Palestinian society as
well as the International Community.
To emphasize on the Right of Return, both as an individual and
collective right.
To contribute to the advancement of Palestinian youths' in all areas -
social, economic, intellectual, political - in order to contribute to
future decision-making.


We seek to realize our goals through:


Raising Awareness among Palestinian youths of their rights and
responsibilities, with special recognition of the challenges facing
Palestinian refugees in exile.
Promoting global Palestinian national identity and unity as well as
Right of Return.
Expanding a growing trans-national network of politically and
culturally engaged Palestinians, so as to:

Exchange expertise

Provide logistical and funding support for partner organizing

Establish a trans-national documentation as well as audio and visual
database, including for the gathering of a database on Palestinian
oral history.

Preserve and promote Arabic language skills for Palestinian Youths


Mechanisms
Reviving Palestinian national commemorations and actions worldwide.
Organizing lectures and cultural symposiums within local communities
as well as internationally.
Developing the notion of networking and trans-national cooperation
among the Network's members.
Develop an informative training package for Palestinian Youths.
Organizing an annual conference of the Palestinian Youth Network.