The official launching of the International Conference of Local Authorities in Solidarity with the Palestinian People took place on Friday, gathering more than a hundred International, Arab and Islamic key figures who came to show support for the Palestinian struggle for freedom and an end to the Israeli occupation.WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency reports that the head of the national committee over the commemoration of the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Mazen Ghnaim, thanked the delegations who braved the challenges of traveling to attend the conference, despite Israel’s strict measures.
He expressed his apologies for the hardships they underwent, either at the Israeli airport, Allenby crossing bridge with Jordan, or at Israeli checkpoints spread out across the West Bank, stressing that this experience could give them a miniscule fraction of the daily suffering of the Palestinian people.
More than a 100 international figures were trapped at the Israeli airport and Allenby crossing bridge with Jordan and could not attend the meeting.
The UN General Assembly declared 2014 to be the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, on the 26th of November, 2013.
Several key figures of local Palestinian and international authorities spoke at the conference, emphasizing the importance of this event in supporting the Palestinian people’s struggle under occupation.
President Mahmous Abbas is scheduled to address the delegation on Friday evening at the Ramallah Cultural Palace.
Mayor of the German town of Jena said, “There is no well being for the state of Israel without the well being of the Palestinian state” and vice versa.
“We are here in the holy land, while the situation is not very holy, to encourage our Palestinian friends in their struggle for just and peace in their own state,” said the mayor at the official opening of the conference.
He stated that there are a lot of challenges facing local authorities in Palestine under Israeli occupation; the seizure of land, settlement expansion, and having no control over resources, including water and electricity, which he stressed are not very good conditions to help building up strong municipalities that can play a better role in the structure of a state.
He additionally noted, referring to Berlin wall, that Germany had a very high wall but that they overcame the wall, which he said proves that it’s possible to overcome all hardships.
