Given the centrality of the Question of Palestine to the renaissance of the Arab world and considering alarming developments related to the question of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, in 2018 ARDD launched its Question of Palestine program with the aim to establish a platform in the Arab World for critical reflection with respect to the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian question and the Palestinian refugee issue. As an integral part of the program, ARDD established the Global Network for the Question of Palestine (GNQP), under the patronage of HRH Prince Hassan.
The Network comprises an expanding group of Palestinian, regional, and international experts, senior and youth leaders, and organizations on the Question of Palestine, in addition to a number of observers and guests. To govern its functioning in 2021 the Network adopted its ‘Working Methods’ which, among others, provide for the Network’s expansion. Cognizant thereof, the Network has grown significantly in 2021 and 2022 and now comprises ten organizations and over 90 individuals, over 100 members in total. For the latest list of members and observers, please click here
Since its establishment, the GNQP held three workshops, focusing on Palestinian refugees and UNRWA under threat in 2018; a new approach to solutions for Palestinian refugees in 2019; the Question of Palestine thirty years after Madrid in 2021 – with a fourth workshop scheduled at the end of November 2022. In addition, the Network held a series of online roundtables in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The roundtables earlier this year focused on the mandate of the new UN Special Rapporteur for the human rights situation in the territories occupied by Israel since 1967 (2 June 2022) and the modernization of UNRWA Palestinian refugee registration information system (29 June 2022). Another roundtable, on one of the recent studies on UNRWA, will be held early in November.
The Network has also been issuing regular statements and policy briefs all of which have been posted on the ARDD website. For the period 2022, the work of the Network is centered on the three main themes of ARDD’s Question of Palestine program: Palestinian refugees; Decolonizing Palestine; and Accountability and reparations.
