Palestine 2004
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Palestine Human Development Report 2004 BIRZEIT UNIVERSITY Development Studies Programme With Support from In Association with Programme of Assistance to Ministry of Planning the Palestinian People Copyright 2005 Development Studies Programme Ramallah office Gaza office Tel: (972) 2 2959250 Tel: (972) 8 2838884 Fax: (972) 2 2958117 Fax: (972) 8 2826755 P.O. Box: 1878 Ramallah E-mail: [email protected] http://home.birzeit.edu/dsp The analysis and policy recommendations of this Report do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring institutions. ISBN: 9950-334-01-2 Work Team and Steering Committees Team Leader and Report Editor: Nader Izzat Said Principal Authors: Ibrahim Al-Daqaq, Nasr Abdel Karim, Bassem Ezbidi, Nader Said, Wasim Abu Fasha Ministerial Committee Coordinator: Mohammad Ghadia Human Development Unit/United Nations Development Programme Coordinator: Sufyan Mashasha Research Coordinators: Aymen Abdel Majid, Ghassan Abu Hatab Editorial Assistant: Wasim Abu Fasha Preparation of Background Papers and Reviewers: Jamil Halal, Muhsen Abu Ramadan, Taysir Moheisen, Nasser Al-Ris, Anwar Hamam, Ibrahim Abrash, Tufida Al-Jarbawi, Samir Abdullah, Nasser Abu Al-Atta, Fadwa Al-Sha’er, Ibrahim Abu Hantesh, Khalil Nakhla, Samir Abu Zuneid, Rima Al-Kilani, Mohammed Samhouri, Osama Noufal, Nader Said Members of the Technical Advisory Committee: Ramzi Rihan, Ghazi Al-Surani, Tufida Al-Jarbawi, Samir Abdullah, Ibrahim Al-Daqaq, Naser Abu Al-Atta, Muhsen Abu Ramadan, Ibrahim Abrash, Jamil Halal, Talal Awkal, Mohammad Ghadia, Taysir Moheisen, Bassem Ezbidi, Sufyan Mashasha, Cairo Arafat, Sarida Hussein, Anwar Hamam, Ahmed Majedlani, Khadija Abu Ali, Nadya Abu Nahla, Sa‘eb Bamia, Omar Sha’ban, Salah Abdel Shafi, Sami Abu Tharifa, Samir Abu Zuneid, Yahya Al-Ghalban, Issam Younes, Sabri Seidem, Aylin Kitab, Abdel Karim ‘Ashour, Abdel Fatah Nassrullah, I’tmad Mahna Members of the Ministerial Committee: Ministry of Education and Higher Education (Rima Al-Kilani, Haifa Al-Agha, Jamal Hussein), Ministry of Interior (Fadwa Al-Sha’er), Ministry of Agriculture (Khaled Jaber, Mahmoud Abu Samra), Ministry of National Economy (Osama Al-Tibi, Ghazi Al-Surani), Ministry of Local Government (Hani Al-Haroub, Hassan Abu Sumhadana), Ministry of Social Affairs (Hani Saba, Aymen Suwalha), Ministry of Finance (Nubhan Othman), Ministry of Youth and Sport (Rubiha Thiyab, Yasri Darwish), Ministry of Justice (Hana Issa), Ministry of Labor (Abdel Aziz Qadih, Abdel Majid Sweilem), Ministry of Health (Muthqal Ismael, Ghaleb Abu Baker), Ministry of Culture (Issam Al-Butran), Ministry of Public Works (Majdi Abu Gharbia), Ministry of Housing (Nabil Tarzi), Ministry of Religious Endowments (Mahmoud Al-Neireb) Development Studies Programme Team: Nooran Nassief, Maisa Barghouti, Ghassan Abu Hatab, Raqia Abu Ghoush, Ayman Abdel Majid, Shuhanaz Jabran, Wasim Abu Fasha, Nuwal Abu Hadid, Shereen Dabah, Marwa Abu Daqa, Hassan Hamarsha, Rihab Said, Hana Qadis, Rami Murad, Nader Said Language Editing: Jane Masri i Birzeit University Address at the Opening Session of Conference to Launch the Human Development Report 2004 ≠ Palestine (18 December 2004) Address by Birzeit University On behalf of Birzeit University and its Secretariat Council, administration, and institutes, I am pleased, at the opening of this address, to welcome you to this conference on human development in Palestine, and to thank you for your attendance and participation, which will be rich and distinguished. I would also like to emphasize that Birzeit University has always been committed to the betterment of Palestinian academic life and to providing the best possible educational programs. Through its simultaneous and equal commitment to its national, community-based duties, our university programs carry out a comprehensive roster of research and community-based initiatives that contribute to policymaking, guide the decision-making process, and raise community awareness. During these critical times, we concentrate on providing living examples of perseverance and persistence in work and life, despite trying conditions and the political and daily dilemmas in which we are entangled. We at Birzeit University strive for our programs to be national and universal, extending to all Palestinian areas, reaching marginalized locales and social groups, in a continuing affirmation of their ability to contribute and participate. We distribute our programs across numerous social welfare endeavors, such as eradicating illiteracy, continuing adult education, community-based health, the environment, law, human rights, social studies, sustainable human development, and many more. Today we open the Launching Conference of the 2004 Human Development Report in Ramallah and Gaza to reap the fruit of our joint efforts. The report we place in your hands focuses on empowering the Palestinian people in the tasks of national liberation and development in order to arrive at wider and more effective involvement. To promote the role of the Palestinian people, we must acknowledge that our reality was and remains dependent on people’s resoluteness and restored abilities to come up with creative solutions to life’s difficulties. This comes with the realization that the institutional infrastructure (governmental and community-based) serves as a means of organizing individual and collective action for the Palestinians, as well as a crucible for aggregating their initiatives. However, this structure has not yet been able to invest proactively in the latent abilities of the Palestinian people to the extent that they become pioneers in the development process and benefit from it as citizens with full rights. This present report represents a Palestinian scientific effort, in its study of the subject of empowerment as basis for attaining independence and effecting development in Palestine. What distinguishes this effort is that it does not offer ready-made prescriptions for “magicò solutions to the deteriorating Palestinian circumstances. Rather, it poses essential questions about the Palestinian situation, searching for answers through assessment of cumulative Palestinian experience. On the other hand, the sections of the report do not merely propose what must be done to escape from the disintegration. Rather, the report strives to offer mechanisms and tools for bringing about the necessary practical breakthroughs. The concept of empowerment that the report proposes encompasses numerous elements: 1) activating the role of the people and strengthening them, with the goal of promoting the ability of various groups, especially those that are oppressed, so that they might enjoy sovereignty over their lives; 2) the importance of joining in activities and structures that allow participation by the people; 3) highlighting the importance of providing for basic needs and providing the institutions necessary for generating and restoring the abilities and skills of individuals within society; 4) expanding the areas and bounds of participation and decision-making; 5) awareness of basic rights and freedoms; 6) development of a national economy based on the freedom of intelligent use of natural and environmental resources; and 7) providing the infrastructure and a suitable environment for growth. I must, on this occasion, offer my thanks and appreciation to Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia for his encouragement and support of this conference and to the many that helped make this report a success. The university is deeply grateful to the United Nations Development Programme for its continued support of Birzeit University and especially the Development Studies Programme. We extend special thanks to Mr. Timothy Rothermel and Mr. Sufyan Mashasha. We also thank the Ministry of Planning for its effective and beneficial partnership, and we would especially like to ii recognize the contributions of the Minister as well as Mr. Mohammad Ghadia, the ministry’s Human Development Officer. We also thank the members of the Conference Preparatory Committee, and we extend thanks to the members of the Advisory Committee, who guided the preparation of this report during its various stages in Gaza and the West Bank—they are the ones who made issuing this report under these circumstances possible. We also thank the members of the Ministerial Committee for their tremendous effort in developing and reviewing the report. The university also wishes to take this opportunity to express its great admiration for the staff of the Development Studies Programme, along with its director, Dr. Nader Said and all of those who work in the program. Finally, I would like to invite all of you—in the capacity of your valued professional positions representing all sectors of Palestinian society—to look seriously at the report results and attempt to derive practical benefit from its proposed recommendations and suggestions for policy change in order to advance the Palestinian condition. We have begun, and all that is before us is to remain on our path and attain the goal of national liberation associated with sustainable human development. We only have one option and that option is to succeed. We can achieve our goals if we work from strong scientific foundations, through wide participation, and within an institutionalized, democratic environment. I thank you very much for your participation in our conference, and I hope we will see you on many coming occasions in our joint effort to raise our people to new heights and to achieve the best for this nation. Nabil Kassis President of Birzeit University