Written contribution / Contribution écrite
by / par

Aown SHAWA
Mayor of Gaza City,
President of the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities

(Municipality of Gaza, Palestine Square, PO Box 16
Tel. 00 972 7 2844055; Fax. 00 972 7 2824400
Email: gm@palnet.com)

The ideas and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of UNESCO/Les idées et les opinions exprimées dans cet ouvrage sont celles de l'auteur et ne reflètent pas nécessairement les vues de l'UNESCO

"Man, City, Civilization"

Since 1994, and after the six years of the Intifada and the twenty-seven years of the Israeli occupation, building a culture of peace is one of the major tasks of the Palestinian National Authority. Although this task is a very difficult one as most of the essential prerequisites needed to reach such an achievement don't exist.

In order to achieve a culture of peace in our region one of the first steps is to reach mutual respect and understanding of each other's identity. This implies the acknowledgement of differences in historical background, culture, political values and religious beliefs. This respect and understanding should occur regardless of the economic, technical or military power of the parties. This also implies an acknowledgement of the disparities among advanced and less advanced economies and attempt to eradicate these disparities.

For the Palestinian people, the history of its relationship with the Israeli people has been a continuous denial of these prerequisites. In the beginning, the very existence of the Palestinian people was denied and the occupation was a constant violation of the political, cultural and historical rights of the Palestinians.

Since the peace initiative was launched in October 1991 in Madrid Peace Conference and the Declaration of principles was signed in Oslo on Sept. 13 1993, it was hoped that it would have been a first step towards reaching mutual respect and understanding. However, no such steps have occurred and injustice still prevails as the abuse of the Israeli military strength is still exercised on the daily life of the Palestinians. It is often said in the streets of Gaza that there was almost no restrictions of movement for individuals and trade before the peace process started. The Gaza Strip is often compared to a big jail, as only 30.000 persons among the 1.3 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip are daily allowed to go out of the strip to work in Israel. The restrictions of movement between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank for individuals and goods is aimed at weekening the ties between the Palestinian People living in both areas. It creates an economic blockade forcing each area to trade and buy from Israel rather than trade with each other. These restrictions weaken the ties among the Palestinian nation, increase the internal political intolerance and weaken the population trust in the peace process.

We know that peace depends not only on agreements and treaties but also on the achievement of social and economic progress. Therefore, in 1994, upon the evacuation of the Israeli occupying forces, when the Municipality of Gaza began its duty, its first task was to erase the effects of three decades of occupation, economic and social devastation and conflict. Development being peace by another name, its first general objective was "the rehabilitation of the destroyed Gaza City that resulted from 27 years of occupation, alleviating the suffering of its citizens and coping with the universal development process". The Municipality had to cope with the absence of proper infrastructures: raw sewage and storm water flooded unsewered areas of the city, polluting and creating health hazards to residents, and the majority of the streets were unpaved.

After almost 5 years and with the support of the international community, a lot has been done.

As a measure to create community participation , the Municipal Council decided to form eleven liaison committees at the city quarters with the aim of activating the role of the citizens, providing them with awareness and opening of liaison channels between them and the Municipality.

In that spirit, many development programs are community based. One of the most ambitious is entitled "Towards Clean and Beautiful Gaza" the objectives of this programme are to raise public awareness on environmental issues and more specifically to get the citizens participation in the cleanliness and beautification of the City.

This community involvement is essential not only to assess the social impact of the actions but to sense the needs of the citizens, to take their view into account and above all it helped in restoring dialogue among citizens and to raise their responsibility towards the community.

Another field on which the Municipality has decided to focus is culture and education. This field was considered as secondary because it is not vital. We believe on the contrary that it should gather as much attention as other fields.

During the Israeli occupation the cultural field was non-existent in Gaza City as a result of a long policy of ignorance imposed by Israel. All national cultural activities were banned, universities were suffering from long closures, most of the intellectuals were detained and no cultural centers were allowed. Further more, the Gaza Strip being isolated from the West Bank and the procedures to exchange artists and intellectuals being quiet difficult, we needed to create our own cultural structures.

In such a situation and as we face a critical historical phase, strengthening the Palestinian cultural identity is an essential concern. This should be made in a spirit of restoring an identity of which every one could be proud of. An identity which would not be dissolved in the ever growing globalization. Being self confident about one's own culture and identity is a tool to face fruitful dialogue with other cultures. Therefore, all cultural projects of the Municipality also focus on creating links with the outside world. This aspect is very important as people from Gaza cannot travel unless going through difficult if not impossible procedures and their universe is almost confined to their hometown.

The need for a national identity might not seem so relevant to the Europeans. It is different with the Palestinians who have been subjected during half a century to all kinds of measures to eradicate it. In this area one of the projects of the Municipality was its Arts and Crafts Village, which objectives are to promote and preserve the Palestinian cultural heritage as well as open up routes towards the present and the future through building links between traditional and contemporary culture and art. It is also a window to the world as it gives Palestinians the opportunity to discover different arts and cultures.

The Municipality also opened the Holst Park, a cultural and activity center for children where they can play music or theater, where they can learn to dance or paint. We also believe that books are an essential way to convey culture. They are the memory of the world and assertions of the knowledge and the intelligence of the humanity. They also assert the freedom of thinking against any kind of intolerance. We have therefore created a free access public library, which will be soon inaugurated.

Since 1994, the Municipality of Gaza did a lot to enhance the quality of life of its citizens and the changes are visible for any visitor who knew the city before this date. Yet the changes expected from the peace process did not occur and, until now, it resulted mainly in less freedom for the Palestinian people. Nevertheless, in spite of the suffering and difficulties the majority of the Palestinian People still support the Peace Process.

In order to reach a sustainable peace, enhancing the quality of life of the citizens is essential but it is not sufficient. It can not have a real impact on their culture for peace unless the universally recognized principles of justice and mutual respect, preservation of each party's identity, culture, and values, are preserved.