Hiwar For Community Development organized its first conference addressed “Towards a Violence-free Palestine”

Many parties participated in the conference, including governmental and human rights organizations, representatives of civil society organizations, remediators, and clergymen. The conference aimed to spread awareness about dangers of violence and to promote ways to address the manifestations of violence that threaten the Palestinian society; including violence perpetrated by the occupation.

Eman Abed Al Rahman, the director of Hiwar, initiated the conference with a welcoming speech, and presented the summary of the project, which was carried out under the title “The Palestinian Consortium for Nonviolence” project, in cooperation with Pal-Think for Strategic Studies and FXB France. She added, “We are trying through the conference to highlight various forms of violence within the Palestinian society, including hatred-based violence in religious discourse and develop solutions and recommendations by identifying the causes of the spread of violence and work to develop mechanisms to curb its spread.”

Mr. Kamal Abu Safaqa, Director of Resilience Support and Public Work at the Separation Wall’s Resistance Committee, addressed during the conference in one of the dialogue sessions the dangers of violence perpetrated by the occupation against the Palestinian people as the primary source of violence, and how this violence reflects negatively on Palestinian society.

Mr. Ashraf Abu Hayah, Legal Advisor to the Right Foundation, called for strengthening the role of the judiciary actors in alleviating violence in Palestinian society.

Mr. Radi Hijazi, Head of the Tribal Reform Forum in Jerusalem, spoke about the critical role tribes play in reducing violence, especially in resolving family quarrels.

The conference included a dialogue session on religious discourse and its role in addressing and alleviating violence and crime in Palestinian society.