Deteriorating humanitarian conditions for the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and the absence of a negotiations process have continued to influence the working environment for the Palestinian Peace Coalition/ Geneva Initiative.
Such a situation has forced us to work on two parallel tracks hoping to achieve our objectives. One track refers to changing people's mindset in a way that promotes the principles of a negotiated settlement as opposed to the unilateral track being suggested, yet not implemented so far, by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The other track is to spread hopes for a better future, hopes that would appeal to thousands of Palestinians who suffer daily under Israeli occupation. Our message, through a set of activities, goes along the lines that only an agreed upon settlement can put an end to the occupation and subsequently end the suffering of the Palestinians, individuals and groups alike.
We understand that the events of the past four years have given a chance to extremists on both sides to hijack the proper and reasonable narrative and the moderate political approach of people on both sides. It is this factor that has generated every effort we did in the period between launching the Geneva Initiative until today. It is exactly the same goal and objectives that guide our future projects as well. We want to see a totally different situation spreading among the Palestinian society by means of promoting the principles of a negotiated settlement and emphasizing the dividends of a proper democratization process within the Palestinian society.
The other problem that we have been forced to tackle was the notion among our own people that there is no partner on the Israeli side and that peace as a whole is nothing but a dream too far to achieve. People's loss of hope that peace is possible and that it is doable has added up to our difficulties and has made us revisit part of our programs and plans in order to address this dangerous trend within the Palestinian public opinion.
We can proudly speak of the successful outreach campaigns we launched coming face-to-face with large sectors of the Palestinian society. The diversity of our activities, covering various trends of thinking and utilizing all tools available has spread our message of peace to areas we did not expect when the Geneva Initiative was first launched. The rapid political developments that characterized the last few months of 2004 were also of great importance for the PPC/ Geneva Initiative. We found ourselves in the midst of a nationwide campaign to promote the ideals of democracy, reforms, tolerance and dialogue. Our goal was clear: to involve the maximum number of Palestinians in the internal domestic political debate that not only addressed the past four years of conflict but also envisaged what steps needed for the future in order to get out of the current impasse.
In order to address the wrong perceptions of the peace concept, peace initiatives and perceptions of the other, the PPC/ Geneva Initiative in partnership with the Israeli partners implemented a major communication outreach campaign. This campaign, partly as a result of a two day workshop that brought together young Israeli and Palestinian talents from the advertising/PR industry, utilized different tools of communication to broadcast a message of peace. For the first time, a comprehensive joint campaign addressed both audiences with the same over-riding messages, using creative professional talents, including the utilization of billboards, print media, TV stations as well as Arab TV satellite channels, and cinemas.
The PPC believes that the way forward is through reviving the partnership and the negotiation process with the elected Palestinian leadership on the basis of the road map and with the aim of reaching a final permanent settlement based on a two-state solution, a Palestinian state living alongside Israel on the 1967 borders and on a just and agreed upon solution to the question of Palestinian refugees.
The public campaign continues to concentrate efforts on building a broad constituency for peace agreement and to formally organize a peace coalition; as well as to plan for and manage the implementation of the campaign; dissemination of information on the Geneva Initiative including, the Accord itself, summaries and maps, articles, and advertisements; broadening the political support base among key political actors and civil society institutions through dialogue and debate.
Campaign Activities
1. Media Outreach
In partnership with the Palestinian Center for Mass Communication, the Palestinian Peace Coalition/ Geneva Initiative produced two televised talk shows before and after the presidential elections in the Palestinian National Authority with the aim of promoting the public's participation in the elections process and to evaluate the elections outcome after Mahmoud Abbas became president of the PNA and after his moderate political approach won adopting negotiations as the form to end the conflict and reach a peaceful settlement based on the two-state solution. Those TV talk shows were filmed in Ramallah with the participation of Nabil Amr, former minister of information in the previous government of Abu Mazen. The shows were aired on most of the domestic television stations in the West Bank. The cost of each of those two episodes was US $ 4,000. The outcome of their broadcast was a moral push to the concept of negotiations and to the process of urging Palestinians to take a proactive role in designing their future by means of being directly involved in events that shape the history of their country.
2. Public Campaigns
The PPC/ Geneva Initiative opted for a campaign that sidestepped the brand name "Geneva Initiative" as an interim measure, in order to create and lead a local debate closer to the target audiences' interests and concerns. We launched two major campaigns: The first was named Who Are You With and the other was Raise Your Voice. Who are you with campaign was adopted in light of the very dramatic changes that wrecked the Palestinian public's mindset over four years of conflict with Israel. In those years, the moderate narrative of the people supporting reconciliation with Israel was replaced by that of extremists who viewed the continued confrontation, with all it entails in human losses on both sides, as their only agenda. The Raise Your Voice campaign emerged from the need to urge the maximum number of Palestinian eligible voters to participate on the day of presidential elections in designing the future of their country. Participation in the elections process was very important from more than one point of view. It gives the public a chance to share in the decision making process and it denies a minority of extremists the chance of imposing its own agenda on the overwhelming majority of the Palestinian people.
As the external conflict with Israel continued, domestic crises that were no less important to the average Palestinians continued to threaten the social integrity of the Palestinian public while destroying, gradually though, the chances of establishing a proper regime based on the rule of law in the Palestinian National Authority areas. To guarantee the campaign success, the PPC/ Geneva Initiative emphasized in its approach on topics that were of utmost importance for the Palestinian public. Through embarking on issues such reforms, internal fighting, lawlessness, need for a change, democracy and statehood, the PPC/ Geneva Initiative grasped the public attention and contributed to the ongoing internal debate within the Palestinian society surrounding those issues.
"Who Are You With?" campaign confronted large segments of the Palestinian people with very sharp and specific questions demanding of each and every Palestinian individual to take sides with or against reforms, democracy, rule of law and others. The campaign itself meant to gauge the interest and concern of the public at a time of great political turmoil. The terminology and slogans chosen for the campaign were based on the content and context of news articles, headlines and debates by local public opinion leaders. A media plan was then executed to help profile the Palestinian Peace Coalition and to convey to the public the basis of its values, beliefs and political agenda.
Intended to reach a vast majority of the Palestinian population in major West Bank cities such as Ramallah, Al Bireh, Beitunia, Jericho, Bethlehem, Hebron, Qalqilya, Jenin, Tulkarem and Nablus, as well as Gaza, the campaign was carried out in full cooperation with XEIN Productions, a Ramallah-based Palestinian PR & Event Management firm. XEIN's unique method of message delivery in this campaign was proactive. It employed a special design that was not utilized by the media, and therefore it stood out among others. Each design incorporated striking colors that attracted attention and a carefully-worded question that invited the reader to come to a decision about his/her stance on a specific issue in current affairs. The question was short. It used simple, yet symbolic, language to create a contrast between two plausible versions of the future; a positive, desirable one and a negative one. The message was clear and so was the indication: if one does not choose the positive scenario (advocated by the PPC), one would be faced with a dire future.
The designs were first published in the three local newspapers, Al Quds, Al Ayyam and Al Hayat Al Jadida with the same frequency. Eleven different designs were prepared and each newspaper published all eleven designs over a period of 20 consecutive days. The intensity of the publication was meant to focus the public's attention on these issues with such a proactive campaign in order to sustain the momentum and the effect it causes among people.
Billboards followed the newspaper ads. A total of 1,064 m2 were installed in all the cities in the West Bank and the Gaza City. To achieve the broadest outreach, a number of PR and advertising companies were sub-contracted to spread those billboards. Among those were SKY, Nasher, Zoom and Rihan. Each of those companies had a set of billboards of its own in the Palestinian cities. They were all hired to launch the campaign with the aim of reaching every corner possible in those cities.
The second leg of our outreach campaign activity was Raise Your Voice. The PPC/ Geneva Initiative decided to play a major role in the Presidential, legislative, and municipal elections processes through launching a campaign to encourage people to vote in the elections and raise the voice of peace and commit themselves to the Palestinian peace program including the PLO peace plan that was ratified by Palestinian National Council in Algiers in 1988.
Thus, a comprehensive working plan was prepared to carry out a comprehensive campaign in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to encourage Palestinian people to vote in the election as it is a very important mean to establish democracy and enhance the people's role in decision making process. As a part of the campaign, 200 volunteers representing all West Bank districts were involved. This large number of trained volunteers carried out several activities to promote PPC name among the public. These volunteers led by 37 leaders worked in groups as each group leader took responsibility of five group members to carry out the needed activity. Each group of the volunteers worked in a specific area to get in touch with as many people as they could.
A special central training program was executed to explain the aim of this campaign and distribute the volunteers regionally. The campaign included the following:
Christmas
A group of 14 volunteers organized a Christmas activity as they wore Santa Clause outfit and toured neighborhoods of Ramallah, Bethlehem, and other towns and villages where a majority of Palestinian Christians reside. Gifts were distributed through this activity as well as PPC publications. In Ramallah, for instance, a group of volunteers toured Jifna village, Al-Manara square, Plaza Mall, Ramallah Al-Tahta neighborhood and met with more than 5,000 citizens including children and handed out to them Christmas gifts. The groups also toured several neighborhoods and met with people who expressed their satisfaction and admiration to the activity.
Huge demonstration
A group of volunteers with the PPC/ GI and supporters organized a rally and toured Ramallah City before they headed to the burial site of the late President Yasser Arafat. Approximately 750 Palestinians participated in this activity. PPC/ GI Head Yasser Abed Rabbo addressed the volunteers announcing the start of the Raise Your Voice campaign. Palestinian National Authority officials later said the rally was the most organized they have witnessed in a while. During the rally, participants met with Tayyeb Abdul Raheem, director of the presidential election media campaign of presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas, who welcomed the PPC/ GI move to encourage people to vote.
Door-to-door
A group of 250 volunteers made site visits to more than 90% of Palestinian families in different cities and villages and distributed publications that call upon the citizens to take part in the election. The group wore uniforms decorated with PPC/ GI logo and stamps. Some volunteers said they were harassed and brutally beaten by Israeli soldiers at military roadblocks because of the uniforms and publications they held. Three of the volunteers were detained for some time.
Camping activities
The PPC/ GI set up a Palestinian youth camp in Jericho in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Around 71 participants between 18-23 years-old participated. The goal of this camp was to enhance the youth role in taking part in the election process and to show the power of youth in decision making process, dialogue and pluralism.
Important visit
Representatives of "Raise Your Voice" campaign volunteers visited director of International Supervision campaign Mr. Michel Rocard and briefed him on the campaign and its goals and invited him to visit the PPC/ GI premises. Mr. Rocard welcomed the invitation.
Central conference
The PPC/ GI took part in a public festival in Abu Falah village near Ramallah City where more than 3000 people attended under the title of "Participation in the election is an obligation of all Palestinians". Palestinian officials including Governor of Ramallah City, Ramallah Police Chief, Minister without Portfolio Mr. Qaddoura Fares, and others addressed the public and urged them to vote for Mahmoud Abbas. PPC/ GI and "Raise Your Voice" campaign publications were distributed during the festival.
Various activities
The PPC/ GI participated in a rally in Ramallah City in support to Mr. Mahmoud Abbas. The PPC/ GI participation aimed to show the PPC/ GI name and to promote the PPC/ GI election media campaign. During the rally, a number of volunteers distributed PPC/ GI publications.
In Jenin
A group of "Raise Your Voice" campaign facilitators and volunteers in Jenin area carried out a series of activities focusing on the wide-scale public participation in the elections and on enhancing relations between the PPC/ GI and a number of civil society organizations in the Palestinian territories.
In Jericho
Volunteers in "Raise Your Voice" campaign met in Jericho with presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas who warmly praised the PPC/ GI activities and volunteers. The volunteers later visited most of Jericho residential areas and urged people to vote.
In Bethlehem
"Raise Your Voice" campaign in Hebron and Bethlehem districts involved 60 volunteers who visited people in their homes and distributed PPC/ GI publications to encourage them to take part in the coming elections and vote.
3. Polls
In cooperation with Alpha International, the PPC/ Geneva Initiative conducted two polls in December and January to gauge the public's level of interaction with the elections campaign and to examine the weak points of the public through analyzing the trends portrayed in those two polls. The outcome of those two polls was shared with members of presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas's team of campaign and the overall target was to make sure that the concept of peace and a negotiated settlement supported by Mahmoud Abbas would also be supported by the majority of Palestinian eligible voters. The elections results and the considerably high voters' turnout (bearing in mind the tough conditions on the ground) showed that the PPC/ Geneva Initiative campaign brought the kind of fruits the Palestinians have longed for. Shortly after Abu Mazen was elected, a true window of opportunities opened up in the Middle East and Israel's unilateral disengagement plan was soon replaced by some form of a bilateral track of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The two polls surveyed samples of 1650 Palestinians each in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
4. There Is A Partner
The Partner Campaign, launched jointly by the Palestinian and Israeli parties to the Geneva Initiative, scored an impressive success. On the Palestinian side, the campaign reached out hundreds of thousands of Palestinians through a concerted campaign aired on the local television stations in the West Bank cities. More importantly, it reached millions of Arab-speaking viewers all over the world through Al Arabiya, a leading Arab satellite channel based in the United Arab Emirates. Airing the campaign on Al Arabiya was totally unprecedented. Never before have Israeli leading figures addressed Arab viewers directly through the screens of their TV sets in their own homes whether in the Arab countries or throughout the universe. In some way, a taboo was broken. Arab media outlets were no more afraid of airing open and frank calls for peace and coexistence between the Arab world and Israel, through a negotiated peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israel. In the first week of February, a number of Arab satellite stations, including the Lebanese Al Mustaqbal and the Saudi-owned MBC, aired a special anti-terror campaign that portrayed terror as the worst thing that can happen to Arabs no matter where they reside. The anti-terror campaign embarked on the series of terror attacks in Saudi Arabia but the message of course went far beyond the borders of the Saudi peninsula. One can argue that promoters of this anti-terror campaign must have been encouraged by Al Arabiya when it aired the joint Palestinian-Israeli partner campaign.
A majority of Palestinian residents in the West Bank has no access to satellite dishes. Instead, they rely on local television stations for news and entertainment. The domestic television stations played an instrumental role in spreading the message of peace that Palestinian and Israeli ex-officials and officers put out to the public of the other side. Since no private stations exist in East Jerusalem or in the Gaza Strip, the state-run Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation was approached to air the campaign in order to maximize its exposure.
The reaction to the Partner Campaign was very promising and positive. It was the first time that Palestinians and Arabs heard Israeli figures committing themselves to an historical compromise that leads to a two-state solution, bring to an end the occupation and the conflict. By the same token, the campaign was equally important on the Israeli side where Israelis had the chance to hear directly from Palestinians a message of peace and reconciliation, a message that emphasized the existence of a peace partner on the Palestinian side, contrary to all allegations and claims made by the Israeli government.
To close up certain holes of outreach, the PPC/ Geneva Initiative decided to make DVD copies of the Partner Campaign and have them ready for distribution in all forms of meetings, public congregations and workshops that are initiated by the PPC/ Geneva Initiative. The message is being spread very consistently and very aggressively to underline the fact that partners for peace do exist on both sides of the divide.
5. Business Sector Outreach
In partnership with the Palestinian Trade Center (PalTrade) a new calendar was put together with massive amounts of trade information that was laid throughout 12 pages (100cm x 70cm). A team of first-class photographers in Palestine were invited to capture Palestinian industries in images and surround them with information for recipients' everyday use. The calendar contained lists of hundreds of tradeshows and exhibits locally and internationally; lists of PalTrade activities throughout the year (training, exhibits and trade missions); economical snapshots about each industry; interesting facts about Palestine; contact information of industry representative associations and best images and artwork of Business Palestine. The goal of the calendar is to raise awareness about Palestine's production capacity in the main sectors through an artistic and unique production. In addition to its use as a calendar, it was designed to be used as a directory of Tradeshows and Conferences locally and worldwide. The calendar was distributed among 2000 companies and organizations in the West Bank, Gaza, Amman, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The list of recipients is long. It includes ministries, associations, sponsors, NGOs, embassies, consulates, diplomatic representatives, insurance companies, municipalities, service firms, chambers of commerce and others. PalTrade is a support organization that endeavors to drive Palestinian business towards economic independency. It believes such commitment is the best road to economic stability. Through trade advocacy, promotion and development, PalTrade empowers Palestinian businesses to expand their market share locally and internationally. Such an accomplishment typically boosts GDP and helps improve the quality of life in Palestine.
Feedback & Testimonials:
The calendar proved to be a great utility and reference and has certainly created a sense of havoc and curiosity about Palestine's capabilities on all levels. The following are some of the calendar recipient's feedbacks:
- "The calendar is most impressive,
providing interesting facts and it's much appreciated" Fumanekile
Fumie Gqiba. Ambassador - South African Embassy
- "I want to thank you for the very
nice "The 2005 Palestine Trade Calendar" you can be sure that
it will be of great utility for our work" - Hernan Tassara, Representative
of Chile
- "Many thanks for the 2005 Palestinian Calendar, I liked it very much, nice job" Jorg Hartmann, General Manager - Coca Cola
6. Training Workshops
In partnership with Ta'awon, a Palestinian NGO, the PPC/ Geneva Initiative supervised a series of workshops with members of various Palestinian security apparatuses with the aim of promoting the concept of peace and a negotiated settlement among them. Other topics discussed in those workshops were methods and ideas that urge the participants to abide by the rule of law and human rights in addition to exploring with them skills of managing public-related issues as well as crisis management in all fields of Palestinian daily and public life. The program included a series of workshops and seminars on the subject of peace and human rights. Over 90 security personnel participated in this program. Among them were 25 from the police force, 17 from the Special Forces, 24 from the preventive security and 24 from the intelligence branch. Throughout all the sessions, special time was allocated to discuss the political concepts promoted by the PPC/ Geneva Initiative and the political program it endeavors to promote among the Palestinian public. Details of the Geneva Initiative were also presented to the participants in part of the political debate that generated during the workshops. The idea was to promote a model of a peaceful and negotiated settlement along the parameters proposed by the Geneva Accord. The idea of this series of workshops stemmed from the PPC/ GI's deep understanding that Palestinian security forces can play a very important and pivotal role in sustaining a politically-correct society based on the rule of law and on human right and dignity in the post-occupation era, when building and enhancing the institutions of the independent Palestinian state become the major duty of every Palestinian. Other issues discussed in the workshops include basic means of communication between the security personnel and the public, the importance of international law and its applicability, in addition to ideals of equality among all people and that none is above the law.