Expert: Conference for Palestinian diaspora ‘step in the right direction’

Palestinian researcher Hani Al-Masri said yesterday that the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, due to be held in Turkey at the end of the month, is a “step in the right direction if it is not partisan”, Quds Press reported.

Al-Masri, who is the director of the Palestinian Centre for Strategic and Political Studies, warned: “If the popular conference turned partisan, it would lose its meaning.”

Palestinians in the diaspora are planning to hold their conference on 25-26 February in the Turkish city of Istanbul. “The Palestinians aboard should have a greater role in the Palestinian political process, not be marginalised,” Al-Masri said.

Read: Conference on Palestinian diaspora pledge to liberate their lands

Meanwhile, he said that the organisers of this conference should have invited PLO officials to attend the conference. He also said that “it must remain far from factions”, noting that this is “almost an impossible mission” because Palestinians are divided.

Speaking to Quds Press, conference spokesman Ziad Al-Aloul said that a number of historic Palestinian National Council and PLO leaders took part in preparing the conference and will be taking part in the conference.

He stressed that the conference, which came as a result of the political, security and social circumstances in which Palestinians are living, “represents the Palestinians without being aligned to any factions.”