Date: 17-21.10.2008

On October 17th-21st, the Palestinian Peace Coalition-Geneva Initiative held a youth camp in the Al-Fara’a Refugee camp near the northern West Bank city of Jenin. Some 280 youths attended the three-day camp, organized in partnership with Al-Quds Open University in Tubas.

The main goal of the youth camp, the subject of which was the importance of education and peace building was to shed a light on the concepts of peace, non-violence, and tolerance. Additionally, it focused on solving conflict in a democratic and peaceful way.

The camp’s activities focused on four main subjects:

• Communication skills
• Community work skills
• Gender awareness
• Peace Education
• Conflict Management

The speakers stressed the importance of respecting the Palestinian legitimacy and respecting the role of the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Additionally, they stressed the importance of helping to strengthen public momentum towards peace and negotiations and against unilateral steps and policies which threaten to destroy the chances of reaching a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The camp also included a series of discussion workshops and sessions, focusing on several topics, including the EU support of the peace process, the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative, and raising the participants’ awareness of the Geneva Initiative.

The camp was organized as part of the project entitled "Empowering Rationale Voices," funded by the European Commission.