Female delegates of the Fatah Revolutionary Council visit Berlin

The delegation with the Vice-Chairperson of the SPD Manuela Schwesig.

Between party congress and expert discussions – With the support of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung East Jerusalem, nine out of 13 female members of the Fatah Revolutionary Council travelled to Berlin from September 25th to October 1st, 2010.
The visit responded to the personal invitation extended by the SPD’s General Secretary Andrea Nahles, who had met some members of the delegation at the Jalazoon refugee camp during her visit to the Palestinian Territories in February.
Besides their important posts as members of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, to which they were elected at the party’s assembly of August 2009, the women all hold influential functions in Palestinian civil society and government.
The journey to Berlin aimed at fostering professional networks among them as well as between them and German political leaders. Furthermore it was conceived to support the process of reform inside Fatah through external political impulse.
First item on the schedule was the SPD Party Assembly in Berlin with over 500 SPD delegates present. Here, the participants attended the speech of Chairperson Sigmar Gabriel and also met Hubertus Heil, who gladly accepted their invitation to the Palestinian Territories.
The topics discussed at the Party Assembly proved to be of great interest to the Fatah women, and issues such as the significance of grass roots engagement in defining social-democratic positioning were taken up in the talks with German officials over the next days.

MP Kerstin Griese with Haitham Arar, member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council.

Another major topic for debate was the Middle East peace process and prospects for negotiations with Israel. The German partners in discussion delineated the expectations of the international community towards the Palestinians and deliberated together with their guests how Europe and Germany in particular could play a constructive role in the negotiations.
MPs Kerstin Griese and Christian Lange, who had visited the Palestinian Territories and Israel in April, emphasized the necessity of a non-violent solution to the conflict and assured their support for the politics of President Mahmoud Abbas. Rolf Muetzenich, spokesperson for foreign affairs of the SPD parliamentary group, pointed to the potential for strengthening the Palestinian position at the negotiation table through overcoming the split between Fatah and Hamas. Dietmar Nietan, member of the Commission for European Union Affairs, supported this view and moreover expressed optimism on a potential international recognition of an independent State of Palestine. Former Minister of Justice Prof. Dr. Herta Daeubler-Gmelin mentioned changes in how the conflict is perceived in an international context and expressed cautious optimism for a US-brokered peace deal to be achieved.
Two highlights of the visit to the German capital were meetings with Manuela Schwesig, Vice-Chairperson of the SPD and Minister for Social Affairs and Health in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Andrea Nahles, SPD-Chairperson. Both politicians engaged in intriguing discussions with their Palestinian female colleagues, debating recent developments in the Middle East as well as the challenge of integrating the political profession with family life.

The delegation during a meeting with former Minister of Justice Prof. Dr. Herta Däubler-Gmelin.

After a busy week in Berlin with intense discourse on social-democratic positions, the delegation returned to the Palestinian Territories with many ideas to share and great motivation to cooperate more closely in the future.