Delegation of Dr. Markus Engels and Hajo Lanz

Michael Bröning, Markus Engels, Amin Maqbool and Hajo Lanz (from left to right).

Dr. Markus Engels, deputy head at the department for international affairs of the SPD, and Hajo Lanz, head of the Middle East and North Africa department at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, visited the Palestinian Territories in December.
Focusing on the topic of party cooperation, the two visitors and Dr. Michael Bröning, director of the FES Jerusalem, met with Amin Maqbool, General Secretary of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, on Wednesday morning. In the light of significant changes in both SPD and Fatah, they discussed successful projects of the past and options for a closer cooperation in the future. Tipping the scales towards closer relations between the two sister parties was Fatah's commitment to renew its structures in the 6th party congress in Bethlehem in August 2009.

A meeting among friends: Markus Engels and representatives of the Shabibe Fatah in Ramallah

The party congress remained of interest in the following meeting. Over lunch with representatives from Shabibe Fatah and Britta Lenz, head of the Willy Brandt Center in Jerusalem, Markus Engels sought to locate Shabibe's positioning within Fatah and to learn about Shabibe's relationship with Hamas' youth. Markus Engels expressed his support for the Shabibe congress set to take place in 2010 and recalled the participation of a delegation of Shabibe youth in the SPD party convention in Dresden in November 2009.

The delegation with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti and Dr. Khaled Saifi.

In the offices of Medical Relief Ramallah, Markus Engels and Hajo Lanz did not only see one of FES' long-term partners, they also met with close friends: Dr. Mustafa Barghouti and Dr. Khaled Saifi of Al-Mubadara. In order to strengthen the ties between Al-Mubadara and the new SPD leadership, Dr. Barghouti and Markus Engels decided to reunite in Berlin in January.