The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA) concluded the Palestinian-French Partnerships Conference held in partnership and cooperation between APLA, the French Consulate in Jerusalem and the Ministry of Local Government. The conference was entitled “Decentralized Cooperation in Policies to Preserve Local Heritage”. The conference was under the auspices and in presence of the French Consul General Rene Troccaz, the Minister of Local Government Eng. Majdi Al-Saleh and APLA President Eng. Mousa Hadid. Palestinian and French local authorities and active organizations in issues relating to historic heritage in Palestine and France participated in the conference.

In the opening session of the conference, Eng. Mousa Hadid praised in his speech the French position supporting the Palestinian people in general, and the active relations between Palestinian local authorities and their French counterparts and the vital projects they bring to meet the needs of Palestinian cities and villages. He stressed on the advanced positions of some French municipalities in adopting sensitive cases, particularly in cooperating with Palestinian local authorities in projects to protect local heritage, thus combatting all attempts to steal the Palestinian narrative. In the same context, Eng. Hadid stated “we need to increase efforts from our side as individuals, public institutions, local authorities, and government institutions to confront the occupation policies aiming at stealing our Palestinian heritage.”

On his part, the Minister of Local Government, Eng, Majdi Al-Saleh, stressed on the importance of exchanging expertise in preserving cultural heritage. He noted the importance of cooperation with France as a government, leadership, municipalities, and people. He praised its role in leading UNESCO and defending the right of the Palestinian people to join this organization. At the local level, he stated: “We started at the Ministry of Local Government, in cooperation with APLA and all local and international partners, to develop a plan for the coming phase for the local government sector.”

The conference was held over the course of two days, the first was held in Jericho and the second in Nablus. During the conference, the attendees discussed several topics in three sessions; the first session was focused on “The Development of the Legal Framework to Protect Heritage in Palestine,” the second session addressed “Local Strategies and Means and Mechanisms Relating to Local Policies on Preserving Heritage,” and the third session was entitled “Heritage as a Tool to Promote the Position of Youth in the Society and Social Unity.”

APLA’s Executive Director, Eng. Abdallah Anati, clarified that the objective of this conference is to support cooperation projects and twinning between Palestinian local authorities and their French counterparts, as well as to promote the exchange of expertise between them regarding practices, tools and guiding policies to protect local heritage. He stated “we need to exchange expertise and knowledge on preserving heritage. We need a comprehensive legal framework that incriminates changing the history of our country, and we also need to raise the social culture and awareness on such issues.”

Six Palestinian municipalities and their French counterparts presented their experiences in the joint projects on heritage. The municipalities of Bethlehem and Chartres gave a presentation on “Implementing Preservation of Local Heritage Policy.” The municipalities of Beit Jala and Aubervilliers presented their experience in “Implementing Alternative Tourism.” The Municipality of Ramallah gave a presentation on its partnership with Bordeaux Municipality in “Establishing a Tourist Information Center.” Moreover, the municipality of Jericho and its partner Lyon discussed the lighting of Hisham Palace, which was completed through cooperation between them.

In the second day of the conference, Bethlehem Municipality gave two separate presentations; the first was on the partnership with the French municipality of Grenoble in developing hiking paths and training tour guides in Bethlehem, while the second presentation was on its partnership with Paris in promoting youth participation in strategic development projects. Al-Khader Municipality gave a presentation on archeology in serving heritage in partnership with the city of Saint-Denis, and Nablus Municipality and its partner Lille Municipality gave a presentation on challenges and communication tools in preserving heritage.