The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities "APLA" in cooperation with FELCOS UMBRIA conducted a meeting for discussing the solidarity initiatives of Italian local authorities to support their Palestinian counterparts affected by the practices of the occupation and settlers in the areas targeted by the project of Local Authorities Network for Sustainable Development LAND. This includes Nablus Cluster "Beita and Huwwarah municipalties" and Ramallah Cluster "Beit Leqia and Ni'lin municipalities".
The meeting was conducted via "Zoom", attended by the Italian Consul General in Jerusalem, Giuseppe Fedel, APLA's President, Abdelkarim Al-Zubeidi, President of the Union of Trasimeno Municipalities, Mattaeo Goricho, and the mayors of the local authorities targeted by the LAND project: Mayor of Beita, Mahmoud Barham, Mayor of Huwwarah, Mo'een Al-Dmeidi, Mayor of Ni'lin, Yousef Al-Khawaja, Mayor of Beit Leqia, Areej Al-Asi, in addition to mayors of partner Italian local authorities, the Head of AICS, Guglielmo Giordano, APLA's Executive Director, Eng. Abdallah Anati, Project Manager from FELCOS UMBRIA, Morino Caporalini, and APLA's executive staff.
The Italian Consul General, expressed his concern regarding the escalation of violence and the practices of the Israeli occupation and settlers against the Palestinians, especially the most recent attacks on the town of Huwwarah, emphasizing the importance of LAND project as it establishes for solid relations between local authorities from both sides based on joint work, supporting and aiding Palestinian local authorities to overcome the geopolitical challenges that undermine the opportunities for achieving development. Moreover, he called all partners of the project to expand their areas of work to enhance the responsiveness to the emerging needs imposed by the recent events.
APLA's President, Al-Zubeidi, valued the stance of Italian partners under such difficult and complicated circumstances our people and local authorities are going through, emphasizing the importance of the role played by our Italian partners in enhancing the resilience and steadfastness of partner local authorities, therefore supporting the Palestinian political position, and adopting solid positions towards supporting the rights of the Palestinian people and their right to establishing an independent state. Furthermore, he invited the Italian government to play an advocacy role in the corridors of the European Union to take serious positions towards the Israeli practices over the entire Palestinian territory, including Area "A".
Mayors of the Palestinian local authorities presented the attacks that have escalated recently against the citizens, lands, infrastructure, municipal equipment and schools, as well as the damage in the form of human and physical losses, emphasizing the importance of holding these meetings with partner and friend local authorities around the world in order to convey the facts honestly and to expose the Israeli practices on one hand, and mobilizing support and funding to contribute to enhancing the capacities of local authorities in implement development projects that will advance Palestinian municipalities and cities while enhancing the ability to respond to the needs of the citizens on the other hand.
Meanwhile, Mayors of Italian local authorities confirmed their full commitment to provide technical assistance and all available capacities in favor of supporting the Palestinian local authorities using all means of lobbying and advocacy possible, to convey the facts to the Italian and European societies and mobilize societal, political and financial support.
In return, the Head of AICS emphasized that doors are always open to provide logistical and physical support to Palestinian partners, and that the potential for launching initiatives and implementing interventions responsive to the needs of local authorities based on what was presented on the developments in the Palestinian territory will be discussed.
Director of LAND project, Caporalini clarified that this meeting was organized in order to expand and open new horizons for joint cooperation between Palestinian local authorities and their Italian counterparts, out of the believe that local authorities and their associations in Italy and Palestine are more capable of achieving change and facing obstacles and hardships in a manner that provides a dignified life to citizens, emphasizing that FELCOS UMBRIA works in cooperation with APLA to establish a network for partnerships between local authorities in Italy and Palestine.
At the end of the meeting, APLA's Executive Director, Eng. Anati, demanded Palestinian local authorities to develop a list of urgent needs and priorities to implement initiatives and activities for supporting their resilience and steadfastness, moreover, he urged them to develop proposals for strategic projects in the areas of water, sanitation and solid wastes, in order to follow up with Italian partners to acquire funding for the next years, emphasizing that despite the difficult reality suffered by local authorities due to lack of resources and the difficulty controlling it, as well as the exacerbation of needs, yet they are dedicated to continue working in order to build the state of Palestine and enhance the resilience of its people.
