The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies is hosting its Second Annual Conference of Arab Research Centers, the leading annual event bringing together centers of research, policy studies, and strategic analysis in the Arab region. The academic focus this year will be the Palestinian Cause and the Future of the Palestinian National Movement. The conference will be held on December 7, 8 and 9, 2013 in the Al Wosail and Al-Mukhtasar 1 Ballrooms of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Doha. The conference will be preceded by two public seminars on Friday, December 6: the first will be facilitated by the PLO/Fatah’s Central Committee member and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, on “Negotiations: the Options and the Future”; the second will feature Hamas’s head of the international relations, Osama Hamdan, who will address the topic “Resistance: the Options and the Future”.

The conference agenda comprises more than 50 research papers on the Palestinian cause, including plenaries, discussion circles and presentations by political figures, activists, and media personalities (to view the program of sessions, seminars and workshops/panels click here).

The conference presents academic contributions over several themes, most notably Israeli colonialism, its policies, and their impact on Palestinian society and identity; transformations affecting Palestinian society and its political institutions; transformations in the patterns of Palestinian resistance; and the future of the Palestinian national movement and its representative bodies. The conference also focuses on the policies of prominent international powers, such as Europe, China, and India, toward the Palestinian cause.

Due to the specificity of this year’s topic, the academic sessions will be accompanied by discussion panels for journalists, young activists, and politicians to discuss international solidarity movements with the Palestinian cause; the youth movements that defend Palestinian rights and support the Palestinian cause in Palestine, the Arab world, and internationally; and the media’s role regarding the Palestinian cause and the manner of its coverage and presentation.

The conference’s concept paper elaborates upon the choice of the Palestinian cause as the theme for the conference, and explains that it springs from it being the critical issue in the Arab consciousness, and at the highest level of priority concerns of Arab research centers and institutions.

Conference proceedings commence at 9:00am Saturday, December 7. The official opening ceremony takes place at 6:30pm the same day in the Al Wosail Ballroom, Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Doha.

Simultaneous Interpretation (Arabic-English) will be provided during the conference sessions.