Future WSF: Palestine or Bust

Ranjit Devraj

Will the next WSF - or at least the one in 2004 - be held in Palestine? A formal invitation is being drafted for presentation to the WSF Secretariat, said Palestinian representative Mustafa Barghouthi at a press conference Sunday.

'Unless the international community urgently takes an interest in what is happening in Palestine, there is going to be a human catastrophe there,' warned Barghouthi, director of the Palestinian Health, Development, Information and Policy Institute.

He said it is regrettable that the international civil society has turned its back on the plight of the Palestinians, who are being subjected to racism and apartheid and face attempts at 'ethnic cleansing' by the Israeli army.

'We have reliable information that the Israeli army is gearing up for a major invasion of the West Bank in the coming week,' he said.

Asked if representatives from Arab countries would be allowed entry into the Palestinian territories for a WSF event, Barghouthi said there were difficulties but that these could be overcome through teleconferencing. 'Of course they (Israelis) will try and prevent it happening because it will help establish our claim - but we have held international conferences in Palestine before.'

Barghouthi said Palestine was the ideal venue for the WSF simply because everything that civil society stands against is happening there.

'This is the last piece of land in the world with a discriminatory system, where there is no political justice of any kind and where there is blatant military aggression.'

He said Sep 11 has proved to be a major setback for the Palestinian cause and that since then, things have been growing steadily worse with Israel taking advantage of the situation. 'Writers like (New York Times columnist) Thomas Friedman are now suggesting the transfer of Palestine to Jordan and thus prevent our right to exist as a state,' he said.