Youth and education in the Middle East peace process and the development of cultural co-operation with Mediterranean non-member countries
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 7661, motion for an order presented by Sir Russell Johnston and Mrs Fleetwood. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 7 November 1996.
1. The Assembly has identified the field of youth and education as one of importance to the peace process in the Middle East. In February 1996 the Committee on Culture and Education organised a task force on the subject in Tunis in which Israeli and Palestinian representatives participated.
2. The importance of this field extends beyond the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to the wider context of understanding and co-operation in the Middle East, the development of Euro-Arab co-operation, the promotion of intercultural tolerance and the extension of cultural co-operation with Mediterranean non-member countries
3. The Assembly should help promote this activity and also continue to follow what is being done on bilateral and multilateral levels by non-governmental bodies (and in particular by youth organisations), by governmental institutions and by governments.
4. In the specific Council of Europe context, the Assembly can play an active role, for example by supporting the Euro-Arab youth dialogue and in developing the Youth Programme of the European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity (Lisbon).
5. The Assembly should also play its own part:
5.1 it should follow up the Tunis task force meeting by further contacts, in the first place with those involved in youth and education in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations;
5.2 it should, as suggested in Tunis, contribute to the setting up of a mechanism to follow developments in co-operation with the relevant youth organisations, the Israeli and Palestinian authorities, and with other interested bodies within the Council of Europe;
5.3 it should hold specific debates from time to time on the cultural dimension of Middle East issues.
