26/11/2014 Political Affairs and Democracy
The Sub-Committee on the Middle East of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will make a visit to the Palestinian Territories on 28-29 November, and then to Israel on 29-30 November.
In Ramallah, meetings are scheduled with the Palestinian Prime Minister, the Minister of the Economy, members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the Chief Negotiator responsible for bilateral negotiations, the negotiator for reconciliation, and representatives from the economic private sector.
In Jerusalem, the members of the sub-committee will meet the Speaker of the Knesset, the Justice Minister and Chief Negotiator in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, members of the Knesset, the former National Security Adviser, as well as representatives of civil society and the media.
In Tel Aviv, they will meet members of the diplomatic community.
During this visit, Jordi Xuclà (Spain, ALDE), member of the sub-committee and rapporteur on the evaluation of the Partnership for Democracy with the Palestinian National Council (PNC), will be gathering information for the preparation of his report (28 November-1 December).
The PNC was granted "Partner for Democracy" status by PACE on 4 October 2011. This status allows parliamentary delegations from countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, the Middle East and central Asia to take part in the Assembly's activities in return for commitments to pursue the values upheld by the Council of Europe, hold free and fair elections and work towards abolishing the death penalty, among other things.
The Israeli Knesset has observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly.