As Palestine is preparing to hold general elections in May-August 2021, the Masarat Center and CMI will hold a series of dialogue workshops to discuss what kind of role the elections can have in supporting Palestinian unity and resilience.

The first workshop of the series was held 8 March 2021, and the title was “Elections in Strengthening Palestinian Unity and Resilience”. Around 175 participants from diverse backgrounds – party leaders and other officials, advisors, national CSO leaders, union leaders as well as representatives of international organizations – took part in the dialogue, in addition to those thousands watching the workshop through social media.

Dr. Nasser Al-Qudwa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Yasser Arafat Foundation, and Mr. Hani Al-Masri, General Director of the Masarat Center, were the main speakers in the workshop. Mr. Al-Masri emphasized that we should act as if elections will take place, but we should also be prepared for postponement. Dr. Al-Qudwa criticized holding the elections without discussing and solving different important issues first, but he also noted the Palestinians’ will for democratic elections, which should be respected. He emphasized that the main goal of the elections should be to regain unity.