Youth and education in the Middle East peace process and the development of cultural cooperation with Mediterranean non-member countries
Doc. 7661
24 September 1996
MOTION FOR AN ORDER
presented by Sir Russell JOHNSTON and Mrs FLEETWOOD
1. The Assembly has identified the field of youth and education as 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 cooperation in the Middle East, to the development of Euro-Arab cooperation, to the promotion of intercultural tolerance and to the extension of cultural cooperation 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 through 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:
i. 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;
ii. it should, as suggested in Tunis, contribute to the setting up of a mechanism to follow developments in cooperation with the relevant youth organisations, with the Israeli and Palestinian authorities, and with other interested bodies in the Council of Europe;
iii. it should hold specific debates from time to time on the cultural dimension of Middle East issues.
Signed:
Johnston
Fleetwood