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Over 600 Students, from the West Bank and Gaza, Take On Global Issues at the 6th Annual Palestinian Model United Nations Conference in the Ramallah Friends School.
Supported by Strategic Partner Bank of Palestine, and sponsored by Jawwal, Grand Park Hotel, NBC, and Palestine for Development.
RAMALLAH, PALESTINE – More than 600 Palestinian students from 15 schools joined together at the Grand Park Hotel for the opening ceremony of the 6th Annual Palestinian Model United Nations (PalMUN) Conference. Sadly, Gazan delegates were denied entry into the West Bank by the Israeli Occupation and were prohibited from participating in the conference.
Despite the absence of the Gazan delegation, the conference was a great success with heavy media coverage and students reaching conclusions and drafting resolutions for many Global and Arab issues.
Media crews filled our campus during the conference's three days, with PalMUN 2017 being featured on several National and International Arabic-speaking TV channels including Palestine TV Channel, Al-Arabiya Satellite TV, MAAN TV, Jordan TV, Ro'ya TV, as well as many Radio channels such as Raya FM and 24 FM.
This three-day conference is the only one where Palestinian students, aged 13 – 17 (grades 8th to 12th), from the West Bank and Gaza Strip can meet, engage, and debate in discussing and settling political, economic, social local and international issues. The Model United Nations (MUN) is a mechanism that allows youth to comprehend and professionally imitate the role of the United Nations Conference in settling international issues.
The opening and closing ceremonies were held at the Grand Park Hotel – Ramallah, on Friday Jan. 20th and Jan. 22nd respectively, while the conference sessions were held at the Friends School – Upper School (Friends Boys School) in El-Bireh.
As in any international Model UN Conference, participants role-play as ambassadors from UN member states, interest groups, and nongovernmental organizations in a simulation of the United Nations.
Students debated on different topics in committees throughout the first two days, and wrote and debated on resolutions the last day of the conference aimed at reaching a mutual agreement between the presenting states.
Topics discussed included the aftermath of the Arab Spring in Libya, the integration of Syrian refugees in their host countries, threats to the environment, peace and security, gender equality, and others.
PalMUN’s General Assembly discussed the fate of the 1948 Palestinian refugees in the case of a two-state solution, while the Arab League will be promoted a suggested plan to rebuild the city of Gaza.
The 6th PalMUN Conference was mainly supported by strategic partner Bank of Palestine, based on the bank’s belief in developing awareness of Palestinian youth, as this activity is an extracurricular one which promotes methodology and awareness of how states think and act towards global issues. The conference was also sponsored by the Grand Park Hotel, Jawwal, NBC, and Palestine for Development.
The Friends School’s MUN journey began in 2006 and was later developed by our students to become the first and only MUN Conference held in Palestine on a yearly basis, giving Palestinian youth the opportunity to enhance in conflict resolution so they can become better equipped to face future challenges, and contribute to society on a local and global basis.
Over the last six years, PalMUN has sent delegations to international MUN conferences in the United States, Netherlands, Greece, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, India, UAE, and many more.
For more information, please visit us at http://www.palmun.net/.
