Palestine: 75 years of occupation, resistance and dignity

The Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) will host on Monday, 15 December, the conference 'Palestine, 75 years of occupation, resistance and dignity: scholars and ethical reflections on the conflict and the humanitarian crisis'.

The event, which brings together journalists, activists and NGO leaders committed to peace and the human rights, aims to create a space for critical dialogue among academics, technical specialists, experts and activists to understand the historical and political roots of the conflict, shed light on the magnitude of the current humanitarian crisis and reaffirm the centrality of human rights and international humanitarian law as indispensable pillars in any situation.

At least 67,000 people were killed, more than 170,000 were wounded, and 80% of the population was displaced in a severe humanitarian crisis.

The event, divided into three complementary sessions, will begin with an analysis of the context and history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, from the Nakba of 1948 to the present day, and will continue with a presentation on an extremely severe humanitarian crisis, which has already left at least 67,000 people dead and 170,000 injured, most of them civilians (including more than 20,000 children and women). This situation has forced more than 80% of the Palestinian population to flee their homes, with most now living in overcrowded conditions without drinking water, food, medicine or safe shelter. In addition to catastrophic structural damage, there is the collapse of a health system in which 94% of all hospitals in Gaza are currently damaged or destroyed.

Finally, the third session will propose an in-depth reflection on human rights, ethics and international humanitarian law to understand how the legal and moral framework intended to protect the civilian population has been destroyed and what shared responsibilities we have, as a global community, in the face of impunity and systematic violence by the Israeli government.

Personalities present

The sessions, which will be chaired by Jorge Ramos Tolosa (professor of Contemporary History at the University of Valencia), Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Bédmar (Spanish Red Cross) and José Félix Lozano Aguilar (professor of Ethics at the UPV), will feature Patricia Simón (reporter, investigative journalist and author of 'Rebuilding Everything After the Genocide in Gaza'), Ignacio Álvarez Ossorio (Full Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Complutense University of Madrid), Javier Valenzuela (journalist, novelist and former correspondent for El País in the Middle East), Jaldía Abubakra (founder of the Palestinian women's movement Alkarama), Sara Gimeno (UNRWA Spain), Raquel González Juárez (coordinator of Médecins Sans Frontières in Spain), Nicole Ochando Szaroletta (OXFAM Intermon), Bushra Khalidi (OXFAM policy officer in the occupied Palestinian territories, who will connect live from the West Bank), Rodrigo Hernández Primo (regional director of Save the Children in the Valencian Community), Ignacio Gay (President of Amnesty International in the Valencian Community), Noor Ammar Lamarty (legal and feminist activist specialising in public international law and international criminal law), Jose A. García Sáez (member of the Department of Philosophy of Law at the University of Valencia) and Jordi Calvo (Centre Delàs d'Estudis Per la Pau).

Free admission with prior registration required

Organised by the UPV's Development Cooperation Centre, the conference will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the School of Civil Engineering (Building 4H, 2nd floor).

Entry will be free until the venue reaches full capacity, although prior registration is required via the following link.

More information here.