In the context of a comprehensive campaign of activities carried out by the local committee in Qalqilia, the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity -AMAN participated in a session to complement efforts and activities undertaken, which began last year by those in charge of the Tajaweb project.
The goal of these activities, including this session, is to develop the tourism sector in Qalqilia in order to become tributary in boosting the economy of the city. It is worth noting that this city is already suffering from difficult economic conditions and economic strangulation inflicted by the occupation through policies that aim to kill the Palestinian economy in general and the governorate of Qalqilia in particular.
The main objective of the local committee, which was formed in cooperation with the Governorate of Qalqilia, official and civil parties, and the work team of the Tajaweb project, is to place the Qalqilia zoo on the tourism plan of the Governorate and that of the Ministry of Tourism, and to announce the city of Qalqilia as the Palestinian capital of tourism for 2016.
In this regard, Major-Genaral Rafi’ Rawajba, governor of Qalqilia, chaired a meeting in his office for the Tourism Sector Development Committee. The meeting was also attended by members of the local committee and its representative Mr.Wa’el El-Far; representative of the Qalqilia Municipality Ms. Nihaya Afaneh; Director of the Tourism Directorate Mr. Mofeed Salah; representatives from the Governorate, the private sector, Al-Quds Open University; representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, directorates of the Ministry of Culture, Education, and Agriculture; several NGO representatives as well as activists from the various parts of the governorate, and Mohammad Abu-Salah representing AMAN. This meeting is part of a series of meetings to develop and promote the tourism sector of the governorate.
At the beginning of the meeting, the governor gave recognition to the present popular uprising carried out by the Palestinian youth in defense of Jerusalem and its holy places, and in support of the Palestinian inalienable rights. He also gave a briefing of the effects of the occupation on the Governorate such as the imposed siege and looting of its land. He stressed that this meeting is one of a series of meetings that will be held for the advancement of the tourism sector as well as the economic, social, and cultural conditions in the Qalqilia Governorate. He added that no development will be achieved without consolidation of efforts to put forward a comprehensive plan that will advance tourism in this governorate which has a stunning nature and an abundance of water resources. The governor requested that the prepared internal by-laws be signed in order to immediately proceed in preparing the plans.
For his part, the Director of Tourism valued the drafting of development plans for all sectors, including the tourism sector, emphasizing the importance of concerted efforts in order to achieve the desired objectives.
Other discussions which took place during the meeting included issues related to the committee’s work such as the signing of the internal by-laws of the Tourism Development committee; organizing touristic tours; preparing a touristic guide book and maps of the governorate.
