Supporting and Civil Defense Committees  Evaluate the Israeli Withdrawal Plan.

PWIC has held a workshop, on Sunday 16^th October, 2005, on 'The Supporting and Civil Defense Committees' Evaluation of  the Israeli Withdrawal Plan'.

 A number of speakers confirmed the necessity of  the Committees' evaluation during  the stage before the Israeli withdrawal plan and after the results of the plan had took place. They also discussed the future role of the Committees after the withdrawal plan, whether they will  keep going on or not.

 This discussion had taken place during a workshop held by the Palestinian Women's Information and Media Center (PWIC) to comment on the role of the Committees of Support and Civil Defense during the process of the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

 After welcoming the attendants,  Huda Hamooda, chair of PWIC, began her speech talking about volunteerism and its deep-rootedness in the Palestinian community as well as in other cultures and communities, whether it is realized as a mutual aid or as participating in national and social activities. She also added that establishing the Committees of Support and Civil Defense had given a unique opportunity to fill the gap between acknowledging the old traditions of volunteerism on the one level, and the possibility of volunteerism to be a national source for promoting social development, civil peace, and the national project (state establishment) on  the other level. This matter has raised a national awareness more clearly among wide categories in the Palestinian society.

    Hamooda thought that the experiment of the Committees simply should not be evaluated according to its achievements in such a limited period. It should rather be evaluated in reference to its rehabilitation of volunteerism in the light of the challenges of globalization.  Besides, she said that in spite of the network of the communal activities and programs of the Committees, the nature of the Committees work was not understood, prejudged, and evaluated well by its targeted groups. It was even regarded with suspicion in some fields and sectors. Nevertheless, we should not judge the experiment by such  uncertain comments and criticism for a single reason: being not acquainted with its (the Committees' experiment) internal work, whether it was because of the Committee's incapacity to communicate with and reveal their programs to the targeted groups, or it was just because some Palestinians use to raise doubt about the importance of the raised initiatives before being acquainted with them.

 Finally, Hamooda confirmed the necessity of distinguishing between the role of the technical committees, which were established by the government to encounter the danger of the Israeli withdrawal, and the role of the Committees of Support and Civil Defense, which is based on volunteerism.

             D. Kamal el Shorafi, president of the committees:

           "The Committees of Support and Civil Defense are

            No Substitute for Political Partnership, the P.A

            Institutions, or Civil Society."