Palestine diaspora conference wraps up in Istanbul

A two-day conference in Istanbul attended by Palestinian diaspora concluded Sunday evening with the election of Salman Abu Sitta as conference head, according to an official statement issued by the event's organizing committee.

The statement added that Palestinian intellectual Munir Shafiq had been elected as conference secretary-general while Hisham Abu Mahfouz was chosen as his deputy.

The event's organizing committee also declared that the conference's secretariat would henceforth be based in Lebanese capital Beirut due to that city's large Palestinian population.

A prominent Palestinian researcher, Abu Sitta was born in 1937 in the city of Beersheba. Most of his research and books are devoted to the issue of Palestinian refugees and the longstanding “right of return".

The conference's concluding statement confirmed the right of Palestinians living abroad to take part in Palestinian decision-making and called for the reform of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its institutions.

The statement, which was read aloud by Anees Qassim, a Palestinian expert in international law, also stressed the Palestinian right “to practice all forms of resistance against the Israeli occupation, as this right is guaranteed by all religions and laws".

The statement also emphasized the need to “work towards maintaining the Palestinian identity in diaspora communities," adding that this would best be achieved by “mobilizing Palestinian youth spread across the world".

More than 5,000 Palestinians from around the globe attended the conference to discuss means of rallying Palestinians worldwide around a common vision for the Palestinian national project.

PLO officials, for their part, have accused conference organizers of seeking to “replace" the decades-old organization -- a claim organizers dismiss.

Created in 1964 with the aim of liberating Palestine from the Israeli occupation, the PLO was recognized by the U.S. and Israel as the “sole legitimate representative" of the Palestinian people in 1993.

The same year, the PLO recognized Israel's right to “exist in peace" following the signing of the U.S.-sponsored Oslo Accords, which led to the creation of the PLO-led Palestinian Authority (PA).

There are an estimated six million Palestinians currently living outside Palestine, particularly in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Gulf region.