In reaction to the Israeli attack against Gaza-bound aid ships, the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL) publishes the following statement:

NAL – representing liberal parties, organizations, and leaderships from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, the Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine – condemns the Israeli assault on the Freedom Flotilla, which led to the killing and injuring of a great number of unarmed civilians in international waters in the high seas. It is indeed an act of piracy, violence, and state terrorism against civilians, whose only crime is seeking to provide medical supplies and food for the relief and assistance of other civilians, who have been under Israeli siege illegally for years in Gaza.

This Israeli assault also indicates the persistence of the continued disdain for the international laws, and the condescension of the international community. This behavior confirms the blind eye the international community turns to Israeli offensive practices; the use of double standards; the failure to take deterring punitive measures against Israel over many past incidents – most recently the Goldstone report on the Israeli attack on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 ; act as a sort of implicit permission to Israel to pursue its violations of the international laws and legitimacy, and to disrespect the lives of others in a flagrant manner that hits human consciousness hard.

The Israeli practices are essentially in contradiction with liberal values and human rights, especially the right to life, the right to move, the right to peaceful association, the right to food, health, and education etc. The world today has reached a crossroads: either to stand by liberal values, justice, human rights, and the fair application of international law according to equal standards; or to defeat such values and principles, to give way to the law of blind force and to succumb to the chaos of life in the wilderness. This would ultimately make us live with entailing violence, terrorism, armed confrontations and bloody wars with millions of victims from amongst our sisters and brothers in humanity, and would take us and our civilization hundreds of years backwards.

NAL calls upon the world liberals and advocates of human rights to join ranks with the victims of the flotilla and the detainees in Israeli prisons, and to demand immediate release and reparation for all the victims. NAL calls upon the international community to take appropriate punitive measures against the aggressors, and to end the siege of the Gaza people immediately, as well as respect the right to life through the preservation of the lives of the civilians on all occasions even during armed conflicts.

Cairo, June 1. 2010

"We need cooperation, together we can solve problems, alone we cannot", he said. On the sidelines of his visit to Rabat, van Baalen held political talks with the leaders of the Moroccan liberal parties. These constitute a formidable force in their country and also in parliament.

In his welcoming remarks, Mohamed Abied, the President of Union Constitutionnelle said that Morocco’s "modernization needs a strong liberal component". Mohaned Lanser, Minister in the Royal Government and Secretary General of the Mouvement Populaire, said that Moroccan liberals "are proud of the renaissance of liberal thought". He also said: "We are proud to see that this liberal family is extending to all Arab countries".

In their discussions on the chances and challenges of parliamentary politics in the Arab world, the delegates – most of them sitting or former members of parliament themselves – painted a bleak picture of the situation in their countries: There was a general consensus that most Arab governments do not concede the space that is needed for genuine political competition.

This has lead to a diminished role of the opposition parties, thus, in turn, effectively eliminating the prerequisites for a peaceful transfer of power from the ruling party. In a programmatic paper, the delegates plead for a stronger role of parliaments in their respective countries as an independent power in a system of checks and balances; they demand transparent and representative elections and an end to the domination of political life by the ruling party. They also ask for a stronger role of women, the youth and minorities in the respective parliaments and uncensored access to the media, which remain under governmental control in many countries.

Human Rights for Migrants

While in Rabat, the Arab liberal politicians continued their dialogue on migration issues with a high level delegation of the European Liberal Democrat Reform Party (ELDR) led by their Vice President Marc Guerrero. This session followed a joint workshop last November in the European Parliament in Brussels where NAL and ELDR had set out to find common positions in the migration issue. The two sides now issued a joint statement in which they emphasize the importance of protecting the human rights of migrants and call upon the European states to balance between security considerations and issues of development. They also call on their governments to strengthen efforts to develop legal channels of migration and raise awareness among prospective immigrants regarding the economic, social and political situation in Europe.

Read the full text of the Joint Statement between the Network of Arab Liberals and the European Liberal Democratic Party on Migration

You may also view the speech by FNF’s Regional Director Dr. Ronald Meinardus and other speeches held at the opening of the conference at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ_mG5KGewc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWA-LUj4MXs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pMXiKMxv8c

In her welcoming remarks, Mrs. Neyts, who is also President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR), stressed the importance of a political dialogue with the Network of Arab Liberals and praised NAL for what she called "extremely important and remarkable achievements" in developing programmatic principles for a liberal Arab migration policy.

Earlier, Mohamed Tamaldou, the President of the Network of Arab Liberals, had presented the so called Tunis principles on "Migration and Development". These state - among others - that "the relationship between the Arab world and Europe has a multidimensional strategic depth which requires from the liberal family an exceptional effort to fend off the threats of all forms of extremism through constructive and responsible dialogue". In her talk, Baroness Ludford highlighted the need for a common European migration policy: "We know that Europe needs migrants, but immigration must be well managed."

The two sides agreed to continue their dialogue on migration in a meeting which would be held in Morocco next spring. Tentatively the next round of talks would be held I the Moroccan Parliament.

Ms. Daad Azzi from the Lebanese National Liberal Party will head the Union for the coming two years. She will be joined on the board by Mr. Abdelatif M'hamedi from the Moroccan Union Constitutionelle party as the Vice President, Mr. Aziz Al Darmoumy from the Moroccan Mouvement Populaire as Secretary General, Mr. Mohammad Al Ghazou from the Jordanian Free Thought Forum as Treasurer, Ms. Hayat Alami from the Palestinian Freedom Forum as Media Representative, Mr. Ahmad Nassar from the Egyptian Ghad Party as Foreign Relations Representative and Ms. Shehrazad Akacha from the Tunisian Parti Social Liberal as Public Relations Representative. The Secretariat of UALY will be hosted by the Movement Populaire in Rabat.

NAL members also showed their support to the young union. Mrs. Margaret Azer, Secretary General of the Democratic Front Party organized a dinner for the participants, generously hosted by the Party; and Mr. Wael Nawara, Executive Board member of Al Ghad Party which also hosted a dinner, attended one of the sessions and gave a word of encouragement and support to the youth.

During the event, Dr. Osama EL Ghazaly Harb formally announced that his party will host Liberal International's World Congress in Cairo in October of this year.

"The presence of these regional and international liberal alliances strengthens local liberal forces, and that the effect is reciprocal" said Dr. Osama El Ghazaly Harb, whose party is a founding member of NAL and is also affiliated with LI. On his part, Mr. Emil Kirjas, the Secretary General of Liberal International explained that liberalism adapts to all contexts, including the Arab world with its particularities, pointing out that "Liberal forces all over the world have consistently supported the struggle of Palestinians for a state." He expressed his happiness at the success of NAL’s recent Amman meeting. Mr. Mohammad Tamaldou, President of NAL, stated that NAL stood for the rule of law, equality and free market institutions: "Words such as democracy and participation have become empty and meaningless in the Arab reality. But we seek to end a period in our political life where talk was just talk," adding that the idea that liberalism comes from abroad is "intellectual protectionism which is only rejection of reform." Tamaldou concluded that it has been proven in the Arab world that conservative societies do not lead to stable governance.

On the first day, the workshop featured distinguished panelists and speakers, whose backgrounds ranged from academic to governmental as well as entrepreneurial, including former Jordanian minister Mohammad Halayqa, senior scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center, Dr.Ibrahim Seif, Economics professor at the American University in Beirut Dr. Jad Chaaban, as well as Jordanian entrepreneur Mr. Khalid Al Kurdi. The second day saw the presentation of NAL-moderated country reports by the member parties and organizations. The workshop culminated in a group discussion and brainstorming session moderated by Mr. Wael Nawara of the Egyptian Ghad party, which resulted in a number of policy recommendations made by NAL on the economic crisis.

"This crisis demands that we clearly articulate our values as Arabs and as Liberals and that we are honest with our constituencies regarding how the crisis will affect their lives," said NAL president Mohammad Tamaldou, expressing a general sentiment among NAL members. The workshop coincided with the G-20 summit held in London to discuss the world economic crisis and presented a number of alternative scenarios for the impact of the crisis on the region.

On the sidelines of the workshop, the NAL leadership held its first Executive Board meeting of the year, during which important decisions were taken regarding strengthening the network and solidifying its presence as well as possible acceptance of new members. Among these decisions was the appointment of Mrs. Margaret Azer, Secretary General of the Egyptian Democratic Front Party, as the Treasurer of NAL and the launch of a NAL periodical newsletter.

"Reinforcing the role of women in Arab politics is an essential step on the road towards democracy and pluralism" said Margaret Azer, Secretary General of the Democratic Front Party of Egypt. The training in Cairo was a follow up to a workshop in Tunisia in October 2008 during which senior party members of NAL discussed the role of women in political parties in the Arab world.

On the side lines of the training, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, which helped organize the workshop, organized a book launch for an innovative publication entitled "Women and the Mirror" which included a collection of studies written by prominent female intellectuals. The signing and discussion of the book which featured prominent women's rights activist Dr. Fatma Khafagy attracted over 100 participants. Workshop participants Fetta Sadat, a member of the Algerian RCD party and Daad Azzy, a member of the Lebanese National Liberal Party, both participated by bringing to the discussion the experience of women in their respective countries.

"The aim of this meeting is to open a space for the exchange of opinion and dialogue between the liberal parties of the Maghreb and, also, to develop a unified vision towards our common concerns," said NAL President Mohamed Tamadou. The participants engaged in discussions regarding liberal positions on issues of religion, culture, politics and the economy.

Liberal International, the world federation of liberal parties, was represented in Marrakech by Mr. Jochem De Groot. Speaking on behalf of LI President Lord Alderdice, he expressed his full support for NAL: "We are encouraged that the liberals of the Maghreb are growing and are also strengthening their links", he said.

In the end, the participants resolved that meetings of the Maghreb liberal parties should be repeated on a regular basis.