In her welcoming speech, Dr. Kherieh thanked the French Cultural Center in Nablus, the French Consulate General, the scientific coodinator Aude Signoles, and all the international friends present today. In her speech she quoted Immanuel Kant "although all our knowledge begins with experience, it does not follow that, it all arises from experience" as well as Khalil Gibran in his literary work the prophet said that "you talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts". This symposium is a testament to the great cooperation An-Najah enjoys with the French Consulate General.
Ms. Aude Signoles then followed up with a short reminder of the conference objectives. She issued the following statement concerning the reasons for the symposium.
Each year, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the "Fonds d'Alembert", works to enhance French intellectual expertise by organizing meetings, seminars, roundtables, and forums through exchange with universities, research centers, and also general public partner countries.
Many reasons have led us to choose this year, after organizing seminars on the concept of resilience in 2007 and the issue of universal values in 2008, organizing meetings around "the news of Palestine Studies in France" and invite French researchers specializing in modern Palestine. Among these reasons, the celebration of Jerusalem as a capital of Arab culture in 2009. By giving voice to the French researchers, this highlights the culture and heritage of the Palestinian people as a cultural and linguistic region.
More broadly, the organization of an event of this magnitude of French research devoted to contemporary Palestine is an important institutional device for French cooperation in the Palestinian Territories construction of a state, covering all areas related to governance.
Research on the Arab world has recently witnessed major developments in France and throughout the Western world, by challenging the paradigm of the "clash of civilizations" used to explain the developments in the modern world and the paradoxes of globalization. The multiplication in France of "academic and research centers devoted to the study of the 'Arab world' or 'societies of the Muslim world'" is evidence of this revival.
Research in Palestine in France encompasses all the social science fields. Their revival over the past fifteen years is closely tied to the hopes raised by the Oslo Accords. Initially focused on the issue of state building, Palestinian studies became directed at more "micor", singular and concrete issues, taking advantage of addressing the political margins - for example, work on municipal management and local politics, the social practices of everyday life, the history of places, personalities, Diaspora communities, and monographs on the dominant players.
It is important that the young researcher's generation that is working on contemporary Palestine, based on extensive field studies, is able to present the Palestinian public policy issues as part of the exchange with Palestinian academics.
This symposium embodies the concept that "it is the educators that teach the future leaders"।
http://www.najah.edu/index.php?news_id=5703&page=1393&l=en
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