APN | Beirut

30 July 2023

 

APN Chairperson of the Board, Razan Zuayter, and APN Agricultural Advisor, Hassan Al Jaajaa, participated in the 32nd Arab National Conference titled "Jenin Session", in the presence of its Secretary-General Hamdeen Sabahi, which was held in Beirut on 30-31 July 2023. The conference adopted the Million Tree Campaign, a green resistance launched by APN under the slogan "They uproot one, we plant ten".

During the conference sessions, Zuayter delivered a speech in which she distinguished between the concept of food sovereignty and the concept of food security, which relies on imports. She emphasized that the most crucial conditions for Arab economic integration and achieving food sovereignty are supporting agriculture and farmers who protect the land, produce food, and thus ensure sovereignty and dignity.

Zuayter also raised questions about who benefits from abandoning small-scale farmers in addition to dismantling and marginalizing agriculture to such a tragic extent in our Arab region. She questioned the effectiveness of implementing economic reform programs imposed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on our countries. Lastly, she inquired about the reasons behind targeting wheat-producing lands in countries like Syria, Iraq, Sudan, and Yemen with wars and conflicts.

She called for the formation of a committee to support food sovereignty in the Arab region, with the aim of influencing policies. She also urged the conference participants to support existing agricultural sovereignty initiatives in the Arab world, including APN’s green resistance movement, "Million Tree Campaign", which does not receive any foreign support or funding. Additionally, she called for supporting the "Arab Tree Path" initiative adopted by the Sub-committee for the Eradication of Hunger affiliated with the League of Arab States (LAS), of which Zuayter is a member.

In his speech, which received great responses, Al Jaajaa urged the conference participants to translate their anger into actions and embrace the APN’s Million Tree Campaign under the slogan "they uproot one, we plant ten". He encouraged everyone to adopt the planting of at least one tree in Palestine which will greet them upon liberation. He highlighted the success of the Million Tree Campaign, which successfully planted over 2.7 million fruit trees throughout Palestine and supported 30,000 farmers, benefiting 250,000 Palestinians.