The “Free Palestine Symposium from River to Sea”, organized in cooperation with Ankara Social Sciences University (ASBU) Faculty of Theology and ASBU Jerusalem Studies Research and Application Center, concluded with the participation of a large audience.
The symposium hosted presentations and discussions with a high academic depth, where the Palestinian issue was discussed from multiple perspectives. Opening Speech and Session ASBU Rector Prof. Dr. Musa Kazım Arıcan, who made the opening speech of the symposium, emphasized the importance of the Palestinian issue on the international agenda and drew attention to the necessity of continuous discussion of this issue. Rector Arıcan stated that the special issue of TYB Academy Journal on Palestine provides a valuable contribution in terms of providing an academic perspective on the issue. The opening session was chaired by ASBU Vice Rector and Dean of the Faculty of Theology Prof. Dr. Ali Osman Kurt. Prof. Dr. Kurt, as the editor of the special issue of TYB Academy Journal on Palestine, gave information about the previous Israeli issue of the journal and discussed the historical and current dimensions of the Israeli problem in Palestine. In the opening session, Prof. Dr. Muhittin Ataman analyzed the effects of recent developments on regional dynamics in his speech titled “The Changing Equation in the Middle East after the Aksa Flood”. Prof. Dr. Hasan Yücel Başdemir, in his presentation titled “Israel and the Ideology of Genocide”, evaluated the relationship between Israel's policies and discourses and the ideology of genocide.
Academic Sessions and Participants
The symposium continued with four separate sessions after the opening session. Academics, whose articles are published in the special issue of TYB Academy Journal on Palestine, discussed various issues related to the Palestinian issue from their own fields of specialization. The sessions were organized in a hybrid format, with both face-to-face and online participation. The main topics covered in the symposium included the history, political and social structure of Palestine, the place of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in international law, human rights violations in Palestine, the situation of the Palestinian diaspora, and the regional and global impact of the Palestinian issue. Academics presented different perspectives on the Palestinian issue and contributed to a better understanding of the issue. Significance and Outcomes of the Symposium The “Free Palestine from River to Sea Symposium” enabled an in-depth discussion of the Palestinian issue on an academic platform. The symposium brought together academics from different disciplines and contributed to a multidimensional approach to the issue. In addition, the papers presented at the symposium and the discussions made at the symposium paved the way for raising awareness on the Palestinian issue and developing solutions.
