The Billion Palestinian Citizens Initiative: A Radical Approach Towards Global Support For Palestine

On May 15, 2024, a meeting was held to discuss a radical and unconventional idea: The Billion Palestinian Citizens Initiative. This proposal was born out of a desire to unite global efforts in supporting Palestine and foster a sustainable sense of belonging to the Palestinian cause.

Introducing the Billion Palestinian Citizens Initiative

The initiative, proposed by Taysir, seeks to grant symbolic Palestinian citizenship to supporters of the Palestinian cause. Taysir posited this idea reflecting on his time in Gaza during the initial phases of the genocide. While he appreciated the solidarity demonstrations from friends outside Gaza, he questioned their impact on politicians and suspected it might be minimal. The initiative’s primary objective is to illustrate the extent of global support and solidarity to Palestinians, and maintain a unified database of supporters to facilitate coordinated global efforts.

The Collaborative Approach

During the meeting, it was discussed that this campaign should be overseen at the highest level by well-known Western figures to ensure it is free from associations with terrorism or anti-Semitism. It would be excellent to have representatives from the Jewish community involved. The proposal also emphasized the vision to formalize the campaign by establishing it as an organization.

“Sometimes, radical and unconventional ideas are the ones that bring about change. I aimed to provide an out-of-the-box approach to unite scattered global efforts under a single umbrella. Gaining symbolic Palestinian citizenship could transform expressions of support from “I stand with Palestine” to “As a Palestinian, I request….”.” – Taysir Shaqalaih

Mobilizing Support for Palestine

The meeting also touched on how to mobilize and maintain support for Palestine. There was a general consensus that the pace and amount of support after the war would naturally decline. Therefore, it was suggested that a unified database of supporters could help quantify the number of Palestine supporters and maintain the momentum. The importance of having a variety of professionals come together was also brought up, as was the potential role of Jeffrey Sachs as an ally.

Operationalizing the Initiative

Matthew Dubins, a group member, offered to help with analytics. Taysir also mentioned that he has an IT manager in Jordan willing to lend a hand. However, it was discussed that care should be taken with laws, and political support should be sought. The meeting also highlighted the importance of having clear goals and efficient, realistic plans for every initiative.

Next Steps

The meeting concluded with a call to action: mobilize support, get more survey participants, and seek political backing. The participants were also encouraged to share Dr. Raj’s survey with five other people to help gather more data.

Freedom Advocacy Network

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