Präsentation

The delegation includes 18 full members, backed up by a corps of substitute members. All the members of the delegation are apointed and the Chair and vice-Chairs are generally elected for a full parliamentary term.

Each of the following mechanisms guarantees the good functioning of the Delegation:

Ordinary meetings

The European Parliament's standing Delegation for relations with Palestine is responsible for maintaining and developing Parliament's contacts with Palestine's institutional and civil society stakeholders.

The Delegation discusses developments concerning Palestine, with an emphasis on bilateral and regional relations and EU policy and EU activities. In this way, the delegation helps fulfill the Parliament's democratic scrutiny responsibilities.

The Delegation holds regular meetings with Palestinian and international interlocutors on EU-Palestinian relations, on political, economic, social and human rights developments in Palestine, and on regional issues - first and foremost, the Middle East Peace Process as well as on the repercusions of the ongoing occupation practicies.

Delegation meetings are usually open to the public and web-streamed on the European Parliament's website.

Meetings are sometimes organized in conjunction with relevant European Parliament committees (amongst which AFET, DEVE, DROI or INTA) and other standing Delegations (such as DMED, DMAS, DMAG, D-IL) when it comes to matters of shared interest or to common challenges in the region.

Inter-parliamentary meetings (IPMs)

IPMs are held by Delegations, in principle, once a year, alternately between the host country and Brussels or Strasbourg. However, during the last legislative term and since the Palestinian Legislative Council is still inoperative, DPAL travelled to Palestine to meet with the Palestinian authorities, community leaders and representatives of international and civil society organisations. Missions include parliamentary scrutiny of projects implemented through EU aid, such as schools and shelters.

The Delegation regularly endeavours to gain access to Gaza, but has had little success in recent years. Additionally, in 2022 and 2023 the Israeli authorities denied entry in the country to the Chair of the Delegation and in 2023 also to one Member of the Delegation.

These outgoing inter-parliamentary meetings/official visits serve to :

· strengthen bilateral relations between the parliaments,

· assess the political, economic and social situation of the countries and undertaken reforms in these fields,

· assess the human rights situation on the ground,

· meet with representatives from civil society organizations and

· visit and assess EU funded projects.