The Institute of Law (IoL) at Birzeit University, in partnership with Konrad Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), organized a legal encounter in Gaza regarding "Housing rights in light of mass displacement during the 2014 war on Gaza"

The Institute of Law, Birzeit University, in partnership with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), organized a legal encounter in Gaza, regarding "Housing rights in light of mass displacement during the 2014 war on Gaza". The meeting was held on Thursday, 1 November 2018.

Mr Samir Zaqout (Deputy Direcor of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights) and Mr Ghassan Abu Hatab (Coordinator of Project, Center for Development Studies, Birzeit University) addressed the meeting, which a number of participants attended.

The meeting dealt mainly with the international human rights instruments, governing the human right to housing, and the development of the concept of housing in different historical contexts and conditions. In addition, speakers discussed the destruction caused to residential homes during the aggression of 2014, and reconstruction efforts from the perspective of development.

The most important recommendation made during the meeting was the need to abort the mechanism followed for reconstruction, which proved to be a failure, and the need for reconstruction efforts to be free from constraints and conditions of the kind imposed by the UN mechanism so far. Participants also made it clear that reconstruction efforts will not succeed unless the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip is lifted, and Palestinian division, which directly affected the reconstruction process, is brought to end, without delay.