Articles of Incorporation


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Palestine Wildlife Society

Articles of Incorporation

 

Article One: Name of Society: Palestine Wildlife Society

Its headquarters is in Jerusalem, and it has the right to open other branches all over Palestine in accordance with its Article of Incorporation.

Article Two: The following terms and expressions appearing in these Articles of Incorporation shall have meanings assigned to them hereinafter unless the context denotes otherwise:

Wildlife and Marine Life and its habitat: It includes all the flora and fauna including its entire species and some natural habitats ascribed for its beauty.

Hunting Wealth: All species of birds, wildlife animals and living ones targeted by hunters.

Wildlife Communities: Living creatures including all flora and fauna and marine life.

Protected Reserves: The places designated to enjoy protection against any human activity aiming at bringing about any changes to its nature. These places house natural resources, wildlife species, habitats, etc; this also applies to national parks.

Article Three: Goals and Objectives

·         To raise the level of ecological awareness of all segments of the Palestinian society and all its sectors( the public, students, media, economists, decision makers…etc)

·         To work on protecting the natural ecology in Palestine against the hazards of air, food, water, soil and noise or all kinds of destruction through available, valid and legal procedures and approaches.

·         To contribute to the maintenance and protection of wildlife in Palestine and to assist official bodies in the National Authority in the field of protection, to provide opinion and expertise in the field of nature protection to public, private, local and international institutions.

·         To contribute to the maintenance of natural sites and reserves by looking after their natural components and saving them from harm and benefiting from them for purposes of enlightenment, awareness, scientific research and ecotourism.

·         To introduce and activate ecotourism concepts into the Palestinian society.

·         To contribute to the implementation of ecological projects at the national level in coordination with national, regional and international organizations active in the field locally.

·         To attempt at forming a local wildlife community in the Palestinian Territories and to activate it through sound and effective means.

·         To establish Ecological Teaching and Training Centers and wildlife Study Centers in the different Palestinian districts in order to activate and stimulate students' targeted activities relating to modern pedagogical methods on ecology protection in addition to a study of different forms of wildlife in nature through scientific field research.

·         To involve and employ the expertise all Ecological Committees, volunteers who constitute a percentage of the sector of the educated, the learned, and those interested in these institutes within the scope of the society.

·         To introduce concepts of ecological education in the syllabi and to cooperate with the Ministry of Education and other specialized departments.

·         To attract those interested individuals and specialists in the fields of ecology and its protection, to prepare the appropriate conditions to enable them to participate and carry out their roles in order to have a clean and protected environment and to support all initiatives which  aim at  fulfilling  these objectives

·         To strengthen the nationalistic perception and to encourage interaction with ecology and nature to positively use its elements in order to deepen the public ecological awareness through disseminating objective and authentic knowledge and technology.

·         To contribute to achieving a sustainable development through linking developmental projects with ecological requirements.

Article Four: The society has no goals or activities in political, religious and ethnic fields. It provides its services to all citizens without any exception and in all places.

Article Five: Membership

  1. Membership Terms: Each Palestinian citizen who is over eighteen years old whether male or female shall have the right to be a member of the society as long as he/she meets the following conditions:
    1. Enjoys complete civil rights.
    2. Has good conduct and is interested in the society activities, and its objectives for the protection of nature and wildlife.
    3. Shall pay annual subscription fees.
    4. Shall be nominated by two members of the General Assembly or one member of the Administrative Board
    5. Agrees to the society's Articles of Incorporation
    6. Shall have the right to election following two years of membership as long as all annual subscription fees are paid and his age is not less than eighteen years.
    7. Shall have the right to nominate himself/herself to posts of the Administrative Board following four years of membership as long as all annual subscription fees are paid and his age is not less than twenty two years.
    8. Society posts shall be confined to resident Palestinians and Arabs, while foreigners' membership does not allow participation in the General Assembly meetings.

  2.       Membership applications are submitted in accordance with what the           Administrative Board prepares and the Administrative Board shall have the right to accept or turn in application without giving any reasons.

3.         The society's Administrative Board within the scope of the criteria and laws it        sets,     may accept honorary members and supporters in the society as long as             they are not entitled to voting in elections or nomination to posts of the       Administrative Board in the society.

Article Six: Membership and Annual Subscription Fees:

The value of the Membership and Annual Subscription Fees is determined as follows:

  1. Membership fee for a working member is ( Five Jordanian Dinars or equivalent)
  2. Annual Subscription fee for a working member is  ( Five Jordanian Dinars or equivalent)
  3. Membership fees are not requested of honorary, handicapped or special needs members.

Article Seven: Annulment of Membership

  1. Membership is terminated in the following cases:
    1. Withdrawal or resignation,
    2. Delay in paying subscription fees within the due date for a period exceeding two years without any valid excuses estimated by the Administrative Board.
    3. Absence of any of the membership terms.
    4. Member violates the society bylaws and commits a misdemeanor which defames the society and its objectives.

       2.   A member shall not have the right to reapply membership in the society except when the General Assembly decided with an absolute majority that the reasons which lead to the dismissal no longer exist; this may take place a year after the date of dismissal.

 Article Eight: Society Resources which consist of:

  1. Members' subscriptions
  2. Donations, grants and aids in accordance with and approved by the law.
  3. Proceeds from projects and social and cultural services and activities.
  4. Any resources approved by the Administrative Board and subject to the monitoring of the Ministry of Interior.

Article Nine: Fiscal Year:

  1. The financial year starts on 1/1 and ends on 31/12 for every Gregorian year.
  2. All Society assets are deposited in a Bank assigned by the Administrative Board except for 50 (Fifty Jordanian Dinars) kept with the Treasurer for overheads.

3.     Withdrawing any amount of money from the society’s account requires the signatures of the Society Director or President of the Adminstrative Board or their delegations with the signature of the treasurer ( basic prerequisite)

4.    No money from the institute will be spent on any matter but that which serves a purpose or as part of its proivate projects.

5.    The institute shall keep its financial records according to the standard procedures of book keeping.

  1. The accounts of the society should be audited by an authorized auditor within four months from the date of ending of the society's fiscal year.

Article Ten: Society Bodies

General Assembly: It consists of all the members who completed payment of their subscriptions.

Administrative Board: It consists of nine members elected from the General Assembly; seven are elected in accordance with the second article paragraph 1 for four years; they do not have any direct interest which contradicts or opposes the goals and objectives of the society; the seven then appoint two other members from the working members; A member of the Administrative Board may not hold a position and renumerated work in the institute unless a decision is made by the elected Adminstrative Board.

·         Main and Sub Committees of the Society, Specialized Committees and Executive Bodies:

 

The Administrative Board appoints the members of committees on the condition that most of the committee members are from the society. It is also allowed to appoint specialists in their fields or by virtue of their positions they hold to serve the objectives of the society; the committees are disolved when the term of office of the Administrative Board ends, yet the latter has the right to reconsider the formation of committee  annually.

 

The committes are divided into 1. Main Committees which are four:

1.

Committee of Field Research and Studies

2.

Committee of Awareness, Teaching and Training

3.

Funding and Public Relations Committee

4.

Protection Committee

 

2. Sub and Temporry Committees: according to decisions of the Administrative Board on the spot.

 

Article Eleven: General Assembly:

Following election by the General Asembly, the Adminstrative Board meets and elects a President, vice President, Treasurer, Deputy Treasurer, Deputy Secretary, Public Relations supervisor, and Internal Membership Supervisor, they also appoint two more members from the Administrative Board or from specialists to have nine members in the Administrative Board.

Article Twelfth: General Assembly Meetings:

1.    The General Assembly holds an ordinary meeting during the first two months of every year by a written invitation from the Adminstrative Board sent to all members at least two weeks before the meeting date. They are announced in two daily newspapers in accordance with the decision of the Adminstrative Board.

2.    The General Assembly holds an extraordinary meeting upon a request  from the Adminstrative Board or upon a written request submitted to the Adminstrative Board and signed by no less than a quarter of the number of the General Assembly members. Extraordinary meetings of the General Assembly are convened the same way as ordinary meetings of the General Assembly are convened.

3.    The meeting of the General Assembly is considered legal when more than half of the General Assembly members who paid their annual subscriptions are presen.  If this quorum is not met, a new call for a meeting is conducetd within two weeks, in which case the meeting is considered legal regardless of the number of attenddees.

 

Article Thirteen: Responsibilities of the General Assembly: The ordinary General Assmbly has th following responsibilities and tasks:

1.    Electing the members of the Administartive Board by secret ballot or any other agreed upon way .

2.    Reviewing the General Annual report and approving it.

3.    Discussing and approving the Finanacial Report including the balance of the closing financial year and the closing account of the society.

4.    Discussing and approving the estimated budget for the coming year.

5.    Appointing an auditor.

6.    Any other issues proposed by the Administartive Board including amendements of the Articles of Incorporation as the need arises.

 

 

Article Fourteen: Electoral System

The electoral system takes place publicly; decsions are made by a majority of votes except regarding the election of the Administrative Board which is held through a secret ballot  or any other agreed upon way .

 

Article Fifteen: Responsibilites of the Extra ordinary General Assembly:

The Extra Ordinary General Assembly has the following tasks:

1.    Ammendment of the Articles of Incorporation.

2.    Termination of the delegation of the Adminstrative Board before its due date and election of a new one for the remaining period.

3.    Any other arising matters

4.    Decisions in  the Extra Ordinary General Assembly are taken by a majority of at least two thirds of the attenddees.

 

Article Sixteen: Administrative Board

The Administrative Board supervises, backs up, monitors and follows up the finaincial affairs and activities of the society; it also gives advice and guidance to the Management Board to keep the society going and to fullfil its objectives.

 

Article Seventeen: Authorities of the Administrative Board

First: The authorities of the Administrative Board include all what is related to the running the affairs of the society and represent her before all official and non official bodies and before the the law; they are in particular as follows:

1.    Preparation of  the society annual paln ( program) of action.

2.    Preparation of the Annual report on the activities of the society.

3.    Running the administrative and finincial affairs of the society including hiring and dismissing personnel.

4.    Preparation of the necessary administrative and finincial guidelines in running  the society.

5.    Naming the members of main , sub, specialized committees and appointing the executive departments of the society.

6.    Delegation of the President of the Administrative Board to represent the society before others, and he has the right to deputize any of the society members to this purpose.

7.    Documenting and executing all decisions of the General Assemby.

 

Second: Making Decisions

1.    The decisions of the adminstrative Board are made by a majority vote, in the event of a tie,  the vote of the head of the session will be the decisive one.

2.    A member of the Administrative Board  looses his/her membership if he/she fails to attend meetings of the Administrative Board for three consecutive times times without any excuse.

3.    Whenever a seat in the Administartive Board becomes vacant prior to ending  of its term in office, the person who came next in the  number of votes becomes a member; If there is not some one to replace him in this way, the Administrative  Board  would choose a member for the remaining time in office as long as this procedure does not exceed three members.

4.    The Society President is named as one of the members of the Administrative Board but without having the right to vote on the decisions which are made by the Administrative Board as (an observer).

 

 

Article Eighteen: Authorites of the President, Secretary and Treasurer:

 

The authorities include the following:

1.    To represent the society  before others, and  has the right to deputize any of the society members to this purpose, to represent it before law and to delegate an attorney or more to this effect.

2.    To convene for the meetings of the Administrative Board and the General Assembly and to preside over them

3.    To supervise the work of the society and that of its committees.

 

The Secretary's work is:

1.    To supervise the correspondence of the society and to keep it for record.

2.    To take minutes and proceedings of the the meetings of the Administrative Board and the General Assembly.

3.    To carry out other matters designated to him/her by the Society Administrative Board.

 

The Treasurer's work is:

1.    To receive in coming funds to the society in sealed receipts and signed by him and to deposit these sums in the bank assigned by the Administrative Board.

2.    To sign checks in addition to the signature of the Society President or its Executive Drector.

3.    To implement Administrative Board decisions regarding society financial transactions.

4.    Ensuring sound bookkeeping and financial records in the society to be at the disposal of the specialized departments.

 

The deputy treasurer carries out the reponsibilites of the Treasure in case of his/her absence.

 

Article Nineteen: Affiliation to Arab and International Organizations

The society may be affiliated to Arab and International Unions and Organizations involved in the field of nature and protection in general; it shall have the right to consolidate or unite with another society or more ot to act as an umbrella for other institutes and societies.

 

ArticleTwenty: Real estate Ownership

The society shall have the right to own estates, lands and other movable and immovable assets. Moreover, it has the right to sell, pawn and rent any of it by decision of the Administrative Board and approval of the official specialized depoartmets.

 

Article Twenty One: Dissolution of Society 

1.    The society may be dissolved by a decision of the General Assembly only if the number of votes supporting such a move is not less than  two thirds of the General Assembly eligible voters.

2.    If the society is dissolved, for any reason whatsoever, all movable and immovable assets will be transferred to a legitimate body which supports the activities of nature protection in Palestine and is approved by the General Assembly .

  

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Last modified: Wednesday, 19 January 2011