MIFTAH
Friday, 29 March. 2024
 
Your Key to Palestine
The Palestinian Initiatives for The Promotoion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
 
 
 

Ramallah – Members of MIFTAH's Political and Social Active Palestinian Youth Network met with Mr. Roberto Valent, UNDP Special Representative of the Administrator, and Mr. Nader Atta, Programme Analyst from the Governance Unit in UNDP to discuss the current Palestinian political situation and the internal political division. In particular, they talked about the role of youth in ending the division and achieving national reconciliation and the pivotal role youth need to play in light of this continued situation. Participants focused on the Palestinian leadership’s political marginalization of youth.

Shadi Zeidat, MIFTAH's coordinator for the empowerment of young Palestinian leaders, welcomed the participants and gave a brief description about the activities of MIFTAH's youth network, especially those carried out in cooperation with UNDP. In particular, they focused on the “Supporting Palestinian Young Women Political Leadership” project in its three stages starting the year 2010, particularly the achievements of the third stage. He explained how the project has shed light on issues of youth political participation and the most significant results of the national survey conducted by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and MIFTAH in 2014 on the perceptions of students in Palestinian universities and academic institutes around their political participation.

A different approach

Mr. Valent said he was pleased to meet with members of the Social and Political Active Youth Network and to discuss important issues pertaining to the political participation of youth, their future and role as agents for change. He stressed on the need to find a way out of the current political division given its negative impact on the efforts of the Palestinian leadership to internationalize the Palestinian cause and renounce the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. He stressed on the different future approaches to resolve these issues through investing in the Palestinian youth sector, far removed from past approaches that confine the treatment of problems to the higher political echelons.

Participant presentations

Several youths presented on the current political situation, the political participation of Palestinian youth and their role in ending the division and achieving national reconciliation. Network member Abdallah Qadah said he considered the division to be a flagrant violation of the rights of the Palestinian people. “This division was not born only in 2007, but was a knee-jerk reaction to Fatah’s exclusionary control over authority for years,” he said. Najwan Abu Najem added that the historical phases the Palestinians have gone through from the first Intifada through to Oslo and the second Intifada and then through the stages of institutions building, had created a ”barrier of fear” from the experience of new leadership. There is little confidence in the youth, options and ideas are limited to the current leadership, and there is exclusivity in governance and a growing gap between the leadership and society, all which contribute to this fear. Zeina Ramadan, meanwhile, pointed out the few safe interactive spaces available for youth to formulate policies and influence decision-makers. Overall, the youth expressed their fear of a further entrenchment of the division, which in the worst case, could result in an Israel-Hamas deal over a long-term truce.

Speakers' proposals for the next phase

  • Investing in MIFTAH's youth network and expanding the youth base to include the Gaza Strip, in Exile and inside the homeland given that the idea of the network has created a safe interactive space for faction-indoctrinated Palestinian youths to formulate plans and youth approaches for solving problems. Perhaps the next intervention could be reviving and organizing youth efforts towards ending the split and achieving national unity.

  • Reaffirming that Palestinian youth today live in a state of loss and isolation from the political factions, given that the basic ideology of this or that faction which youth belonged to is now missing and factions express their individual approaches and programs or worse, the interests of a certain group of people.

Developing and organizing the youth body

The need to develop and organize the youth body represented in the youth network; to put effort into a role for youth that is organized and continuous towards achieving social reconciliation on the one hand, and impacting on the decision-making body to create a system that is responsive to the needs of Palestinian youth on the other; reaffirming the need for a youth movement within Palestinian factions.

Two pivotal roles

That the youth network play two roles: the first pertains to impacting at the level of policies and legislation, and the second to the formation of a youth monitoring system that would shadow the PLC and therefore set the stage for a different kind of youth work in Palestine; reaffirming that Palestinian youth must first find a way around the extreme mentalities of the leadership in Palestine. They must work with student councils in universities, colleges and institutes in particular to consider the possibility of forming a unified student council that would include all the national factions at the youth level, thus impacting their interaction with one another and acceptance of the other.

Reaffirming MIFTAH’s role

At the end of the meeting, Mr. Valent stressed on MIFTAH’s pioneer role in investing in the potentials and abilities of youth and offering them a platform for creative energy. This is clear from the current youth network, which is a successful example of a space for united and independent youth action. Both Mr. Valent and Mr. Atta commended the quality of youth in which MIFTAH has invested over the years and their respect and appreciation for the youth network. They stressed on the need for future coordination between MIFTAH and UNDP in order to further invest in the youth network and build for the future, in addition to developing a practical plan by which UNDP can support the youth network within the framework of efforts to end the split and achieve national reconciliation.

 
 
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