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Reform Movements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
Abstract
Inspired by revolutionary protests in Tunisia and Egypt and the first Palestinian intifada at the end of 1987, Palestinian youth had begun to organize themselves based on the belief in the ability to play a key role in making a critical change that makes the Palestinian people closer to achieve their national goals. The May 15 youth protests started with a call for internal reconciliation as the first of several demands, but the revolutionary changes in north Africa’s Arab regimes through the popular will and the May 15 protests by refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, turned the attention of Palestinian youth to core demands such as the right of return of all Palestinians around the world and the need to rehabilitate the Palestinian national body by holding Palestinian National Council elections that include all Palestinians regardless of geographic location and circumstances. The crisis of representation and accountability emerged as an issue of concern among all Palestinians, including WB/GS, and the call for holding Palestinian National Council elections was the main motivation behind the youth movement activities since March 2011. The ultimate goal for these activities is to reconstruct a Palestinian national program based upon a directly elected democratic PNC as the most effective means of progress towards the achievement of Palestinian rights, end internal division, restore the national liberation movement, and reform the PLO on a democratic basis so that it can represent the will of the entire Palestinian people. Still, much more work among youth groups is needed. Can the current debate leads toward the emergence of a unified youth body in the WB/GS and the Palestinian communities in the “shatat”? Can the youth groups develop a comprehensive vision to end marginalizing the popular will in the process of decision making and national struggle? What is the nature of the relationship between the PA and the PLO under Occupation and without political horizon leading to the establishment of an independent state? What is the fate of the controversy about the validity of the elections as the only source of legitimacy under occupation away from the popular will in the case of national liberation struggle? What are the mechanisms of communication between Palestinian youth at home and abroad?
Discipline
Political Science
Geographic Area
Palestine
Sub Area
Arab-Israeli Conflict