“Keeping Hope Alive” – Arab youth regroup after the 2021 Gaza War

By Mohamad Jamous, Palestinian Director

June 25^th, 2021

After the great wave of violence that recently faced the Holy Land (during the 2021 Gaza War), we have continued our programs in peacebuilding work by organizing a program for multi-religious youth.

On Friday, June 25th, at seven o’clock in the evening, Abdel Salam Manasra and I, under the supervision of the International Director Sheikh Ghassan Manasra, held this program and welcomed the Arab youth who participated with us from various Israeli and Palestinian regions.

Our meeting dealt with the issues of not giving in to any wave of violence, of keeping hope in the hearts of young people, and facing all the challenges necessary to enhance confidence between the two parties.

After this great wave of violence, we need three meetings to determine the views and arrange the meetings of each party separately.

This meeting was the first in a series of three Arab youth meetings to arrange the group and prepare the youth to return to the principle of dialogue in an orderly, understandable and clear manner. This is in order to choose the group that is constantly present, the core group, to build up the future Arab leadership from Israel and Palestine.

A group of 16 Palestinian and Israeli Arab youth participated in this meeting via Zoom, 4 Christians, 9 Muslims, and 2 Druze.

Sheikh Ghassan Manasra stressed and emphasized the importance of unifying and arranging the internal ranks in Palestine and Israel, and he said his famous word: “If you want to make peace, you must make it within yourself first and then with the other side.”

In fact, what we saw today in the eyes of these beautiful youth is that despite the unfortunate events that faced all who inhabit this Holy Land, we saw determination and strength in the face of any storm.

Their eyes were full of hope and determination to build a better future and leadership, and this is what made us happy to continue to organize the dialogue programs.

We spoke with the youth group for an hour and a half and wrote and planned upcoming programs that would restore, strengthen and increase the unity between all parties.