February 27, 2012
Twenty youth and civil society leaders gathered in Gaza to discuss the results of AWRAD’s latest survey on youth opinions and values.
Three researchers and political analysts provided a reading of the results. Ghassan Abu Hattab - of Birzeit University’s Center for Development Studies, Taysir Muhaisen - a prominent civil society leader and Ibrahim Shatali – an independent youth leader. The participants discussed the results relating to the independent youth movement in Gaza in relation to the Arab Spring.
They concluded that a number of environmental reasons are behind the weak standing of the independent youth movement.
Among them is the highly oppressive nature of the political regime. In addition, most youth are part of existing political groups that have vested interest in the status quo. Others blamed the lack of unity and coordination between the multiple factions within the youth movement itself. All in all, the participants praised the results of the poll as indicative of the present youth political culture in the country.
An Analysis of AWRAD’s Youth Poll (Arabic)
