Five myths about Palestine’s youth activists – debunked
Julie M
Norman, The Conversation, 18 mai 2018
Wisal
Sheikh Khalil was just 14 years old when she was shot dead
by an Israeli sniper during the protests on May 14, 2018, in Gaza.
Of the 60
Palestinians killed, eight were under 16
years, and most were under the age of 30. Earlier this month,
17-year-old Ahed Tamimi was sentenced to four months in prison by an Israeli
military court, just one of over 300
Palestinian minors held in Israeli custody.
It can be
hard for people outside the conflict to understand what motivates young
Palestinians such as Wisal and Ahed to risk arrest, injury and death. Worse,
there are several persistent myths which have clouded people’s perceptions
about Palestinian activism, and youth activism more broadly.
My research
with young Palestinian activists over the past ten years has given me a chance
to investigate how they understand their role in the conflict – and collect the
evidence needed to challenge those myths.
Young
people are ready to die
During
the height of the second intifada (or uprising) in the early 2000s, a story spread
that young Palestinian activists were seeking death
through suicide bombing. This idea has persisted in Palestine and throughout
the Middle East, with both media and academic focus on youth “radicalisation”
feeding into the rhetoric that young people are drawn towards violence or
self-sacrifice.
Some
youths may be thinking about martyrdom; Wisal, for example, had told her mother
she was prepared to
die. But the actions taken by most young Palestinians are anything
but a death wish. Rather, they are attempting to transform their daily lives
under occupation. As Palestinian journalist Mariam Barghouti wrote this week:
The misconception is that we actually have a choice, that we are wilfully choosing death. The truth is that the only remaining option is to silently be imprisoned, controlled, dispossessed, and attacked for being Palestinian. There is no choice but to seek life, and that is all that we are doing. This is our crime. We are the criminals that dared to wish for life.
More
young people means more resistance
A related
myth is that of the “youth bulge”:
the idea that the sheer size of the youth population in the Middle East will
lead to more resistance. In reality, that is not the case. While 30% of the
population in Palestine is between the ages of 15
and 29, there is not notably more or less Palestinian activism now
than there was in the past.
 |
| Palestinian
activist Ahed Tamimi marches with her mother and father beside her. Haim
Schwarczenberg/Flickr, CC BY-SA |
As a
protracted conflict, resistance in Palestine is intergenerational, with many of
today’s young people taking inspiration from the earlier activism of their
parents and grandparents, many of whom still participate in demonstrations,
protests and other forms of everyday activism.
Youth
activism is spontaneous
It is a
misconception that youth-led protests spontaneously
erupt in Palestine. In fact, Monday’s protest was the culmination of
over six weeks of
protest at the Gaza border. Villages across the West Bank have held
weekly demonstrations for years – some for over a decade
.
Young
people organise through local “popular committees”, campus groups, social
media, word of mouth and direct outreach in villages, refugee camps and
communities. While protests such as Monday’s garner the most attention, young
people are active in other ways as well. They coordinate Boycott, Divestment
and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns, use media, music and art as modes of resistance
and connect with international solidarity groups.
Young
people are the pawns of political parties
There
were reports that Hamas had orchestrated or hijacked
Monday’s protests, suggesting that the estimated 40,000
participants – mostly young people – were simply political pawns.
While
Hamas did provide logistical
support throughout the protests, nearly all young activists I have
interviewed saw their resistance as distinct from any political party – Fatah
or Hamas, neither of which has served Palestinian civilians well.
To
suggest that young activists are passive pawns manipulated by the parties
undercuts the agency and leadership that young Palestinians have expressed in
the absence of strong leaders.
Young
people are the future
Young
Palestinians are not just the future – they are also the present. To refer to
young people only as “the future” diminishes the important role they are already
playing in Palestine, and throughout the Middle East, to reshape their
societies and challenge political realities.
Young
people are neither passive victims nor violent extremists; they are leaders,
activists, students, artists and engaged citizens ready to challenge the status
quo, not only for the future, but for the immediate present.
