«Tell Me About My Country»: Jenin and Deir al-Balah on the division and its social toll

Within the project of strengthening cooperation among Palestinian local community organisations for strengthening the independent Palestinian state, the Youth and Environment Association in Deir al-Balah and the Community Vision Association in Jenin, in cooperation with Pal-Think for Strategic Studies, carried out the initiative “Tell Me About My Homeland” during the month of December 2018.
The initiative offered a space of discussion, taking up the topic (the division's effect on the social infrastructure of Palestinian society), with the aim of producing a research paper setting out these effects — through discussion workshops formed of six focus groups in the city of Deir al-Balah and the city of Jenin, across three different groups (youth, women, and community activists).

During the workshops the topic was discussed from a research angle among the focused focus groups in (Gaza and Jenin), with additional discussion workshops in completion of the research aim, addressing the topic of the levels of citizenship and belonging among university youth in Palestine — opening the door of discussion around that concept and the extent of Palestinian youth's sense of psychological and ideological stability, which in turn strengthens belonging to the land anywhere in the world. The young people spoke about the issue of youth marginalised in all forums and conferences, absented from expressing their opinion, unable to contribute to strengthening decision-making because of the Palestinian division — finding that it is the elders who speak in the youth's name; this has driven young people to think of migration in search of a safe life and a stability that meets their future aspirations.

During the workshops the study problem's principal axes were recorded and discussed between the Gaza and Jenin groups, leading to a research paper addressing the issue's axes.

The initiative aimed to contribute to strengthening the role of family and school in entrenching the values and principles of good citizenship, in addition to strengthening direct cultural and social contact between Palestinian citizens in Deir al-Balah and Jenin over Skype — which enriched the discussion and created an atmosphere of direct exchange between Jenin and Deir al-Balah, especially among the youth, helping entrench the values of citizenship and belonging to the homeland among the target groups of women, community activists, and Palestinian youth.

The discussion sessions produced a set of results and recommendations from the focus groups between Deir al-Balah and Jenin, foremost among them:

1. The necessity of working to strengthen the national identity of the Palestinian national project, and moving away from partisan identities.

2. The necessity of working to intensify joint discussion sessions on community issues among all the Palestinian governorates.