Palestinian youth in Nablus: ‘Unite and stop with the division’

By +972 Magazine February 20, 2018 | Edit

Palestinian youth demonstrate in Nablus, demanding peace and calling for non-violent opposition to the occupation.

By +972 Magazine Staff

Palestinian youth protest in the West Bank city of Nablus. February 19, 2018. (Courtesy of Zimam)

Palestinian youth from across the West Bank demonstrated near Al Najah University in Nablus on Monday. The demonstrators held a long banner bearing slogans calling for peace, supporting non-violent struggle, and thanking the countries that opposed U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The demonstration was organised by Zimam, a Palestinian grassroots movement.

Samer Makhlouf, CEO of Zimam, said that the demonstration was intended not only to provide Palestinian youth “with a platform to express their anger and frustration in a constructive way,” but also to fight extremism and promote unity within Palestinian society.

“We believe in justice, in international law, and we are trying to encourage the community to adopt nonviolence in order to accomplish our goals,” Makhlouf told me by phone on Monday. “We need to unite behind one strategy and stop with the division.”

“We want to build a Palestinian society that is democratic, tolerant, secular,” Makhlouf added. “We see this as an important step as we approach statehood and independence.”

Palestinian youth hold protest banners in the West Bank city of Nablus. February 19, 2018. (Courtesy of Zimam)

Founded in late 2015, Zimam has 22 chapters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and a membership of 1,500, Makhlouf said.

According to the movement’s website, the movement is “creating a human infrastructure that is dedicated to building the independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state, participating in the nonviolent popular activities to resist the Israeli occupation using all legitimate means according to the international law.” Zimam, in Arabic, means “the reins of the horse.”

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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