Palestinian Territories 02/2016 EDITORIAL Below you will find the results of the latest youth opinion poll conducted by the Jeru ­salem Media and Communication Centre (JMCC) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in April 2016. Despite a drop in the number of incidents in recent weeks, the current round of po ­litical unrest which began in October 2015 in occupied Palestinian territory(oPt) and Israel has yet to come to an end. Young Palestinians have been one of the main drivers behind the surge in protests and alleged attacks, and the vast majority of Palestinians killed, hurt or arrested sin ­ce 2015 – often after committing attacks themselves – have been under 30 years old, with some even as young as 12. Bet ­ter understanding the opinions and fee ­lings of the youth in Palestine is thus vital to all those looking for a way out of the current dilemma. A majority of the Palestinian youth(60.6 %) support the continuation of the current unrest. 35.3% believe it will develop into a fully-fledged uprising while 29.3% think it will come to an end only once particu ­lar goals have been reached. The broad support and high expectations are reflec ­ted in the overall positive image young Palestinians have of the unrest, 50.3% of whom believe it serves the Palestinian cause well. However, the results are not unanimous – 21.5% strongly oppose con ­tinuing the political unrest. Attitudes on the unrest contrast sharply with the youth’s position towards the po ­litical leadership in Palestine. Not only do 34.6% rate the performance of Palestini ­an President Mahmoud Abbas as bad, but 32.5% do not trust any political faction and 32.7% do not trust any political leader. Indeed, only 10.7% believe that joining a political party is the best way for young Palestinians to instigate positive change. While this should not be confused with widespread political apathy, the poll de ­monstrates a large gap between orga ­nised politics and the lived experiences of the youth. Most Palestinian youth(36.6%) blame both Hamas and Fatah for the conti ­nuing political division that has been han ­ging over Palestine for nearly ten years. In other words, both political factions are struggling to win over young voters. Moving away from internal politics, 58.5% of the Palestinian youth see little chan ­ce of reaching a peaceful settlement to the Israel/Palestine conflict. Even though there is much higher support(42.8%) for the two-state solution compared to other one-state alternatives, 67% of young Pa ­lestinians do not believe that diplomacy can resolve the conflict while 69.2% do not think that Israelis and Palestinians can solve the conflict on their own. Perhaps it comes as little surprise but 64.3% of the youth also see little use in working tog ­ether with like-minded Israelis. After the promises of the 1993 Oslo Accords have failed to materialise and the physical se ­paration between Gaza, the West Bank and Israel has only deepened, young Pa ­lestinians see no partner for peace and are looking for the outside world to step in. The youth will certainly be the key to Palestine’s future, but as the poll shows, an out of touch leadership and a non­existent peace process give young Pale ­stinians little to hope for. In the absence of political progress, the youth is instead turning to the street for answers. Design: ery foto Seite 1