Seminar entitled "Youth and Tolerance… between Success and Failure".

Gaza -30/5/2013 – in continuing to its endeavors toward enhancing and spreading the culture of tolerance and dialogue, and by committing to its objective of moving toward achieving the social conciliation, The Youth Form For Unity And Tolerance in Pal-Think For Strategic Studies held a seminar entitled “Youth and Tolerance… between success and failure”.

Around 120 individual attended the seminar, including civil society representatives, members of student factions, youth activists and students of both genders from all over the Gaza Strip.

During the seminar, four working papers addressing youth and tolerance from different dimensions were presented, focusing on means and mechanisms that could lead to enhancing the culture of tolerance through discarding differences in order to reach a political conciliation.

Mr. Omar Shaban the head of Pal-Think opened the seminar welcoming attendance, underlining the role of youth in building a better future, and insisting the importance of enhancing tolerance values starting with the grassroots of the community.

The public relation officer of Fateh Shabiba Mr. Taher Abu Zed said while presenting his working paper that had the name of “Youth role in tolerance values enhancement”, he said that the best route to prosperity is through learning and knowledge, asserting the importance of cooperation and dialogue among the different social sectors on one hand, and those sectors with the political system actors on another.

Adding, “The social conciliation cannot be achieved with the absence of a pluralistic system that is based on mutual respect and that ensures a complete cooperation among the different social sectors and the various components of the community “.

While the colleges’ matters officer in the Islamic bloc, Mr. Wessam Elqatati, addressed in his paper “the role of student factions in enhancing tolerance values” the role of political upbringing in enhancing tolerance values among youth, speaking of the positive and negative aspects of such upbringing.

At the end of his speech he insisted the necessity of self-control, open-mindedness and rationale when dealing with others. Inferring the role of universities in this matter, and that the university should remain neutral in any political dispute.

Ramy Mohsen, The Democratic Youth Union’s deputy, explained in his paper “the role of youth institutions in enhancing tolerance” the danger of bigotry and its notorious influence on the society, especially on youth, those who usually become the fuel for conflicts, particularly with the absence of awareness.

Then he added “only who refuge to violence are those who are disarmed from humanitarian values”, addressing some potential motives and reasons for such behaviors including intellectual distortion, brainwashing, political upbringing and the weakened Palestinian political and civic institutions.

The last working paper entitled “The role of media in enhancing tolerance values”, in which Mrs. Fedaa Abu Elata spoke of the significance of the role of media in raising public awareness. She also called for adapting a constructive new media speech that ensures that local media networks give up their instigation tone in order to rebuild trust among political foes.

At the end of the seminar a tense discussion took place, after which attendance came into some conclusions involving the importance of initiating practical steps toward achieving the social conciliation and enhancing the culture of tolerance among youth, with focusing on the grassroots of the community. They also asserted the necessity of lobbying and campaigning by youth and stamping the media speech with rationality, if we are to achieve a better future.