During a rally to announce 2011 as the Year of Youth in Gaza
Palestinian Youth are suppressed for carrying banners condemning closure of Sharek headquarters in Gaza
During a rally held on 1 February 2011 at Rashad Ash-Shawa Cultural Center in Gaza city, Palestinian youth in Gaza carried banners condemning the closure of Sharek Youth Forum. The rally was held under the supervision of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Gaza Government and sponsored by its Prime Minister Ismail Hanieh to announce 2011 as the Year of Youth. The rally was also attended by the Minister of Youth and Sports Dr. Bassem Naim, PLC members, security apparatus leaders and hundreds of people.
The rally administration suppressed the youth and asked them to quit the hall and threatened to arrest them because they demanded re-opening Sharek’s headquarters in Gaza. “Re-open Sharek youth Forum in Gaza” was written on banners carried by the youth. The youth refused to quit the hall and affirmed that the law gives them the freedom to express their attitudes and demands especially that the rally is for the youth and their issues. Three young persons were arrested and then released after they were forced to sign a pledge not to participate in any activities or events held in the interest or related to Sharek Forum.
After the rally, the youth headed to Hamas spokesperson, member of PLC Mushir Al-Masri, demanding him, in his official capacity, not to be subjected to any harassment by the security apparatuses. They also headed to Minister of Youth and Sports and demanded him to update them about the work of the committee commissioned by Gaza Government to investigate the closure of Sharek Youth Forum in Gaza and to stop any further procrastination concerning re-opening Sharek’s headquarters which has been closed for more 63 days.
It is worth noting that the invitation for the rally carried photos taken from Sharek’s archive posted on its website.
It is necessary to express, in the name of thousands of youth, our support to the organizing of this event a rally provided that the organizing party provides the actual conditions of such an event on the ground, foremost of which re-opening the youth organizations that are the vehicle for youth work in Palestine.
Sharek Youth Forum
1 February 2011
2011 Year of Youth in Gaza
Till when the youth will be marginalized and excluded and their organizations closed and the one color imposed on the Palestinian society?
As the closure of Sharek Youth Forum and other youth and civil organizations in Gaza Strip continues, Gaza Government organized a rally to celebrate the announcement of 2011 as the Year of Youth. We, in Sharek Youth Forum, support the organizing of such a rally provided that the organizing party provides the actual conditions of such an event on the ground. We affirm that holding such an activity necessitates an environment in which:
1. Youth rights are maintained and a positive environment that neutralize the youth from any political attractions is guaranteed
2. Youth enjoy actual space of freedom to express their views and ambitions
3. Youth organizations are protected and not closed under different justifications
4. Adoption, by decision makers, of policies that seek to develop the youth conditions and look forward to a better future for them
On this occasion, Sharek Youth Forum would like to comment on one of the photos used on the invitation for promoting the event. This photo, which is taken for a group of youth in Jerusalem and is posted on Sharek’s website, is used by the organizers without taking the permission of Sharek Forum or the youth in the photo. Nevertheless, using this photo is controversial. On one hand, Sharek centers in Gaza are closed by the organizers while, on the other hand, its photos are used by the same organizers for promoting the event.
Accordingly, we say that the actual achievements cannot be hidden by any procedures. Sharek’s youth are decorating the publications of the event. The photo clearly shows one of the co-founders of Sharek Forum, Hazem Abu Hilal, (second on the left) who considered his appearance on the publication a message from all the youth of Palestine to those who attempt to manipulate their achievements, ambitions and future.
Finally, we would like to mention that the youth of Palestine are its male and female young persons and we, in Sharek, are proud of each Palestinian girl. All Palestinian women and girls have been always at the vanguard in a full partnership side by side with men in carrying the national, development and youth concerns. Consequently, we feel sorry for amending the original photo through eliminating the girls from it.
Sharek Youth Forum
Jerusalem in 31 January 2011
In Gaza, they close Sharek Youth Forum centers and use its activities to promote the Year of the Youth
Invitation of the Higher National Committee in Gaza in which the Committee used photos of Sharek Youth Forum in Jerusalem, although Sharek’s centers have been closed for 63 days in Gaza
A report on Sharek’s Training and Recruitment Center working in cooperation with the Graduates’ Affairs Department at the Islamic University in Gaza regarding the graduates beneficiaries from its programs and activities
Gaza / Ramallah –Sharek Youth Forum – 25 January 2011 – A comprehensive and detailed report issued by Sharek’s Training and Recruitment Center in cooperation with the Graduates’ Affairs Department at the Islamic University in Gaza pointed out that the number of beneficiaries from Sharek’s activities and programs over the last three years amounted to 1282 graduates (605 males and 677 females). The Graduates’ Affairs Department Director at the Community Service and Continuous Education Deanship Rafiq Hussein Hamad reported that within the rehabilitation, training and development framework in 2008, the Training and Recruitment Center implemented “Step Forward” program including “Recruitment Counseling”. The program benefitted 241 graduates (124 females and 117 males) from all specializations: Civil Engineering and Architecture, Business Administration, Accounting, Finance and Banking, Social Service, Psychological Counseling and Educational Guidance, Press and Media, Public Relations and others. As regards the training programs, he reported that the Center conducted a number of specialized training courses that targeted 67 graduates (36 males and 31 females).
In 2009, the number of the program’s beneficiaries was 97 graduates (26 males and 71 females) in the first semester, 148 graduates (54 males and 94 females) in the second semester and 92 graduates (69 males and 23 females) in the summer semester.
In 2010, the number of the program’s beneficiaries was 121 graduates (51 males and 70 females) in the first semester, 158 graduates (50 males and 108 females) in the second semester and 103 graduates (50 males and 53 females) in the summer semester.
Recently during the first semester of 2011, the program’s beneficiaries amounted to 255 graduates (145 males and 110 females).
On his part, Sharek’s executive director in Gaza Strip Muheib Shaath gave a presentation about the Training and Recruitment Center, which was established within “Step Forward” program. In his presentation, Shaath said that the Center aims to provide training to graduates on practical and applied skills related to their academic studies through involving the largest number of civil society organizations and private and public businesses so as update the graduates on their experiences in the Palestinian labour market and identify the needs and requirements of the youth sector.
Shaath emphasized on the Center’s objectives represented in marketing the trained and qualified graduates so as to be employed in the vacant posts of these organizations and businesses through organizing an annual recruitment day, creating a database of unemployed graduates, training graduates on required skills and activating the role of universities, organizations and businesses to contribute, even if partially, in solving the unemployment problem. He added that the Center seeks to facilitate the process of finding a job for graduate students, monitor the labour market movement and types of specializations required and matching them with the specializations available at the Palestinian universities.
In the same context, Shaath added that the Center visited the Faculty of Commerce, met with the teaching staff and familiarized them with “Step Forward” program: Recruitment Counseling and provided them with Recruitment Counseling Booklet prepared by the program. The Center also organized a visit to the Palestinian Society for Rehabilitation of Mentally Disabled in order to discuss joint cooperation for the service of graduates. It is worth noting that the Center participated in preparations of the first Recruitment Day held on 24 November 2009 at the Conference Hall of the Islamic University through visiting organizations operating in Gaza and asking them to participate in that Day, classifying the graduates’ CVs who applied for participating, logistics, communication and follow up.
In an official letter to the Arab League Secretary General
Sharek Youth Forum demands Amr Moussa interference to re-open Sharek’s headquarters in Gaza and end all forms of violations against CBOs
Ramallah – Sharek Youth Forum – 22 January 2011. Sharek Youth Forum demanded the Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa to interfere and put pressure on Gaza Government to re-open Sharek’s headquarters in Gaza Strip and end all forms of violations including assaulting organizations’ headquarters, threatening to use force and detaining and arresting activists in the youth, civil and popular campaigns.
In an official letter sent yesterday to the Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, the Forum reported that yesterday marked the fifty fourth day anniversary for the closure of Sharek Forum in Gaza Strip, which came according to an oppressive, unjustified and illegal decision. The Forum added in its letter that the Forum has showed its full preparedness to cooperate with any legal procedures related to the Forum while it continues its work pending judicial decision. But the Forum has not received any response from Gaza Government.
The Forum described Moussa’s role as responsible and keen on all that related to the Palestinian people’s cause and Palestinians’ rights and freedoms and his continuous endeavors to ensure decent life for the Palestinians despite the circumstances of occupation and siege, reiterating the Secretary General urgent intervention with Gaza Government in an attempt to re-open the Forum’s headquarters in Gaza.
In its letter, the Forum added that it has worked, as a youth non-partisan organization, for more than a decade in service of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian youth through dozens of educational, training, rehabilitation and relief projects in addition to providing assistance to needy people. Consequently, the closure of the Forum in Gaza Strip means deprivation of all Gaza young people of its services and projects, the fact which aggravates the youth life and living crisis.
Youth Groups demand re-opening Sharek Youth Forum headquarters in Gaza, condemn violations and express their full solidarity
A number of youth groups and organizations demanded responsible parties including politicians, media men, human rights activists and civil society activists to interfere to re-open Sharek’s headquarters in Gaza Strip. This demand came at the end of consultancy sessions and communications among youth groups in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The representatives of the youth groups affirmed that closure of Sharek Youth Forum centers in Gaza Strip impacts the youth sector, as a whole. It also deprives tens of thousands of Gaza youth of Sharek’s programs and services, which deepens the siege impacts on youth, reminding, at the same time, that since the siege on Gaza, Sharek has consolidated its programs and devoted most of its attention and concentration to Gaza youth to help them overcome the catastrophic effects of the siege and internal division.
In the same context, the representatives of the youth groups demanded the political authority, whoever it is, to stop its interference in the youth civil work, stressing that the youth work in the occupied Palestinian Territory, has existed, before the establishment of any Palestinian authority or government, the title of any Palestinian popular resistance and confrontation for occupation. Confronting and resisting the occupation went side by side with the programs and services provided by the youth organizations. These programs contribute to developing the Palestinian reality, empowering the youth and enhancing their future opportunities so as to fasten their steadfastness on their land.
The representatives of the youth groups considered the violations to which the civil society organizations are subjected to, particularly Sharek Youth Forum, as flagrant violation of human rights and freedoms. More dangerous is that the violations represent an additional burden of the siege and division to which Sharek with all its staff and volunteers side by side with all the Palestinian forces stood firmly to re-unite the two sides of homeland and end the siege.
Finally, the youth groups called on all the conscientious people to work on ending the phenomena of the political factionism that comes at the account of all-inclusive Palestinian identity and to immediately end all forms of law, freedoms and rights violations, considering that re-opening of Sharek’s headquarters in Gaza represents the first step toward the right direction.
