Zimam March 2016 Update

8/18/2019 Zimam March 2016 Update

1/6

This session took place in Gaza University. 60 students attended thesession and discussed religion and extremism. The session is abreakthrough for Zimam in Gaza strip. Zimam activists worked withthe university staff and the student console to deliver a bold sessionon extremism and religion in the Palestinian community, a topicrarely discussed in our community, not to mention the uniquecircumstances in Gaza. The students were very eager to learn moreabout the subject. Our coordinator in Gaza, Atta Masri led thesession and briefed the students on Zimam’s campaign to counter

extremism in the West Bank. The students expressed great interestto run similar campaigns in Gaza. “We need the young to live andcontribute to state building”, said Atta, “we need to counterextremism with non-violent activities and emphasise the role of ouryoung in achieving an end to the conflict.”

Our Field Coordinator, Alaa Salous, worked with a new groupin Nablus in March. Salous brought to the group’s attentionthe changes Zimam went through to adjust to the currentstatus quo and the activities we are planning for 2016. Salousthought it was necessary to clarify that Zimam’s vision haven’tchanged. Salous took time to explain Zimam’s youthleadership training program and also discussed extremismand violence within our society. Salous stressed the great rolethat falls on the youth in raising awareness and a democratic

culture in the community. 25 young activists attended thisevent.

MARCH UPDATE

Our activists participated in the Palestinian Youth Unionmarch for unity. The annual march is dedicated to support

state building and bring the community together to addresssocial and political issues influencing the status quo. 36 of ouractivists helped organising the event in Ramallah. The marchwalked through downtown Ramallah to an area threatened byconfiscation near Al-Bireh. The activists planted olive treesnear Beit El settlement. Hundreds of activists from the civicsociety and local NGOs participate in this march.

[Media Coverage]

http://www.arn.ps/archives/178676http://www.arn.ps/archives/178676


2/6

Zimam activists participated in major event in Jericho entitled (Land and

Dignity). The event took place in Jericho’s stadium where hundreds

university students gathered in a day full of activities organised by the

Palestinian Ministry of Youth and Sports. Zimam activists seized the

opportunity to speak about Zimam’s mission and vision and the programs

we run all over the West Bank. Our coordinator in Jericho, MohammadDweik, collected over 120 applications from the participants who came from

all Palestinian cities.

General Jibril Rajoub, Head of the Palestinian Football Federation, attended

this event with the governor of Jericho and other government officials. Our

activists met with the General and briefed him about Zimam activities.

The event served as great exposure for Zimam in Jericho. Our chapter in

Jericho has expanded drastically in the past week with a close to a hundred

applicants. We are currently planning introductory sessions for the new

youth leaders and looking forward to expand our partnership in Jericho.

[Media Coverage]

Our discussion in Qaqilia tackled the subject of identity and the

fundamentalism. Our activists discussed tendencies toward extremism and

infidel ideology, in addition to the on-going wars taking place in the Arab

world against extremists. The session was an open and honest discussion

monitored by our coordinator in Qalqilia Issa Hantash. This session tried to

identify the meaning of extremism from Palestinians point of view. Wereceived several opinions regarding this subject.

The majority defined extremism as the lack of acceptance and intolerance.

The activists shared a positive discussion about our customs and traditions

as a tribal society. The session also explored the good and evil inside each

and everyone of us. “We need to nourish goodness in an individual in order

to eliminate the existing evil within him”, said Hantash, “the loss of hope

among the youth in the peace process provoked the extremist ideology in

our society.”

The activists agreed that extremism is a danger to the Palestinian society

and the general consensus that extremism in our society will affect our

Palestinian struggle to end the Israeli occupation and build our state.

This session was hosted by our partner in Hebron, ADWAR for Social

Change. The session focused on the role of Palestinian women in

countering violence and extremism in the community. The sessions took

place south of Hebron where the majority of women are not active in the

community and rarely demonstrate leadership. The session discussed

women rights of security, proper education, freedom of speech and

practicing democracy. The majority of the participants expressed concerns

for the rise of violence in our community. The participants also drafted someexcellent ideas to help motivating women to participate in the decision

making process.

http://www.alwatanvoice.com/arabic/news/2016/03/25/891212.htmlhttp://www.alwatanvoice.com/arabic/news/2016/03/25/891212.html


3/6

Zimam launched a sign-up event in Bethlehem’s Public University. Zimam’s

activists engaged the students in campus in discussions about the

campaign and invited them to sign a petition against violence and

extremism, stressing the importance of Palestinian unity and the freedom of

expression for all. This is the first major event in a Palestinian university.

Zimam official partnership with the university granted us access to the

campus and interviews with the dean and the student council. Bethlehem

activists lead the event. They handed out hundreds of fliers in campus and

asked the students to join the discussion by the sign-up stand near the mainbuilding. We reached hundreds of students. Hundreds of students signed

the petition.

Zimam held a town hall meeting in Hebron. The event took place in Arroub college

with 50 media students with promising careers in journalism. The session explored

the use of social media to promote fundamental views. The session discussed the

difficulties to keep track of social media and argued the need to promote the humanside of the conflict instead. The students also discussed the ties between radicalism

and the conflict. The discussion was mainly positive. A most notable question from a

student in this session was: “what if ISIS attacked Israel?, are we going to support

ISIS?” Zimam stated that the current stalemate in the political process and lack of

solutions in the horizon creates an environment for such ideologies to grow. The role

of civil society is very important to educate the public on the dangers ISIS form on our

national project because ISIS is not only a threat for the Israelis but also for

Palestinians.

Jenin activists worked with PA’s representative office in the city to honour

Palestinian women in uniform. 17 young activists organised this event

accompanied with Jenin’s Deputy Governor, Kamal Abu Rab. Col. Azzam,

Director of political guidance office in Jenin, is very excited about the

partnership with Zimam . The activists believe that Palestinian women have

a vital role in countering extremism and creating a non-violent environment

for dialogue. We received a very positive feedback. Zimam activists were

invited to the governor’s office two-days after and received an honorary

award for their dedication and community work.

[Media Coverage]

200 students from the West Bank universities came together duringthe Environmental Youth track in Jericho, organised by the SupremeCouncil for Youth and Sports in collaboration with Zimam and otherlocal NGOs. Students from the University of Birzeit, Al-Quds theUniversity, Bethlehem and Hebron marched 12 KMs through WadiKelt as part of a program to explore Palestinians historical identity.Zimam was invited to speak about the new movement. Our activistsbriefed the students about our activities.

[Media Coverage]

http://goo.gl/vq3Omyhttp://www.maannews.net/Content.aspx?id=834695http://www.maannews.net/Content.aspx?id=834695http://goo.gl/vq3Omy


4/6

Zimam continues to organise training for our senior activists in Ramallah to

promote a non-violent approach to the conflict. The second training session

with Dr. Omar Rahal focused on extremism outbreak in our region and the

consequences on the Palestinian Israeli conflict. 20 activists joined Dr. Rahal

this month, working to create creative initiative and campaigns to counter

extremism and violence in our society. The activists provided a few

campaign ideas to counter extremism at the end of the session. Zimam will

continue to provide a platform for activists to promote the culture of non-

violent activism through-out the community.

In Hebron Zimam organised a basic training session in Doura/ Hebron, led by our coordinator, Nader Emlih. Dora is heavilypopulated with Salafi and Hizb Tahrir supporters. We received both

positive and negative feedback from the community, supporting andopposing our work. The training focused on empowering the youth totake an active role in ending the conflict and promote themovement’s agenda in the community. 19 volunteers participated inthis training.

Zimam organised a basic training sessions for a new group inQalqilia. Zimam’s activist Rameh Musmar led the session. 27activists participated in this session. Zimam is aiming to create asimilar model to Nablus in qalqilia. There are hundreds of activeyouth leaders in Qalqilia ready to mobilise the community to serveZimam’s agenda. We will be reaching out to more groups in the nearfuture through our programs and campaigns in the city.

Zimam discussed extremism in our community in Jenin. Our coordinator in

Jenin, Basma Shriem, led the session. The participants expressed different

views about extremism. While some believe it is an existing problem, others

feel it hasn’t developed into a national security threat. Zimam Deputy

Director, Abdallah Hamarsheh, provided several facts about the rise of

extremism in the Middle East. Hamarsheh argued that extremism is a threat

to the community and any hopes of achieving a lasting peace in the region.

Hamarsheh was very firm denouncing the stabbing incidents we witnessedas of late. 24 activists attended this event.


5/6

Nisreen Shaheen attended the European Development &Cooperation workshop on peace building initiative earlier thisweek. The workshop explains the grant offered by the EU onpeace building initiatives in Palestine.

Zimam produced six short movies preparing for our campaign

launch. The title of these videos is “I live for my country, I don’t diefor it”. The videos will be massively distributed on social media topromote non-violent activism and denounce violence. Will will startuploading these videos once we have the confirmation for Zimam legal paperwork.

Zimam E.D. Samer Makhlouf met the information officer forthe ministry of foreign affairs, Wael Batrikhy, in Ramallahearlier this week. Samer briefed Batrikhy on Zimam’s visionfor a two-state solution and our activities in the West Bankand Gaza. Batrikhy expressed interested in Zimam work andoffered to work with our youth leaders on social mediaadvocacy.

In March, Zimam’s E.D. Samer Makhlouf met with the Dean ofAdmission at Al-Quds University to discuss possiblepartnership with the university to host future events oncampus. Al-Quds University currently has approximately over20,000 students enrolled for the current semester. The Deanof Admission has agreed to allow Zimam to operate incampus pending the University’s approval of any initiative wepropose.


6/6

20 activists joined Zimam coordinator in Nablus, RamehMismar, in a basic training session on campaigning andadvocacy. Rameh worked with the activists on creatingcampaigns and initiatives that advocates for non-violence and

counter the rise of extremism in our social media. Theactivists worked in groups and delivered some interestingideas to counter extremism in their schools and communities.

Zimam shared this quote from a Facebook user speakingfrankly about the recent violent events happening in Palestineand Israel. Zimam fully understands the sensitivity of thisconflict and will continue to support non-violent activism bothon the ground and on social media.

“This ignorance and shameful silence about the death of theyouth in the West Bank must end. What good comes from thedeath of young Palestinians? Is the death of a soldier or

settler offset by deaths of tens of dozens of youngPalestinians? I can’t imagine any issue more important thanthis issue. Has the blood of young Palestinians became socheap like the death of Gaza's youth before it? How long will ittake us to break the wall of silence and say enough is enoughto the stabbing incidents? We want our heroes alive.”

Zimam March 2016 Update

Documents

Transcript of Zimam March 2016 Update