A radio episode entitled “The Role of Youth Institutions in Spreading the Culture of Nonviolence” was implemented by Pal Think for strategic studies and FXB, within the project “The Benefits of Non-Violence as a Culture and Instrument for Conflict Resolution Domestically & Regionally” , with the participation of Hassan Abu Safar (Executive Director of the Youth and Environment Society Association) and Bassem Al-Dirawi (Coordinator of Youth Programs at Fares Al Arab Association). This project aims to spread nonviolent peaceful methods in Palestinian society and adopt them as a way of life by its members to resolve conflicts.

The episode started by Mr. Hassan Abu Safar, where he pointed out to the importance of engaging youth to play a leading role in promoting the culture of nonviolence in order to eliminate all forms of violence, since the Palestinian society is a young society, calling on youth institutions to work together towards achieving this goal. He also discussed his association role in spreading such culture through the initiative entitled “The Use of Popular Education Tools to Promote Nonviolence”. The initiative included many activities performed in Deir Al Ballah City such as Folklore, Art Works, Hakawati, Cinema Shows.

On the other hand, Mr. Bassem Al-Dirawi mentioned the various mechanisms and methods youth institutions used to spread the culture of nonviolence, such as Pal-Think experiment in the implementation of youth programs published in all areas of the Gaza Strip, within the project “Promoting a culture of nonviolence”. He also highlighted the obstacles which face the efforts of youth institutions in spreading the culture of non-violence, where both Mr. Bassem and Mr. Hassan agreed that the main obstacle is the difficult circumstances Gaza Strip is going through. Mr. Hassan also added that these circumstances led to a lot of the crises that raised the rate of violence in society, but despite all the obstacles a large percentage of young people still believe in a culture of nonviolence consistent with the Palestinian cultural heritage, Bassem added that ” youth institutions should rebuild trust between them and the youth, and participate in developing plans to directly and effectively touch the reality of young people”. He also added that there are a good number of youth institutions that call to spreading the culture of nonviolence, and belonging to the culture over the institution, this is the most effective philosophy in the dissemination of any culture, in addition to the application of “non-violence” among the staff of the institutions.

As for Fares Al Arab organization role in spreading such culture, an initiative was launched entitled “let’s be together “.The initiative aims to integrate 25 to 30 different people in the fields of gender, geography, thought, specialization and hobbies, to support the culture of nonviolence such as dialogue skills, debate art and conflict resolution .

In conclusion, the guests called on youth institutions to continue work and build plans, based on the cumulative work in spreading the culture of nonviolence and the search for complementary perspectives between institutions to reach all segments of youth in society.