Palestinian student and youth movements in protracted settler-colonialism. The (re)elaboration of strategies of liberation

Abstract

This article documents the contribution of the Palestinian transnational youth and student movements to the national liberation struggle. It aims at highlighting the role young generations in Diaspora have played in elaborating strategies of resistance in different moments and phases of the struggle against the colonization of Palestine. The article provides a brief analysis of how Palestinian student movements have contributed to the reorganisation of the scattered Palestinian society and the re-articulation of the political discourse in the aftermath of the Nakba. It will then elaborate on the political role of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS). Finally, it will introduce contemporary Palestinian student and youth initiatives. The article argues that Palestinian youth and students are a fundamental actor of Palestinian politics and suggests that Palestinian young generation have been able to play a vanguard role as long as they understood their struggle within an anti-colonial framework.

Keywords

• Setter Colonialism,Youth, Student movements, Palestine, Diaspora