December 14, 2020
Image by iStock
The kids in Israel and Palestine are not alright. Almost half of Israeli high school students told pollsters in 2016 that they don’t think Arab citizens should be allowed to vote or sit in the Knesset. Meanwhile, 73% of Palestinian youth told pollsters in 2015 that they supported the knife intifada. Also in 2016, 82% of Israeli 11th and 12th graders said there was “no chance” of reaching a deal of some sort with the Palestinians.
These young people should not be blamed for their attitudes; they’re the product of a dysfunctional environment that their leaders, and we in the international community, have bestowed upon them. The emerging generation of Israelis and Palestinians have less experience of each other than probably any cohort since 1967.