Palestinian Youth Activism in the Internet Age: Online and Offline Social Networks after the Arab Spring

Description

Since the Arab uprisings of 2011, Palestinian youth movements have formed unofficial and leaderless networks of political activism, using the internet to mobilise and bring together three generations of Palestinian activists. This book focuses on three key case studies that have marked a turning point in the development of youth-organised and grassroots Palestinian politics: the 15 March movement in Gaza, the Palestinians for Dignity movement in the West Bank, and the Prawer movement of young Palestinians in Israel. Drawing on extensive fieldwork composed of interviews with leading Palestinian activists in the West Bank and Gaza and detailed analysis of social media patterns, this book offers a fresh reading of Palestinian youth and their central online and offline role in popular protests against both Israeli and Palestinian power structures.

Albana Dwonch was most recently Visiting Scholar at the Ibrahim Abu Lughod International Studies Institute, Birzeit University, Palestine. She has been actively engaged in the NGO sector in the Middle East as Youth Development practitioner. She received her PhD in Near and Middle Eastern Interdisciplinary studies from the University of Washington, USA.

It takes deep cultural knowledge to understand how people use technology. Dwonch has immersed herself in Palestinian communities using technology to express themselves politically and to understand their political positions. Most important, her time spent in these communities lets her explain how the role of technology in political culture varies across the generations of Palestinians trapped in a long term struggle for individual identity and collective security. * Philip Howard, Director of Oxford Internet Institute and Professor of Internet Studies, University of Oxford, UK * Albana Dwonch's analysis of Palestinian youth makes important contributions on two levels. It unveils the simmering tension between young, nationalist Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel and the established national organizations that are supposed to be representing them. At the same time, Palestinian Youth Activism in the Internet Age sheds important light on a process that has permeated the entire Middle East, and beyond: young people's use of social media to challenge and transform existing politics. Dwonch expertly mixes novel analysis with telling anecdotes that bring these youthful activists to life. * Joel S. Migdal, Robert F. Philip Professor of International Studies, University of Washington, USA *