The Jerusalemite Palestinian Youth Identity Struggle رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

A thesis presented on the identity struggle for the Palestinian youth in Jerusalem, (between the national affiliation of their inherited Palestinian identity and the temptations of the Israeli occupation welfare services that seeks to dissolve their Palestinian identity and instill their loyalty to the Israeli labor market). According to the Jerusalem Statistical Yearbook for 2021, there are 461,700 Palestinians residing in East Jerusalem and its suburbs in mid-2020, which represents about 40 percent of the total population of Jerusalem. They are in a unique position due to the legal status granted to them during the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 and later membership in the State of Israel. In an attempt to assimilate the Palestinian youth of Jerusalem into the Israeli economic, social and cultural system, Israel has used social welfare measures to transform and dissolve the consciousness and identity of the Palestinian people of Jerusalem, especially the youth. As a result, these Palestinian youth are experiencing an internal conflict over the identity they cling to, between the national affiliation to the Palestinian identity and the Palestinian entity, and between the reality and daily life of the Israeli economic and social welfare system that provides the only life opportunities. The study focuses on the situation of identity conflict among Palestinian youth in Jerusalem, and how youth in Jerusalem express their orientations and identity in light of the conflict. In terms of the conflict, the study attempts to shed light on the signs of the emergence of features of the Palestinian Jerusalemite identity from the reality experience of the daily life challenges that Palestinian youth in Jerusalem live and face. VI On the one hand, the youth seek to benefit from the rights provided by the Israeli economic and social welfare system in order to remain in his land, and on the other hand, he seeks to express his continued Palestinian national affiliation in protecting his national rights of a sacred nature, as is always the case in defending Islamic and Christian sanctities. Therefore, the study will seek to understand and clarify the state of identity conflict from the point of view of Jerusalemite youth, by studying current events, conducting the necessary personal interviews, and reviewing the literature related to it