Palestinian "Generation Y" Defines a Brighter Future

Firas, Muhamad, Ayman, Thaer and 10 other young men, are graduating this year with college degrees in Marketing, Accounting, Psychology and Computer Science. None of them has any hopes of getting a job in their respective fields. Oh, yes... Ayman had a job with a branch of Microsoft for few months, but they closed their business in that area and life has not been the same for him since.

I asked them "What can you do?" They shook their heads and smiled. The pride of these educated young men keeps them from complaining. Their resilience is something to behold!

At the two-day training we offered in Bethlehem, Natural Design was "naturally" exhibited: The young men sat on one side of the U-shaped conference hall, and the rest of the 30 attendees sat on the other side of the table. The first day we heard many comments, questions and at times "mini speeches" from the older participants. Nothing on the young side. At the end of day one, I asked our young participants if they agree with what the others said and if not, why they didn't react.

"Why should we react?" said Thaer, "We do not agree with most of what they said, but why spend time and energy debating a dead subject? We are here to learn a new conceptual framework, and are expecting you and Dr. Beck to guide us towards practical steps to take, to build the necessary systems to enable emergence."

WOW! So that's why they were quiet...

The next day, we asked the participants to write their vision for a brighter and successful future. Our young men got into groups, and wrote a very optimistic vision that included:

• Better educational systems that will attract Arab students from all over the Arab world.
  
• A beacon of technology, education and invention.
  
• A good health care system.
  
• The rule of law.
• Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
• ... and more.

The other participants repeated some of the points the young men mentioned and added other valid points.

However, as I was moderating the feedback/feedforward vision session, I noticed that both groups were not listening to each other. Each side was focused only on what they themselves had written. Neither side validated the points that the other side made. It became clear to me that there is a definite generational divide that needs to be addressed if these Palestinians want to continue working together. The session that followed was a brutal but necessary awareness to many of the participants.

The older Fatah members told me that their movement was socially responsible and dedicated to improving the life conditions of the Palestinian people, up until 1994. I asked them to pause for a second, and turned to our college students and asked, "How old were you in 1994?"

Eleven, twelve, and thirteen years old.

"So you cannot honor the past actions of the other members, and all you hear now is words and promises of reform?"

"Yes."

I asked the older members to talk about the structures and systems they had before 1994, and the kind of services they offered. To the surprise of the young crowd, many facts, numbers and successes were an integral part of Fatah history up till that date.

A shift happened in the room. The Fatah leaders felt validated and honored and were now able to give space to the young leaders to express themselves. Well, it also took some humor to get them to listen. Don said, "Let these young men do the work and you the wise ones can sit back, relax and take the credit!"

The conversations at lunch and coffee breaks completely changed after that session. I could see groups of young men and older gentlemen clustering together and discussing, young/old perspectives.

What a joy...