Manama: Palestinian students have called for involving young people in the decision making process and for gearing education towards encouraging dialogue and cross-cultural communication.

"We as young people want a stronger role in defining policy," Malak Al Madhoun said.

"We want room to engage on the issues that are most important to us, like education," the 20-year old psychology student at Al Aqsa University said at the fourth United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Forum held in Doha.

Al Madhoun and nine other Palestinian students stood out as over 2,500 of the world's leading figures in government and civil society, academia and media gathered in the Qatari capital for the forum.

Students navigated blockade to attend the forum

Aiming to give Gaza a voice, the students had to overcome great challenges and to navigate a stifling blockade to be able to attend the forum, organisers said.

Al Fakhoora, an international campaign for education in Gaza, helped the students travel to Doha to make their voice heard at the UN Alliance of Civilizations on behalf of young Palestinians.

For three of the students, it was their first time out of the 360 square-kilometer Gaza strip, roughly twice the size of Washington D.C. with more than eight times the population. More than half of that population is under the age of 18.

Bissan Al Basyouni, a student in Al Aqsa University's sciences programme, said that the travel difficulties were "definitely worth it" to be able to attend the Doha Forum and meet American students in particular.

"Our perception has really changed after meeting so many different people during this conference. I had no idea that there are people from around the world that really do feel our suffering. It was great to feel that connection," she said.

400 young leaders

The ten students joined nearly 400 other young leaders at the Youth Preparatory Event for the forum, where they debated key aspects of cross-cultural and interreligious understanding and drafted recommendations to world leaders.

The World in Conversation project, an Al Fakhoora partner in the "Virtual Majlis" online dialogue forum, co-organised the youth event. Al Fakhoora students also attended sessions throughout the forum and were key participants in a lab session, "Communication Works for Those Who Work at It" that featured a live conversation with students from Pennsylvania State University on the importance of dialogue.

"This week has helped develop my skills and abilities for communicating with people from different backgrounds, which I think will enable me to expand my ability to share the message of my country and my people with the rest of the world," Abdul Raheem Mahlawi, a medical student on Al Fakhoora scholarship, said.

Cultures

According to Ahmad Wadi, from the Palestine College of Nursing, the participation in the forum has helped him learn more about other cultures and about how people his age who come from different backgrounds thought about what was happening in the world today.

Wadi said he intended to pursue a master's degree in nursing. His sister is benefitting from the UNDP's Deprived Families Economic Empowerment Programme (DEEP), which works in conjunction with Al Fakhoora's scholarship programme and provides grants to impoverished families to establish their own businesses.

Plight of students in Gaza

Al Fakhoora, established following the attacks on Gaza in 2008, is part of an international movement that supports student advocacy to raise awareness of the plight of students in Gaza.

It has committed to providing 100 scholarships a year for 10 years for Palestinian students in post-secondary education in Gaza and is working with various international agencies to rehabilitate universities in Gaza, improve the quality of education, provide psychosocial counseling to students, and deliver prosthetics to youth in need.

The organisation recently awarded its 300th scholarship to a Palestinian student for secondary education in Gaza.

"Much of Al Fakhoora's work is designed to give a voice to the youth of Gaza, and allow them to present their narrative to the Western World," Farooq Burney, Al Fakhoora Director, said.

Opportunity

"This UN forum was a great opportunity for our students to do just that, and share with other young people around the world what it means to be a Palestinian living under the blockade.

In November, Al Fakhoora launched the Virtual Majlis initiative as an online weekly meeting for students from Doha, Gaza and the US to create deeper understanding and explore commonalities between the three communities.