Press Releases
5 December 2025. BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights and the Palestinian Youth Forum (PYF) completed the 2nd intensive training to enhance the knowledge and skills of its members, with 24 participants, in Birzeit - Ramallah, from 28 to 30 November 2025.
The trainings consisted of a series of political, cultural, and social workshops, in addition to skills development, over three consecutive days. The workshops included discussions on the current situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, focusing on the new American and Israeli colonial plans, as well as the ongoing situation in Lebanon and Sudan. The PYF also hosted the Palestinian journalist Lama Ghosheh, who shared her personal experience of arrest, house arrest, and what is known as "Israeli civil service." Specifically, she highlighted the transformation of this experience from a private matter into a public one, using it as a tool for influence and awareness-raising. The program also included a meeting with Professor Khaled Odet-Allah, entitled "Reclaiming the Political in a Neglected Society," during which he discussed the necessity of building Palestinian society from the ground up in a cumulative manner to reclaim and develop liberationist political action. In this same vein, BADIL held a workshop on decolonization, discussing alternative models of decolonization around the world, specifically the national liberation model within a rights-based framework.
Regarding skills development, presentation skills were highlighted through "Presenting a 3-Minute Idea" training session. Participants presented political, social, economic, and philosophical ideas in three minutes, focusing on the skills required for effective presentations and audience engagement. A training session was also conducted on how to handle questions posed by the public and/or foreign media regarding the Palestinian issue. This involved preparing a set of common questions and discussing how to answer them. These training sessions were followed by a workshop hosted by the Community Mental Health Group “Mahattat,” which addressed community mental health within the colonial context of Palestine.
Another session included a meeting with Nasser Abu Srour, a former prisoner deported to Egypt. Nasser spoke about his 33-year experience of imprisonment and highlighted the plight of Palestinian prisoners amidst the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, an additional front alongside Gaza and the West Bank. The session also included a field trip to the town of Birzeit to learn about its most important landmarks and its history of resistance.
As part of its strategic planning, and with the end of 2025 approaching, the PYF members held a planning session for practical initiatives to be implemented during 2026. These initiatives ranged from organizing volunteer work and community field visits to media and documentation projects, as well as other initiatives aimed at raising awareness among Palestinian youth, particularly university students.
The Palestinian Youth Forum is an independent youth platform with 34 members, supported by BADIL. The PYF seeks to utilize the skills and knowledge acquired by participants in Al Awda Training Schools and embody them through community initiatives and activities aimed at strengthening the resistance of the Palestinian people and raising awareness of the policies of the Israeli colonial-apartheid regime.
