"Your Coffee, Our Treat" comes to Birzeit University

Together for Change, fresh off its string of concurrent activities in Acre, Nablus, and Gaza, held its first activity in Birzeit University, “Your Coffee, Our Treat,” on February 15, 2018.

Together for Change, which was spun off from the “Palestinian Youth: Together for Change” project – implemented by the Center for Development Studies at Birzeit University and the American Friends Service Committee - Quakers – is an independent Palestinian youth group which aims to bolster the national Palestinian identity among Palestinian youth.

“The coffee stand is an informal way to discuss and explore concepts of unity and collective identity. We wanted to avoid big, formal meetings and just focus on the informal sharing of ideas,” said Salsabeel Abu Attwan, an activist in the group.

“We’re also promoting our other activity, ‘We did not forget,’” added Abu Attwan. “The activity highlights Palestinian villages, towns, and areas which were subsumed into the Israeli occupation in 1948 and after.”

By addressing collective Palestinian memory, the group aims to establish a collective consciousness among youth wherever they are (in Gaza, the West Bank, or 1948-occupied Palestine) on the Palestinian memory and the encompassing national identity, to redefine the relationship between the occupier and the occupied, and to describe the colonial situation in Palestine. 

“Palestinian Youth: Together for Change,” which encompasses all of these activities, brings together a group of youth from different parts of Palestine to discuss ideas related to the collective national identity. It aims to challenge and overcome the fragmentation and division caused by the occupation by integrating participants in in-depth discussions on causes pertinent to the collective national identity on the cultural, political, and social levels. The project strives to provide new spaces for youth to develop common attitudes and visions and transform them into reality.