Palestinian youth emigration from the Gaza Strip: reasons to leave

This study reveals the Israeli and Palestinian policies that push Palestinian youth to emigrate from the Gaza Strip. This is important because of the large numbers of Gazan youth emigrate, which still exists without finding solutions that are expected to be reduced as shown from the high percentage of youth emigration from the Strip. In the context of successive wars on the Gaza Strip, especially the Israeli aggression in 2014, many young Gazans emigrated in search of a decent life away from the economic, psychological, and political conditions that the Strip suffers from. Accordingly, this research seeks to understand the different discourses of Palestinian youth in conjunction with the Israeli and Palestinian policies that push youth to emigrate. I discuss their discourses from different perspectives. It turns out there remains a great desire on the part of youth to emigrate, and this includes those with qualifications. Through a number of semi-structured interviews with different youth groups from the Gaza Strip, the research reviews the underlying motives behind youth emigration and the impact of Israeli and Palestinian policies on their motives for emigration. My research findings are that the political and economic conditions contribute to promoting the idea of emigration and that emigration is viewed as a risk worth taking, for most young people, despite the many obstacles they face. Furthermore, the priorities of youth were mainly economic, since this aspect is what would give them better life opportunities. Additionally to being political, the Israeli occupation and its repressive practices against Palestinian people, create division and political isolation in Gaza, which help push youth to emigrate.