One Year After Gaza: Securing the Future for Young Palestinians

One year after the conflict in Gaza, reconstruction of homes and buildings has barely begun, economic development has stagnated, and the humanitarian situation facing the Gazan population remains dire.

On January 15, the Middle East Youth Initiative—a joint project of Brookings’s Wolfensohn Center for Development and the Dubai School of Government—and the New America Foundation hosted a discussion to analyze the prospects for young people growing up in the Palestinian territories, where nearly three-quarters of the population is under the age of 29. What are the implications of these challenges – and of developments over the last year in Gaza and beyond – for American-led peace efforts, Israel, and the region’s security? The panel included Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Edward Sayre, a contributor to the Middle East Youth Initiative’s recent book, Generation in Waiting: The Unfulfilled Promise of Young People in the Middle East (Brookings Press, 2009).

Brookings President Strobe Talbott provided opening remarks and lead a discussion with James D. Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank and former special envoy for Gaza disengagement for the Quartet, who reflected on his experiences in the region as special envoy and provided his perspective on current prospects for economic development in the Palestinian territories and the region.

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PARTICIPANTS

Opening Remarks

Strobe Talbott
President, The Brookings Institution

James D. Wolfensohn
Chairman, Wolfensohn & Company, LLC

Panelists

Amjad Atallah
Co-Director, Middle East Task Force, New America Foundation

Daniel Levy
Senior Research Fellow, American Strategy Program and Co-Director, Middle East Task Force, New America Foundation

Edward Sayre
Assistant Professor of Political Science, International Development and International Affairs, University of Southern Mississippi

Andrew Whitley
Director, Representative Office of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)

Moderator

Jean Louis Sarbib
Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution