Press Release

Israeli Occupation Forces Raid the Youth Village During an International Solidarity Visit, Directly Targeting a Palestinian Civil Space

Sharek Youth Forum strongly condemns the raid carried out by Israeli occupation forces on the Youth Village, which took place concurrently with a high-level international solidarity visit by ambassadors and representatives of the European Union. This assault reflects a grave disregard for international law and constitutes a direct targeting of independent Palestinian civil spaces.

This raid comes amid a dangerous and ongoing escalation, during which the Youth Village has been subjected to repeated attacks by settler groups. These attacks have included the vandalism of facilities and property, as well as the theft of furniture and essential equipment—systematic violations aimed at paralyzing the Village’s work and preventing it from fulfilling its civil and developmental role. Such actions represent a direct attack on civilian objects protected under international humanitarian law.

Sharek Youth Forum stresses that carrying out this raid in the presence of an international diplomatic delegation comprising ambassadors from 17 European countries, and in full view of international media, carries serious implications. It constitutes a clear message of intimidation targeting the Palestinian civic space and an attempt to undermine any international support for youth-led and community-based work in Palestine.

During meetings held as part of the visit, Sharek Youth Forum underscored the importance of the European Union assuming its effective political and legal role by exerting pressure to halt attacks by settlers and occupation forces on Palestinian land, including farmers’ lands and both public and private property. The Forum further emphasized the need to ensure the protection of civil, educational, and youth spaces as fundamental pillars of resilience and development.

Sharek Youth Forum holds the occupation authorities fully responsible for this raid and its consequences, and calls upon the international community, as well as human rights and diplomatic institutions, to take immediate and concrete steps to protect the Palestinian civic space and to ensure respect for international law and human rights.

The Forum reaffirms that the Youth Village will remain a free national space, open to Palestinian youth, and that attempts at raids and intimidation will not succeed in breaking the will of community action or deterring young people from their role in building Palestine.

Sharek Youth Forum