conflict Archives - YaLa Press

Letter to my anti-Zionist friend in the West

Author: Kacper Max
Published: August 3, 2025
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, Identity, Israel, Israel-Palestine, Opinion and Analysis, Politics
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, change, conflict, education, identity, israel, IsraelPalestine, peace, thewest, tolerance, yala young leaders, yalayoungleaders, zionism

Why write it? Why try? The complete breakdown of a political and social relationship between the Zionist and anti-Zionist Left after October 7th must belong to the most alarming (and interesting) developments on the Western Left as a whole in recent years. The loss of mutual trust and bilateral allegations of betrayal of values have […]

Whose Responsibility is it?

Author: Ma’ayan
Published: December 24, 2024
Categories: in Civil Activism, Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, Education, English, Human Rights, Israel, Israel-Palestine, Latest Articles
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, activism, change, coexistence, conflict, discovertheregion, education, family, hope, Humanity, identity, Inspiration, israel, IsraelPalestine, love, MENA, palestine, peace, peace activism, peacebuilding, tolerance, women, womenforpeace, yala young leaders, yalayoungleaders

“You are not an observer, you are a participant.” ― Thích Nhất Hạnh. There is a moment when you can’t sit still anymore. An energy bustling from within you makes you speak or take a step. You are standing in line and hear a conversation you think could be different if you were part […]

Why I No Longer Talk to Westerns About Peace (And what can be done to start talking about it again)

Author: Anonymous
Published: December 16, 2024
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, English, Friendship, Identity, Israel, Israel-Palestine, Opinion and Analysis, Travel
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: change, conflict, identity, israel, IsraelPalestine, peace, peace activism, peace privilege, peacebuilding, sociology, the west, Travel, war, womenforpeace, yala young leaders, yalayoungleaders

While traveling and especially while hiking, sleeping in hostels or guest houses, you talk to all sorts of people. It was mid-April, probably the best season in Northern Spain, and my first meaningful conversation on the Camino del Norte was with an Irish author, just before descending to a beautiful coastal town named Zarautz. It […]

قصة نور Nour’s Story

Author: Nour Yahya
Published: December 9, 2024
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, Education, English, Human Rights, Israel-Palestine, Palestine, Politics, Videos
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: activism, conflict, education, gaza, gazawar, gazayouth, hope, identity, israel-palestine, IsraelPalestine, Life in Gaza, Palestinian Women, women, womenforpeace

Photo by Snowscat on Unsplash

Living between Two Countries-Under Stress

Author: By Aseel, Palestine | Opinion
Published: April 11, 2021
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Culture and Heritage, Israel, Israel-Palestine, Opinion and Analysis, Palestine, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: conflict, intifada, israel, palestine

The life of a Jerusalemite family after the second intifada “Alaqsa intifada” 2000-2005, During the period of the Palestinian second intifada (Intense Israeli-Palestinian violence period, Palestinians consider it as an uprising against Israel, while Israelis describe it as prolonged terror campaign), Israel used it as a pretext to control all areas in Jerusalem and control […]

Photo Essay | Chaos & Faith by Paula, Brazil-Israel

Author: By Paula, Brazil-Israel
Published: September 7, 2018
Categories: in Culture and Heritage, Identity, Language, Photo Essays, Travel
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: Al-Quds, conflict, holycity, holyland, jerusalem, peace, photography, religion, YaLa Photo Essay

By Paula

Heaven on Earth by Bilal Hussain – Kashmir

Published: February 13, 2018
Categories: in Civil Activism, Education, English, Human Rights, Identity, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #thinkactyala, children, conflict, education, flood, helping, Humanity, India, kashmir, peacebuilding, solidarity, war, yalacampaign

The place that poets refer to in their verses as “heaven on earth” exists in the fairy tales, and in reality is not far from the Middle East. This real life fantasy is the beautiful valley of Kashmir, which is surrounded by snow clad mountains, lush green woods, and innumerable springs. Like many places globally, […]

Death and All His Friends – YaLa in Jordan

Published: January 21, 2018
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, English, Friendship, Human Rights, Jordan
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: conflict, enemies, family, fear, israel, IsraelPalestine, israelpalestineconflict, occupation, palestine, peace, tragedy, trust, understanding, yala, yalayoungleaders, youth

Nothing prepares you for that moment when someone looks you in the eye and tells you they have lost a loved one to this war. No psychology degree can teach you how to keep your lungs and heart going when you know you’ve got nothing… Nothing to say or do that could bring their mother, […]

How it all happened by Y. Yemen

Published: January 15, 2018
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, English, Saudi Arabia, Yemen
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #endviolence, Aden, AnsarAllah, civilwar, conflict, Sanaa, war, yalacampaign, yemen, youth

On March 21st, a few hundred men who mainly came from the province of Saada in Yemen, and who were surrounding Sana’a, the capital, overran the city and within a few hours controlled every public facility in it. The men were gathering around the city for few weeks before they made their way inside it. […]

A loss of hope by Yuval Bar, Israel

Published: December 27, 2017
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, Human Rights
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: 9/11, conflict, hope, humannature, IDF, israel, IsraelPalestine, leaders, optimism, palestine, soldier, westbank, youth

I was young, 19, four months in the army, three at the Nablus headquarters. My first new year’s eve as a soldier just passed, and there was relative peace after the 9/11 attack. It was early, and I am not a morning person… we just got word that the P.L.O. arrested some fighters of the […]

My Three Months in Prison by Kedy Osman Ali, Sudan

Author: by Kedy Osman Ali, Sudan
Published: October 23, 2017
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, English, Sudan
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #enviolence, #thinkactyala, conflict, prison, sudan, sudanwar, warandconflict, yalacampaign, youth

In 2008, I was a 22-year-old boy. I finished my last exam for the Sudan High School Certificate. I was supposed to start my national service, which was compulsory in the Sudan, in two months. About 1,500 fellow students and I were receiving national service training when we were ordered to go to fight the […]

Become what you hate by Mohammed AlNaas, Libya

Published: September 26, 2017
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, English, Libya
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #endviolence, #thinkactyala, conflict, libya, libyawar, torture, war, yalacampaign, youth

It was six years ago in Tripoli, when all the hate began to spread in my heart and soul. The Libyan civil war started on February 2011. On February 25 my fears became bigger, demonstrations spread across the country, the streets were full with people, their shouting was increasing as their numbers were; everything was […]

WARRING KIN by Ifeoluwa, Nigeria

Published: September 7, 2017
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, English, Nigeria
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: childhood memories, conflict, hatred, nigeria, peace, violence, youth

I was eleven years old when I woke to the sound of bullet cartridges pattering on the iron sheet roof of our home. It was 15 years ago. From that moment everything I had known about this small town, Ile-Ife, where I was born in Nigeria , changed forever. Life as I knew it came […]

Beyond the Headlines – The Investigation of the near and far

Author: Ala Oueslati, Tunisia
Published: August 16, 2017
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, Human Rights
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #takeaction, conflict, Humanity, Media, news, syria, SyrianCivilWar, yalayoungleaders

The war in Syria? Who hasn’t heard of the war in Syria? A carnage so painful to witness, yet impossible to ignore. We didn’t own a TV to watch what happened in Syria every day. We did however, have something better than TV: WIFI. It is as quick as asking a genie for another wish. […]

I Want You to Be a Man by MOHAMED

Published: July 4, 2017
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, English, Human Rights, Latest Articles
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: #eupeacebuildinginitiative, #thinkactyala, conflict, family, future, gaza, hopes, palestine, peacebuilding, war, youth

GAZA, PALESTINE — The power was off while the dark sky was moonless, empty, except of some reconnaissance drones that I thought were bright stars in the dawn. Everything was pretty quiet, and everyone from my family inside one room of our small unpainted house was sleeping and snoring on their mattresses without blankets. The atmosphere was really hot, and I was listening to the radio. That was the last thing I could remember before I slept.

Hotter than Hell by KESSEM ADIV

Published: June 21, 2017
Categories: in Civil Activism, Current Events, English, Human Rights, Latest Articles
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: bedouin, conflict, israel, negev, village

ISRAEL — Mid-August 2016. 5AM. I am lying in my bed in my small room in my students’ apartment in Be’er Sheva, a big, quite city in southern Israel, in the middle of the desert. The air conditioner in the room is broken. Hot is an understatement…

Remembering Together, By Noa Bar

Published: May 1, 2017
Categories: in Civil Activism, Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, English, Friendship, Identity, Tolerance
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: ceremony, conflict, israel, israel-palestine, Nakba, palestine, peace activism, rememberence day, yom hazikaron

In this piece there are no intentions to compare the struggles of the two peoples. Both Palestinians and Israelis have had traumatic experiences. Both encompass a tremendous pain, which I do not intend to compare, assess or belittle. Both have youth who carry a very heavy weight on their shoulders, designed by nationalism, history, tradition […]

Photo Essay | Bedouin Communities

Author: Farah, Palestine
Published: April 5, 2017
Categories: in Current Events, English, Human Rights, Palestine, Photo Essays
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: area C, bedouin, conflict, identity, israel, palestine, settlements, yalayoungleaders

These pictures were taken in three Bedouin communities in Area C of the West Bank, which are under threat of displacement: Khan Al-Ahmer, Abu Nawar and Susiya. Khan Al-Ahmer and Abu Nawar are located in what is called the E1 corridor, which separates the northern and southern parts of the West Bank. Plans have been […]

Perspective, by Natalie Goldshtein, Israel

Published: April 5, 2017
Categories: in Education, English
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: change, coexistence, conflict, diversity, education, israel, jordan, MENA, MiddleEast, palestine, peace activism, youth

One of my main motivations in choosing to continue my studies and complete a MA Program was the knowledge that it was a cooperative program, with colleagues from both Jordan and Palestine. It was a two-year Program: one year in our home country, and one year abroad – Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian students all studying […]

Electricity, by W. from Gaza, or is it Yemen or Syria or Libya…

Published: January 16, 2017
Categories: in Conflict & Peacebuilding, Current Events, English, Human Rights, Syria
Comments: 0 Comments
Tags: challenge, conflict, courage, electricity, hope, Power, powercut, youth

In the past, people knew nothing about electricity. They used to use torches and candles to provide light in the long hours of the night and they used to poke the fire to get some warmth in the cold days. All of that have changed after inventing the electricity. People now can use electricity to […]

Tag: conflict