GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Intellectuals and youth in the Gaza Strip are calling for the formation of youth electoral lists to run in the municipal elections slated for Oct. 8 in the West Bank and Gaza. The call is based on the need to involve the youth in decision-making operations as well as in community services.

Al-Monitor talked to Amjad Shawa, the director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza, who stressed the need for young candidates to be part of electoral lists in order to allow Gaza youth to extensively participate in politics and community service.

He said, “The political and social forces are required to bring about change by giving young people the opportunity to be part of the leadership and to play a role in society, which could end these young people’s desperation and frustration.”

Shawa noted that the youth have been marginalized by the various political and societal forces and feel helpless. He called on mobilizing young people to allow them to assume influential positions by changing the social and legal system so as to allow them to form electoral lists.