This study analyzes why university students in the West Bank appeared to show minimal public and collective engagement during the Gaza war. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 62 students from six Palestinian universities, the research indicates that young people's responses were shaped by intersecting emotional, structural, and political factors. While students expressed deep moral and identity-based solidarity with the people of Gaza—mainly through online expression—they also described feelings of exhaustion, fear, and political disillusionment that limited their capacities for organized action. Many reported self-censorship, caution, and selective forms of engagement such as digital advocacy, boycotts, and humanitarian donations. These patterns reflect the tensions among enduring empathy and the constraints imposed by repression, surveillance, and factional division. The study offers insight into how Palestinian youth navigate activism and resistance under occupation, and how their emotional and political fatigue may reshape the future of student mobilization in the occupied territories.

Title

Middle East Policy

Publisher

Wiley

Publisher Country

United States of America

Indexing

Thomson Reuters

Impact Factor

1.1

Publication Type

Online only

Volume

--

Year

2026

Pages

1-16