Although she is fourteen years old she won a leadership position in "Talazzz*ze al Hurriya summer camp elections in Beit Anan village near Jerusalem. Itzzz*zs Hala Ismael from Qattana village who participated as a candidate and voter in the summer camp elections organized by the CEC to elect a youth leadership for the camp.
Halazzz*zs electoral platform included a number of points she wanted to achieve" The most important thing I want to achieve is to provide education opportunities to all Palestinians and especially computer education" this is what Hala said during the elections debate conducted one day prior to polling day . Each candidate tried to convince the youth voters of his/her platform to win their votes in an atmosphere where electoral billboards and slogans mixed with the voices of candidates and their supporters.
With the announcement of the elections results and Halazzz*zs attaining the highest number of votes and despite her joy which was apparent in her smile, Hala didnzzz*zt seem to be surprised with the results and she expected to win from the beginning, " I wasn’t surprised with the results as I was sure I was going to win and I didnzzz*zt force any one to elect me" those were her words when asked to comment on her victory. During the electoral campaign, Hala called for every one to exercise their right to vote freely.
After the end of the elections, Sazzz*zed Abu Eed, one of the campzzz*zs coordinators removed the electoral campaigns billboards from the surrounding trees and said while carrying the ballot box " Summer camps involve a lot of physical and educational activities and the elections experience in the summer camps is considered a new experience which I hope to be duplicated in the future because it helped to create awareness among the youth about elections related issues and concepts". The CEC concentrated on increasing the awareness of the youth generation to facilitate their participation as candidates and voters in real elections in the future.
Hala aspires to achieve the promises she made to her supporters through an elected Palestinian Youth Parliament which she hopes to be established as the campzzz*zs director, Husam Al-Shaikh promised. "I dream to be nominated for the membership of the Palestinian Child Parliament to help Palestinian children to gain education and build this country".
Mr. Husam Al-Shaikh observed elections in the camp from the beginning to end and was aware of all details concerning registration, nomination, campaigning, polling, counting and announcement of results. He also listened to illustrations regarding the process before it started by the CEC staff. Mr. Al-Shaikh was excited during the practical steps of the process, he expressed his feeling by saying" I hope that this project is spread and applied by all Civic institutions working with the youth, and inspite of the participants young age, they were able to understand the process and dealt with it positively".
In another summer camp, joy spread in "the First Ideal camp" in al-Qbaiba Village when participants carried on their shoulders Bilal Omar Abdel Fattah (15) who obtained the highest percentage of votes in the campzzz*zs elections. Bilal facial expressions were serious indicating the responsibility lying on his shoulders after being elected. Bilal aspires to be nominated for the legislative elections in the future to change the "deteriorated situation" as he described it. "I will give equal rights to all and there will be no differentiation between Palestinians", in this sentence, Bilal conculded the democratic experience he took part in which might make of him and Hala a Palestinian leadership in the future.