An-Najah University Research Team Publishes Study on the Impact of the 2023 Gaza War on Identity, Resilience, and Life Meaning Among Palestinian Youth
In a new academic contribution, a research team from An-Najah National University has published a study examining the psychological and social impact of the 2023 Gaza War on Palestinian university students. The paper, titled “Reclaiming Identity: The Gaza War's Role in Shaping Palestinian University Students' Resilience and Life's Meaning,” was authored by Mr. Munther Saeedi and Dr. Oqab Jabali from the Faculty of Humanities, and Dr. Fakher Khalili, Head of the Department of Psychology and Counseling. It was published in the renowned journal Acta Psychologica, which is ranked Q1 globally in the Scopus database and has an impact factor of 2.7. The journal is part of the Elsevier publishing group.
The study explores how the war in Gaza influenced students’ sense of identity, resilience, and understanding of life’s meaning, focusing on how individuals reconstructed their self-perception and societal roles within a context of occupation and conflict. The findings highlight a noticeable shift in how students conceptualize resilience and identity, moving toward a more collective and culturally rooted understanding. The war experience, marked by loss, survival, and national struggle, also led to a redefinition of life’s meaning in ways that reflect shared trauma and community solidarity.
The research emphasizes the crucial role of education and social belonging in helping young people cope with adversity and find meaning despite the challenging realities they face. It concludes that Palestinian resilience is not simply a reaction to oppression, but an ongoing process of identity reconstruction and meaning-making amid continuous occupation and conflict.
This publication adds a unique contribution to Palestinian scholarship by documenting lived experiences under war and occupation, offering a deeper insight into the psychosocial endurance of the Palestinian people.
