SIDON, Lebanon: A newly established Palestinian-Lebanese Youth Council is set to tackle issues important to both communities through dialogue and workshops.

The youth council, which was established following four years of summer camps that brought together Palestinian and Lebanese youth in east Sidon, has scheduled a series of workshops this week to formulate the council’s mission and bylaws.

Nabil Bawab, the program coordinator of the Palestinian-Lebanese Youth Council, said that the summer camps strongly contributed to boosting interaction between the Lebanese and Palestinian youths.

“The transformation of the youth summer camp into youth council is not only a change in name, but a beginning of a organization transformation that will be based on awareness and educational campaigns,” Bawab told The Daily Star Monday.

According to the organizers of the council, this gathering, which they plan to hold annually, will bring together the opinions of Lebanese and Palestinian young people from diverse backgrounds.

This year, the youth council’s workshops will feature discussion among participants on assessing the media’s role in defending Palestinian rights and the issue of discrimination and neglect of Palestinians in Lebanon.

The third day of the gathering, Monday, the youth council continued activities in Salihiya in east Sidon which are being organized by the Hariri Foundation for Sustainable Human Development in cooperation with the Palestinian Human Rights Organization.

The council hosted the journalist Nadim Koteich in a dialogue session to discuss the role of the media in advocating for national and social issues and to assess its influence on the Palestinian cause.