* Various sources have reported on the ongoing crisis in Sheikh Jarrah Neighborhood in Jerusalem. Israeli courts have ruled the eviction of 7 Palestinian families from their houses in a clear and blatant ethnic cleansing of the neighborhood. Palestinian youth continue to protest against the forced displacement in the occupied East Jerusalem. For many of the displaced families, this is the second ethnic cleansing following the 1948 Catastrophe. A recent video of an Israeli settler attempting to push a Palestinian family out of their own house saying “if I do not steal your house, someone else will steal it” has sparked rage across the MENA region, with solidarity demonstrations by youth in Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, and Mauritania. 

* Alarab reported on May 4 that ongoing economic and social crises in Iraq are driving youth toward drug addiction. The report highlights that the number of youth addicts has increased exponentially over the past few years in the midst of government inability to address this crisis. The Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council has asserted that near 50% of Iraqi youth have fallen into this trap, 70% of whom are from poor areas, despite attempts to hide these numbers. Some reports are attributing this crisis to the terrible economic conditions in Iraq and the lack of employment opportunities for youth who are succumbing to the idea that drugs “can take their minds off of their terrible conditions”.

* Alquds reported on May 3 that Syrian youth are increasingly escaping from Regime-controlled areas due to the economic crisis in addition to forced conscription. The report reveals that more youth are moving into opposition-held areas in the north of Syria. Many youth interviewed in the report indicated that they have had to work countless hours just to be able to afford food, with many others stating that they had not been paid in months, as most of the population living in regime-controlled areas are living under the poverty line. Some youth migrants indicated that Russia currently has full control over Tartus’ shores, ports, and trade points, stripping state institutions from any revenue. With these conditions in addition to price hikes and long waits at the markets, youth are simply escaping to save their future.

* On May 4, France 24 aired a report on the Syrian civil war and its impact on Syrian youth. The report illustrates near 1 million Syrians have been internally displaced in Azaz in the north near the Turkish borders, dispersed between 20 IDP camps. Many Syrian youth left their education at the start of the conflict, and 10 years later, they find themselves with unknown futures. The report also shows the control Turkey has over Azaz, with financial transactions at the community level occurs in Turkish Lira as opposed to Syrian Lira, and Turkish language is being taught in schools instead of French.

* The Baha'i community in the Iranian capital has for years buried its dead in a special section of Tehran's Khavaran cemetery, near the resting place for hundreds or even thousands of political prisoners who were victims of mass executions in the late 1980s. Cemetery officials have in recent days reportedly told Baha'is that they are no longer allowed to bury their dead in that section of the cemetery. Instead, they have been given two choices: they can bury their dead in the narrow space between existing Baha'i graves or use the area where the mass graves are located, says Simin Fahandej, the Baha'i International Community representative to the United Nations in Geneva. The community has long had its cemeteries desecrated and its loved ones' gravestones destroyed. The latest restriction put on Baha'i burials in Tehran, where most of Iran's Baha'is live, has also upset the families of the executed political prisoners. They even wrote in an open letter dated April 25 complaining that several new graves had appeared near the site of the mass burials at Khavaran.

* Sexual minority rights activists say a young man was killed by family members in Ahvaz, the capital of Iran's Khuzestan province, "on suspicion of being gay." "Ali Fazeli Monfared, known as Alireza, a 20-year-old gay resident of the Ahvaz Sugar Refinery neighborhood, was reported by several members of his family on Tuesday, May 5, 2021, to confirm this news in a statement:" "He was taken to the Burumi area in Ahvaz and his body will be found on Wednesday."Six Colors quoted in its report that three defendants in the case have been "arrested". Alireza Fazeli Monfared's family says his body is still in forensics.

* On May 7, Radio Sawa aired an episode of “Shabab Chat” discussing the spread of weapons among Iraqi youth and its implications on the security situation in Iraq. The episode reported on many studies conducted by psychology departments in various Iraqi universities, which found that, compared with previous studies, there is an increase in the levels of violence among youth and children in Iraq. These studies attribute this increase to the spread of weapons in Iraq and the lack of regulations and control. These findings stem from the notion that the environment surrounding youth impacts their behavior. The researchers who conducted these studies argued that there is a decrease in education levels and an absence of cultural and recreational activities available for youth. The episode also discussed various ways to institute the culture of peace and no violence among Iraqi youth. Such measures include improving education levels in Iraq and focusing on development programs and improving public spaces for cultural and recreational activities.

* Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is urging Iranian authorities to release from prison three journalists who it said are being denied appropriate medical care after “almost certainly” catching COVID-19 while in detention. Baktash Abtin, Reza Khandan Mahabadi, and Kayvan Samimi Behbahani “must be freed at once,” the Paris-based media freedom watchdog said on May 7. Abtin and Mahabadi are members of the Association of Iranian Writers, which has come under pressure by authorities who have summoned, threatened, and jailed its members. The three are serving sentences ranging from three to six years in prison on charges including anti-state propaganda and acting against Iran’s security.