GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas was the product of Palestinian youth efforts in the 1980s, and those young men have grown up and become today’s leaders. Now that Hamas has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2006, is the role of youth in the movement confined to fighting and media roles, and restricted from leadership? Why is there no leader in Hamas under 40? The movement’s youngest leader is 40-year-old Mushir al-Masri, a Palestinian Legislative Council member from the Change and Reform Bloc.

A 2014 study by the Institute for Development Studies, “Mapping Youth Political Participation in Palestine,” revealed that the participation rate of Hamas youths between 18 and 35 in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and abroad, is 0% in senior positions, 7% in lower leading committees and 4% in Hamas’ elected committees. These low rates coincide with mounting criticism among the Islamic party's young members.

One young Hamas member told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the party is now highly preoccupied with political interests and social influence. He said, “The party’s leadership is strange to the young people who dedicated their life to this cause. Today, they’re in their 30s with no achievements in their records.” He added, “When the movement was more important than interests, we used to understand the meaning of belonging, as we were revered by the poor more than anyone else. However, a social shift occurred within Hamas after coming into power, giving rise to social disparities.”

He explained that many of the party youths are now concerned with social justice, particularly with Hamas public servants’ salaries unpaid and financial allocations to others cut off. The young man expressed skepticism about any changes in the near future. With a group of other young Islamists, he has considered launching a nonpartisan national initiative. He said, “As members of the '80s and '90s generations, we have come to the conclusion that our ideological education cannot provide solutions to our current problems.”