This story is just too depressing for me to comment on so I’ll just provide the links, let you read it, and draw your own conclusions. It tells the tale of the psychological impact the occupation has had on Palestinian Children. If you feel as angered by it as me, then come see me after. Feel Free to spread it around.
I leave you with numbers:
During the first year of the Intifada, 32 children under the age of ten were reported to have lost their lives. The number of children injured also rose sharply. After a year, thousands of Palestinian children under the age of 15 were recorded as having suffered injuries due to systematic beatings, exposure to tear gas and gunshots by live ammunition as well as plastic and rubber-coated metal bullets. Many injuries led to permanent disability.
Since the beginning of the second Intifada (Al Aqsa), Israel has killed 749 children, 22 per cent of the overall death toll. Of the Palestinians injured, 42 per cent are children.
In 2004, a staggering 1,471 families in the West Bank and Gaza lost their homes following attacks by the Israeli military, affecting the lives of almost 5,000 children.
you might also find this article interesting:
The Obstacle Course to School
Amira Hass, Haaretz Newspaper, 11 January 2006
This is so, so saddening, maddening. If they survive all the violence, what is their life like then? When I counsel young girls from Palestine for sexual abuse, there is always the looming spectre of ‘governmental abuse’… How could they ever recover? God help them
Nas,
You might want to read Adam Hanieh’s Stolen Youth: The Politics of Israel’s Detention of Palestinian Children. (London: Pluto Press, 2004). Adam has worked a lot on these issues and he actually lives in Toronto. He is completing his Ph.D. at York University.
Dana, cool, I’ll be sure to check it out