Children and youth are the first victims of any drawn-out conflict, and the kids in Palestine are no exception. For all Palestinian children and youth, the daily grind of the Occupation has unfortunately set the backdrop for their lives since birth. They have known nothing else but aggression and oppression through closures, curfews, collective punishment, violence, humiliation, abuse by Israeli soldiers, abuse by Israeli settlers, house demolitions and the Wall, etc. In short, the policies and practices of the Israeli Occupation since 1967 and especially since the outbreak of the second Intifada in September 2000, translate as the ongoing systematic violation of most, if not all, of Palestinian children’s rights, to name some;
Their right to live – 756 children have been killed by the Israeli military or Israeli settlers since September 2000. Only a small percentage of that figure was involved in armed clashes with the Israeli army and more than half of them were killed in their own homes, on their way to school or playing in their neighbourhoods. These unlawful killings of Palestinian children by Israeli armed forces are grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, not to mention punishable, in theory, under Israeli law itself. It is tragic and infuriating that the vast majority of killings are never investigated and the killers are rarely punished by the Israeli authorities.
Their right to education – During the first years of the second Intifada (2000-2004), severe closures resulted in children losing months worth of school. Since 2003, a new threat to Palestinian children’s right to education has loomed – the Wall. The Wall has cut off hundreds of school pupils and university students from their schools. In Anata Boys School in East Jerusalem the Wall is being built on their school grounds! And then there are the checkpoints which prevent or delay the pupils from reaching their schools.
Their right to an adequate standard of living – Between 40-50% of Palestinians live under the official poverty belt (on 2 dollars a day or less). Around 1.4 million Palestinians live on humanitarian handout. Children make up 65% of the population so there is no need to guess who the most vulnerable collective to poverty in Palestine is.
Their right to a good standard of health- Some 2,800 Palestinian children die every year from mainly preventable diseases; 10 percent now suffer from chronic or acute malnutrition and about one in five is anemic .
Their right to safe and secure housing – Since the beginning of the second Intifada, over 5,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished by the Israeli authorities , rendering thousands of children homeless.
Their right to freedom of movement- To move in or out of any major town in the West Bank and Gaza, you have to pass through an Israeli military checkpoint. Permission to leave or enter any place is ultimately in the hands of the soldiers on duty and Palestinians, especially male youths, are often turned back arbitrarily. Freedom of movement is also curtailed by other factors, such as when a violent radical Israeli settler community is occupying your neighbourhood like the Tel Rumeida settlement in Hebron.
Their right to development- Obviously the daily onslaught of child rights’ abuse by the Israeli Occupation heavily curtails a child’s ability to develop to the best of its potential. When that child’s development is already challenged by a disability, living under occupation in Palestine can take on horrific proportions.
Their right to liberty – Currently approximately 388 children are in detention in Israeli prison facilities, many of them charged with offences they did not commit and most of them serving sentences that are disproportionate to their misdemeanours. Torture by Israeli forces is unfortunately a common practice inside the prison facilities where Palestinian children are locked up.
The list goes on endlessly and Israel carries on regardless, violating Palestinian children’s rights left, right and centre. The message that emanates is that no one is safe. The message to Palestinian children is that nobody can protect them; not their parents, not their teachers, not their friends and not their relatives. This message constantly hangs in the air, is blasted from the radio, is whispered in the schoolyard, and is etched into the tangible and intangible manifestations of the absolute matrix of control exerted by Israel. The Occupation permeates everything; it transcends all. This message triggers anxiety, helplessness, aggression, fear, extreme disobedience, depression and fatigue. And then there is the international labelling project, which Israel has launched against Palestinians and in which it has shown some success. Palestinians in general are being marketed as bloodthirsty terrorists and Palestinian children are the trademark junior brand. They are not given the chance to be seen as normal kids. They are denied empathy and sympathy. So hats off to the Israelis, who with their recipe of holistic asphyxiation and global branding are managing not only to destroy the childhood of generations of Palestinian kids, but are also ensuring in the process that these kids will not be able to aspire to much in the future. Nelson Mandela once said, “Children are the rock on which our future will be built.� Israel’s tactics are apparently to erode the rock before anything can take root - although they would never admit that of course.
Back in April 2004, after 38 Palestinian children had been killed by Israeli forces in the first 4 months of that year , (we are “lucky� now – only 52 children were killed due to occupation forces and/or Jewish settlers in 2005 and so far in the first 6 months of 2006 Israel have caused only 28 Palestinian child fatalities), Amira Dotan, the spokeswoman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told Aljazeera.net  that it was “inconceivable that the Israeli army targeted Palestinian civilians, let alone children. We are a democratic state, our government would be toppled if it was proven that our defence forces had indulged in targeting Palestinian civilians and children…This sort of thing just doesn't happen in Israel."
When Aljazeera asked her to explain the death of nearly 550 Palestinian minors by the Israeli army during the first 44 months of the Intifada, Dotan said the deaths were "accidental, collateral but not deliberate".
Not deliberate. Alone during the month following Ms. Dotan’s statement, Israeli troops non-deliberately killed a further 36 Palestinian children. In one month. Forgive me for somehow being sceptical of the credibility and sincerity of Ms. Dotan’s statement. With an over-generous helping of the benefit of the doubt, one could perhaps put some of these deaths down to carelessness and recklessness. Yet in my mind’s eye, not taking the due precautions and care when carrying out military operations (especially in densely populated areas) is tantamount to “doing it on purpose�.
Coming back to 2006, unsurprisingly Israel is still playing the same dirty game of non-deliberately killing adults and children, yet getting away with it scot-free. In the past four weeks alone, Israel has killed dozens of Palestinians including ten children, the youngest five months old, in shelling and missile attacks on Gaza. These ongoing assaults on Gaza and the intensified collective punishment inflicted on all Gazans following the abduction of an IDF soldier are reminding the world how little Israel cares for the lives of innocent civilians and how little respect or recognition it has for international law. Why should Israel be allowed to do this and get away with it? I feel incredulous and ridiculous even having to ask this question. Recently Israel’s chutzpah has been reaching unprecedented heights, with claims from PM Olmert that the IDF are the most moral military in the world. Not only is it horrific that our children are dying at the hands of Israel, but it also seems as if the “only democracy in the Middle East� has just no time or patience for the mandatory democratic checks and balances such as following up these deaths with inquiries, to prove these lofty claims, not to mention offering compensation for their wrongdoing.
To say the silence or the shy responses from Foreign Affairs Spokespersons of the European Union, US and other governments has been discouraging and bitter wins “understatement of the year� hands-down. Thankfully, the outcry from civil society representatives, from Israel, Palestine and around the world has been loud and gathering momentum. Human rights organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have been demanding that Israel puts its money where its mouth is and stops these war crimes – right now. US- based peace and human rights group, Jewish Voice for Peace, has issued alerts with practical suggestions on how to take civilian action against Israeli aggression in Gaza, especially directed at US Congress. On 2 July, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights issued a press release entitled “Palestinians Prepare for Peace While Israel Practices War�. This remarkable document clearly demonstrates how, despite the ongoing Israeli onslaught reaching barbaric proportions, Palestinians are still reaching out for peace, but Israel is too busy bombing bridges and power plants to care.
It seems that civil society is the only force mobilising and really denouncing these atrocities for what they are. All we have are our voices and media and communication technology to spread it around. Now it is up to our democratically elected representatives on a national and supranational level to listen to the will of the people and fulfil their duty and role with regards to upholding the values and principles of universal human rights they are supposed to symbolize. As Dr. Virginia Tilley says in her article “Starving in the Dark� , with regard to Middle East policy: “at some point the international community must face the very unwelcome fact that it needs to change gear�. I believe that point has been reached.
