All your armies, All your
fighters,
All your tanks and
all your soldiers.
Against a boy
holding a stone,
Standing there all
alone.
In his eyes I see
the sun,
In his smile I see
the moon.
And I wonder I only
wonder.
Who is weak and who
is strong,
who is right and who
is wrong.
And I wish I only
wish.
That the truth has a
tongue. (Qasem Qasem, 2000)
The boy and the tank: The picture shows an Israeli tank which marched
towards a Palestinian street to crush a demonstration by the
Palestinians. It sprayed the demonstrators with bullets resulting in 14
serious injuries. Then Faris Odeh (13) charged against it. Faris started
throwing stones at it. Faris later on died in unrelated incident. Read
the Stories section: Assassination of Innocence
The assassination of innocence.
Palestinian children confronting oppression.
We need your help, read to the end.
Israeli occupation
is oppressing the Palestinian society without any exceptions. Most
to suffer are the children.
The ugliness of
oppression and injustice against the Palestinians can not be hidden
from the Palestinian kid. Palestinian parents try their best to
bring up their children in a normal environment but they can not.
Israel's ability to touch every aspect of their lives is far more
dominant.
"The Palestinian
does not have a childhood" says the mother of Faris Odeh. "How can
you teach your child about the goodness of human nature, if all he
sees is the worst examples of human beings".
Palestinian workers
are prevented from working to feed their families. Those workers
have children. Israeli army is always around Palestinian villages
and cities. In many occasions the Israeli army stations itself in
front of schools and play grounds. The army sometimes closes
Palestinian schools.
It might be rare to
find a nine years old child with strong political opinions, not in
Palestine. By nine, Palestinian children start to sympathise with
Fateh, Hamas or others. Of course, these organsations do not
entertain children. Palestinian children -as all children around the
world- dream about becoming adults. They are ready to do anything to
prove their "adulthood".
Young Palestinian
protesters engage themselves daily with the Israeli occupation army.
Children copycat their elder brothers. They start throwing stones at
Israeli soldiers stationed in their cities and in front of their
schools. Israelis do not discriminate. Scores of children were
killed during the Intifada.
"I am not afraid"
answers Rami al-Kalha. "Of course I get afraid facing the Israelis.
But I feel pretty good when I get the soldiers really irritated." He
continues as he points at the Israeli army post. "They are cowards.
They hide behind cement blocks with machine guns. We have only
stones." "But, they can kill you if they want to". "Maybe. Only God
decides life and death. Anyhow they killed Mohammed al-Dura. I
prefer dying throwing stones".
Palestinian
psychologists face a daunting task. In an interview with French TV.
One expressed his inability to help those children in believing in
the goodness of every human being. He and colleagues go around
schools trying to help those children. "The problem is they think
that they do not have a problem".
Faris Odeh is a
thirteen years old boy. Faris became world famous when he faced an
Israeli tank in Gaza. "I am proud of him" Faris mother said. "I try
to tell him that it is too early for him to throw stones. He does
not listen. I can not watch him all the time". We heard about Faris
later on. Faris was killed in a different incident on November, 8th.
"When will you stop
throwing stones?". Rami answers "When there is Israel no more. When
all Palestine is free. Then I will stop throwing stones".
Palestinian children
live in poverty. They lack the games and toys other children take
for granted. They see their parents suffering the hardships and
humiliation imposed by Israel. It is only natural for any human
being in such conditions to stand up and demand a different life.
Israel is the one to blame for driving the Palestinian children to
despair and hate.
* List of Palestinians
killed since September, 29th. (Children are highlighted in red)
Israeli Media and
politicians claim that the Palestinians are using their children as
"human sheilds". They fail to mention that those children are being
killed by the Israeli army in Palestinian towns and streets. An
Israeli ambassador claimed during a debate , that Palestinians are
using their children as "human shields". He suggested in that
debate, that children are being taught hatred and "Jihad". He was
wondering how is it possible for a Palestinian child to have "strong
feelings" against Israel. Basically, That Israeli diplomat blamed
the death of Palestinian children on their parents. This statement
was made on November, 8th. It was the same day, Faris Odeh the
child who confronted the invading Israeli tank died.
Call your local
radio station demanding them to highlight
the suffering of the
Palestinian people.
Intifada.com reminds you;
Palestinians are fighting injustice with stones, the least you can
do is to give your local TV or Radio station a friendly call. Your
call might be the one that will make a change.
To read the story "September, 11th, 2001", click here |