Children without a childhood

national | miscellaneous | news report Saturday August 17, 2002 08:53 by JIM GIBNEY

Hanine Al-Khairi is fifteen-and-a-half and the 'half is very important' to her. This comment from her friends brings a broad smile to and brightens up a beautiful Palestinian face. A smile she says she 'doesn't feel from my heart'.

A surprising comment from one so young but not a surprise when
you learn that four months ago she wrote out her will: "If they
kill me give all my toys to the children of Jenin," she said. A
child's mind at work in the middle of an invasion by the Israeli
forces of her town, Ramallah, in the West Bank.

She has never felt she was a child or played like a child or had
a childhood. Her friends also spoke about the absence of a
childhood: 17-year-old Mohammad Abed Rabbo, Gineen Abu Rokti
(16), and Maisa' Al-Natsheh (21). The four Palestinians were on a
ten-day tour of Ireland as guests of the Ireland - Palestinian
Solidarity Group. They spent most of their time in Belfast and
took part in the West Belfast Feile.

The cycle of life for children and young teenagers in occupied
Palestine isn't discussing the latest music or video games; the
latest fashion; the latest boyfriend or girlfriend. They never go
to dances or gather in small groups at the corner of the street
to chat, as teenagers do the world over. Wedding parties have
stopped and they are prevented from gathering to pray at the
Mosque on Fridays and Christians aren't permitted by the Israeli
military from praying on Sundays.

The children can't play in the street because of the constant
patrolling by the tanks and the regular gunfire. They can't sleep
at night because of heightened levels of anxiety brought on by
the military occupation and curfews.

Their school life has been disrupted, "because we were expecting
the invasion at anytime", said Gineen. Her school is now an
Israeli military base. Their childhood memories are full of death
and hatred for the Israeli forces.

Mohammad said: "Every day there is a killing; there are always
demonstrations and marches. In each family you can find someone
killed or detained. We can't sing and dance while all these
terrible things are happening. These are the things young people
talk about."

The everyday cultural expressions of the Palestinian people are
on hold because of the military occupation.

Maisa', a third level student studying finance, is also a drama
teacher. She is a guardian for ten children aged between six and
thirteen She uses drama to help the children express their
innermost feelings and emotions. Most of the plays have a violent
theme to them.

She said the children think she is an angel and through her they
send letters to God asking why they are being treated so badly.
They have also sent letters to Ariel Sharon and George Bush
asking them the same questions.

The quality of life for all the Palestinian people is dire. Most
of the people rely on the Palestinian Authority or one of the
food agencies or human rights organisations for sustenance.

There is no welfare state or health care system. There is no
independent source of money coming into people's homes. Many
people don't have bread to eat, while others have very little
furniture in their homes.

The Israelis control the supply of electricity and water to the
people on the West Bank and Gaza strip. They very often cut off
the supply - leaving people to make do in any way they can. The
people use pots and pans to gather water when it rains. Rainwater
is then rationed to wash and cook.

Israeli soldiers have checkpoints dotted all over Ramallah and
other towns. Travelling on foot is impossible; journeys that
should take a few minutes can take several hours. It took Hanine
seven hours to travel from Ramallah to Jerusalem, a distance of
12-15 kilometres. On their way to Ireland it took the group four
days to travel from Ramallah to Jericho over mountainous terrain
and back roads.

It's not uncommon for children to be born at checkpoints or for
people to die there because the Israeli soldiers refuse to allow
them to travel to the nearest hospital.

During one of the recent curfews, Maisa' spent ten days in a
hotel under lock and key. The hotel was five minutes walk away
from her own home. The Israelis refused her permission to walk
the short distance.

Mohammad's father is 42 years old. Mohammad is going through
exactly what his father and his grandfather went through when
they were 17. One of his uncles was in prison and his grandfather
and another uncle lived in a cave near Hebron during the Six-Day
war in 1967.

He has two brothers and one sister. During the recent invasion,
the Israelis occupied his house and turned it into a military
camp. The family were forced to live in one room.

Hanine was one day old when her father was put in prison for ten
years. She didn't see him for six years and then only in a
photograph in a newspaper when her brother pointed him out to
her. An Israeli tank shell demolished her home in April.

Parents do their best for their children but Hanine said: "How
can they protect us when they can't protect themselves?"

Living in exile, living as refugees in the camps, living as
stateless people in their own country, is the lot for these
Palestinian youths. They grew up as their families were forced to
flee from one country to another: Beirut, Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia
and Syria.

Although they recount harrowing tales of life and death under
Israeli occupation and you can see clearly that their emotions
have been badly affected, these young people are great
ambassadors for the Palestinian cause.

I got the distinct impression, despite all the difficulties they
described, that the Palestinian people will ensure that
Mohammad's children will not have to experience what his father
and grandfather experienced.