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Palestinian Children Liberate Skies With Paper Kites
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| Israeli fire cannot stop us flying our paper kites |
Report By Samer Khuwayera, IOL Palestine Correspondent
GAZA STRIP, July 16 (IslamOnline) – Sometimes, children succeed where adults fail. This has happened in Palestine where children have liberated their skies with paper kites, in a symbolic move that still angered Israeli occupation soldiers.
The scene of dozens of little planes fluttering like stars in the skies of Gaza is common among Palestinians, especially with the end of school and the start of the summer vacation. Children have discovered a new way to vent their anger against the choking occupation. With glittering, colorful paper kites, they fly their own little planes in their own space.
“The Jews are occupying our lands, and are preventing us from moving around freely between our cities, but they can not stop us from practicing our favorite hobby, to play with kites,” a number of Palestinian children, preparing to fly their kites in Askar refugee camp, told IslamOnline.
Ibrahim Aboul-Leil, 15, said that after he finishes work, he goes home, has lunch and takes some rest before he goes out with his friends to fly kites and enjoy seeing them flutter hundreds of meters high.
Ibrahim, whose kite is made out of the colors of the Palestinian flag with a tail bearing the picture of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, told IslamOnline that he likes to fly his paper plane to annoy the Israeli occupation forces stationed at the rooftops of nearby buildings. The provoked soldiers have always tried to fire at the kite and to prevent the children from enjoying their time, the Palestinian boy added.
Muayad Zaydan, 13, says he dreams of becoming a pilot and of flying his real plane real high. “The Israeli tanks are always around the place where I live. I’m never able to play in the street with my friends,” he said.
He added that even if they do go out, they are still scared of the soldiers showing up suddenly to chase and fire at them. That’s why, he added, he thinks a hundred times before risking to go out. Instead, he has finds his way up to the roof of his house where the occupation soldiers cannot harass him or stop him flying his kite.
Even older men sometimes help children make their kites. Abu Mohamad Al-Masry says he goes out with his little ones to nearby fields and farms where they have fun flying paper kites.
He reminisced about his childhood days, back when he used to create these kites for himself and his brothers and friends. He was very skillful and he wants his children to be just as good.
“We have too much free time,” Al-Masry complained, “but it has helped us connect to our young ones and take part in their simple festivities.”
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