I just wanted to ask about the condition of Palestinian children under the occupation. Are they getting enough nutrition and medical care? Do the schools normally provide that and is it substituted for in your "alternative education" program?
Answer
Palestinian children have a rapid increase in anaemia. The last estimate was at 38%. This scolastic year we have had only two days of attendance. Therefore, it was impossible to arrange for any source of nutrition like milk or yogurt for children at school.
I would like to note that since June 20th, we have been under curfew. Schools normally used to provide some simple medical care like vaccination in coordination with the health department, and tests of eye sight. This is no longer the case.
Name
GG
-
Profession
Question
Is the alternative education compulsory? Does it count as credit for the kids when they go back to school?
Answer
For any system of education to be considered compulsory, this requires previous planning, means, plus a set of rules and regulations. The alternative education has sprouted spontaneously following the re-imposition of the curfew on the first of September as a result of a strong public desire among parents in the Palestininan society to educate their children.
This education was the result of individual initiative by mothers, school teachers, university teachers and other non-professionals. Therefore, it cannot yet be considered compulsory, but it expressed an enthusiastic participation by the community in a constructive common act.
Right now we are in the Mininstry of Education trying to adapt the living conditions of the society to the teaching needs of our children, and to encorporate these efforts into the comprehensive educational process.
Name
Hashem
-
Profession
Question
I just wanna salute you on the amazing work that you're doing to resist the occupation and deal with the harsh conditions it is imposing on you. You set examples for all of us Arabs. Education is the key. They may kill as many of us as they want, but they cannot kill that will, transferred from one generation to the next, the Palestinian fight for existence. Keep the good work!
Answer
Thank you for this encouragement. I would like the world to know that, following the frustration imposed by the collective punishment measures of the Israelis, yesterday we announced that all schools will open in the city of Nablus for pupils and teachers to attend and thus break the yoke of the curfew. And inspite of the curfew we had a school attendance of 78%. While the Israeli tanks went on harrasing children, shooting in the air near schools, in an attempt to terrify both children and their parents, and thus to incite people into an immigration by personal choice, in other words a transfer by personal choice.
Name
Chris
- United Kingdom
Profession
Question
I feel that Palestinian children are themselves a very special case, very different from other children, given the harsh conditions in which they live. I assume they have a certain degree of political consciousness and awareness that may be absent in many other kids their age. Do you contribute to that consciousness? Do the schools in Palestine have a special role to play in this regard?
Answer
We were described once as a society that feeds on and breeds on politics. Since the implication of the political conditions affect the daily economical and social life of every indivdual, not to mention measures whereby human rights are daily violated (humiliation, dentention, killing, destrucation of homes, depriving farmers from working their land due to lack of water that is usurped by the Israelis, etc. Acts which affect the everyday existence of every individual in Palestine.
We wish for the day when teaching our children the Palestinian curreculum which stresses human rights, living in peace and tolarence becomes an act that is in accordance with the daily experience of every individual in Palestine. Right now, these themes are only theory.
Name
Jane
- United Kingdom
Profession
Question
How do children cope with the loss of their peers? On this website I see pictures of 9 year olds carry the bodies of their friends in funerals. How does this affect them? Do they still continue with their education and daily life as normal or does it leave a permanent scar on them?
Answer
Judging from the experience of shelling the old city of Nablus during the incursion in April 2002, when I visited school children at one school, there were many contradicting expressions on their faces, most of which will certainly be remembered in their mind for a long time. Many were shocked, others told me jokingly that they are no longer afraid of the sound of the shelling. Still others suffered psychologically.
Yet in general, there has been a strong need for joy, singing, and being together and socializing. Which means that our children have certainly been exposed to an overdose of violence, but our family ties make things easier.
Name
John
- United States
Profession
Question
Where do you normally carry out those classes? Is it in the streets as we have seen in one of the pictures? Has the Israeli government resisted or banned this program so far? How are they reacting to it?
Answer
That picture illustrating children learning in a yard or streat in the old city was in fact a demonstration demanding Israelis to give our children their freedom to practice their right in education. We usually have these classes where they initially arose, that means it could be a flat, or a home, or part, or a kindergarten, anywhere that is safe for the children to be.
Wherever there was a gathering of children close by these classes, Israeli tanks and patrols would harrass and frighten these children, which expresses a very clear desire on the part of the Israelis to disrupt one very basic human right: education. As Palestinians, we interpret it as a measure in a planned policy aiming at raising an ignorant generation that can easily become a victim of cheap labor for the Israelis in the future. It could also be aiming at the indirect expulsion of every Palestinian parent who is keen on the education of his children. This harrassment would provide a strong enough reason for him to immigrate and seek another place to live in, which again falls in line perfectly with the plot of the Israelis.
Name
Aziz Djaout
- Canada
Profession
Marketing Analyst
Question
Salam
How can we help your efforts ?
Thanks !
Answer
Our children are very much in need of joint efforts of solidarity movements and pressure to be exerted on the Israelis to end this occupation and to give our children their freedom. Many schools have been demolished and the economic situation in general suffers a high unemployment rate due to the closure and curfew imposed. As a result most families cannot afford to provide their children with thier basic needs for schooling, such as stationary, winter closing or paying the very symbolic annual school fees (the equivalent of $12).
They also need to realize that children all over the world recognize their suffering and want to help. Thus giving them a feeling that they are in fact children of one globe.
Name
OSMAN
- United Kingdom
Profession
STUDENT
Question
HOW CAN WE HELP OUR BROTHER IN QUDS
Answer
You can help by organizing campains to increase public awareness among countries in the West on the practices of the occupation forces to help release those strains. Another way would be to help in compensating for losses of teaching aid and school equippment lost during the incursion. Still another would be to donate to help raise funds to the indigent student council established by representatives of six institutions in Nablus who help the needy children or the handicapped and orphans, to provide the needs for their education.
These contributions are welcome at the Housing Bank for Trade and Finance, Amman Branch, Swift code: HPHOJOAX for account nuber: 49330, Nablus Branch, Palestine.
If anyone wishes to correspond with our school children, it is possible through our address at the Direcrorate of Education, Nablus, Palestine. And we can forward the letters to school children of common interests. The postal address is simply Direcrorate of Education, Nablus, Palestine.
Anyone who wishes to correspond with school children can send a letter denoting the stage or the age of the children they would like to correspond with in a letter to the Direcrorate of Education, Nablus, Palestine, and we will gladly introduce you to any school for future direct contact between the two parties.
Name
Um Ahmed
- United States
Profession
Engineer
Question
Assalamu alaykum
Do you have any support and/counseling for the children on Psychological and social issues, because as we all know the life they are living now will have a great effect on their lives as adults.
Answer
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Rights of the Palestinian Child of War
