General

A Poetry of 4 Years ago about Palestinian Children

Children of Palestine – in pictures

IMAGINE… IF THIS WOULD BE YOUR CHILD…

You might rob me of my last inches of land…
And throw my youth to years of imprisonment…
You might put out a flame in my darkest night…
And deprive me of my mother’s kiss…
You might rob me of a fragment of my dreams…
And deprive our children of the joy of celebrating a Eid with new clothes..
You might build around me walls and walls, enemy of the sun..!
But, I will never compromise..!
And to the very last pulse in my veins, I will fight..!

This
album is a wake-up call to the world. For the sake of the children I
challenge you… to watch each and every picture. Read their stories and
decide with your own mind why these atrocities are going on while the
world is wide asleep.
Children deserve
protection. Safety. These,  the most basic human rights, of which,
almost all Palestinian children are continuously deprived off.
WHEN WILL YOU ACT? WHEN WILL YOU BREAK THE SILENCE?
Spread the word… spread the pictures…

“Little Handala”

Palestinian Bedouin Child

I am Palestine

@ash_ram
| Nabi Saleh | May 20, 2011 | Samer crying from the tear gas #palestine
this poor boy has seen more pain and hurt than all of us

@ash_ram
| Nabi Saleh | May 20, 2011 | First to be hit by tear gas 4 year old
Samer who was on his way home! people hurt from tear gas

@ash_ram
| Nabi Saleh | May 20, 2011 | Ahed 10 years old in pain frm poisongas
she was trying to close windo in door the gas is going in houses

Little Child watching Occupatying Soldiers…

Palestinian Child hostage

Showing torture marks to Jimmy Carter during his visit to West Bank

Children, arrested by world’s most “Moral” Army

Palestinian Child protesting Detention by Occupation

Gaza girl crying…

Palestinian Children in Balata Refugee Camp – Nablus

Palestinian boys carrying their Flag with pride

A
Palestinian child reacts during a struggle to get a ration of donated
food from the Islamic Waqf, during the Muslim holy fasting month of
Ramadan in the West Bank city of Hebron, Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

Palestinian Children watching an Israeli Soldier from behind barbed wire

Palestinian boy playing “war”… because they never have seen elsewhise

Palestinian Girl in the City of Hebron

Palestinian Children, playing in the rubble of by Israeli Occupation destroyed houses

Child at a checkpoint in Al-Quds – Palestine

Palestinian Children watching

Child at a checkpoint in Al Quds – Palestine

Palestinian warchild in Gaza

You can get a child out the war, but never get the war out of a child…

Children wittnessing devastation of their homes….

Or
sleeping on a matress in the rubble, the rublle of her house destroyed
by an earlier Israeli offensive: ‘Gaza is one of the hardest places on
earth to be a child’

Gaza Children suffering of malnutrition due to Israel’s Siege and limited transfer of basic needs…

Children
of Silwan, continuous targeted by Israeli Occupation. For more
information about the children of Silwan look at the special topic for
Silwan.

Palestinian youth being arrested , brutalized, abused and beaten, and mostly even emprioned without a trial

Shackeled, a Palestinian boy

Or being “hunted” by big strong soldiers in Jeeps, real hero’s…

Palestinian
School Girls, you even can’t imagine the treatment, harrassement, they
g=had to undergo, the risks they have to take every day to get into that
school. And even inside, it never is safe.

Palestinian school children attend mathematics lesson in a class in UNRWA Gaza Elementary School in Gaza city

Palestinian
boy at a souk, selling fruit. Lot of children, especially those who
lost their father try to earn money by working on souks, the fields or
whatever work they can get, to support their mother, brothers and
sisters. It should not be like this…

And
all the time, under the treat and abuse by Israeli soldiers… on the
way to school, on the way home again, every day, welcome to Palestine’s
Children’s reality

Child
in Al-Khalil, at the door opening while Israel’s Moral Army raids
homes, children witnessing all of this. After they entered families
mostly get locked up in one room, while the troops search their house,
and demolish everything in it, even his room.

Another child arrest…. Does it need 7 soldiers to take one little boy…. ? Intimidation. Standard courtesy of IOF

And
another one… so you know what haMishtara does behind the facades of
Jerusalem and ethnic cleansed houses where you watch nice paintings on
your trip to Jerusalem…. backstage kidnap of children

Another Palestinian boy resisting a soldier…

Child,
hanging on to his fathers clothing, while he is being deported by
Israeli soldiers. The father was captured while working in his field…

Palestinian girl Abeer Skafe, protesting the detention of the father…

Abeer
Skafe again. Resisting became her death. After Israeli Occupation
denied her to see her father, she got in shock, paralysed and eventually
died on April 22, 2011 of the consequences. I salute the Shaheeda, May
Allah swt grant her peace in Jannatul Firdaus, Peace she never knew in
this life. Ameen.

Another Child, just a baby, killed during operation “Cast Lead” on Gaza. According to Israel no warcrimes are committed….

Palestinian
child carried by his father into Gaza’s hospital following an airattack
on Dec 28, 2008. He was “lucky”….. 318 other children died, during
the 22 days Israeli offensive on Gaza

A mother who carries her wounded daughter after an airstrike on Gaza

And another Palestinian child wounded by indiscriminate attacks of Israel

Children,
carried by their fathers and brothers after being wounded by shells,
bombing or even attacks with white phosphorus – Gaza Cast Lead 2008-2009
A medic, holding a child carrying into the hospital...

A medic, holding a child carrying into the hospital…

Man burying his child, killed in attacks on Gaza during operation Cast Lead

Another
boy killed during Israeli attacks… 2007, not the first one… not the
last one… How many more children of Palestine need to die, until the
world awakes and acts against these crimes?

Muhammed
al-Durra, first child martyr of the 1st Intifada. Shot in cold blood by
Israeli snipers while his father tried desperately, amidst crossfire to
protect his son

A baby… killed

Brothers and sisters, little children, slaughtered by Israel. Gaza, Cast Lead offensive 2008-2009

Another child martyr

A
Palestinian carry the body of 13-year-old girl Sara Mahmoud Zorob,
during her funeral at the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip
July 27,2004. Sara was killed by Israeli troops on Monday as she played
soccer near her home in southern Gaza according to relatives and medics.
Killed while playing….

Badly
wounded little child carried by his also wounded father… what did he
do to deserve this.. where are UN, Defence for Children, Amnesty
International, where is humanirty to act against these ongoing crimes?

Boy, crying and mourning about the death of his little baby brother, killed by Israeli Occupation

Children of Gaza, traumatized, crying, panic during a funeral, one of the so many, too much funerals they have to witness….

What are you doing Israel! What is in the hearts of “mankind” being able to destroys lives like these, a newborn baby….killed

A precious life of a Palestinian child, destroyed, by an Israeli tank

Another child from Gaza. May he rest in Paradise… Ameen

A
silent sign of genocide, a children’s hand sticking out of the rubble
after Israel attacked Gaza on Jan 21, 2009. Where is the world to
comdemn this?

Another girl murdered by Israel

A
Baby held by his mother, in the background one of the many houses which
have been demolished, and until today not reconstructed due to Israel’s
blockade on import of construction materials…

Another boy, sitting in the rubble after homes are destroyed by Israeli attacks

Palestinian boy, looking for usable stuff…

And when you have nothing left to play with, because all is destroyed… they play with a shell….

Another child in the remains of his “home”

Children in Gaza walking aside a by Israel airattacks demolished mosque

Every
child deserves a home. But this Palestinian child has no home no more.
Israel demolishes during indiscriminate attacks civil highly populated
areas…

A
homeless Palestinian girl stands in a burnt classroom at a United
Nations school after it was hit by Israeli shelling on January 17, 2009
in Beit Lahia

Traumatized
for life… Welcome to Gaza Children. Living in world’s largest open
air prison, delivered to Israel’s destructive policies, attacks and
genocides.

Gaza
children crying… afraid.. lost their loved ones. How much more, how
many more souls, no where to go and only waiting…asking… when will
the next attack come..?

A Palestinian girl crying for the loss of a loved one… | Cast Lead 2008-2009

A
little, so little child.. in tears. Watching a funeral of a loved
one… How much more Palestinians need to die and be hurt before someone
ends these warcrimes on humanity?

A
Palestinian girl, waiting in the dark. Gaza suffers of severe
electricity shortages and blackouts due to Israeli policies of
preventing enterning fuel, parts for the damaged plants or just because
networks get blasted… Waiting in the dark what will be next…

During
power outages, also hospitals are experiencing severe problems. For
example this child, born with a heart disease and dependant on an
incubator, which does nor work without power… Imagine this is YOUR
child….!

Yes…
he is also afraid in the dark… When will the darkness end, when will
the emprisonement of Palestine end, when will a child in Palestine be
able to be a child….?

Palestinian girl in tears…

Desperation in the eyes… a Grandfather holding his grandchild… when will this nightmare end

Palestinians
inspect the rubble of buildings in the eastern area of Jebaliya after
Israeli troops withdrew from the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Jan. 18,
2009. Children amidst devastation and a loud media silence

Rubble, rubble and more rubble. Where to keep the toys if they are not destroyed, where to sleep…

A
Palestinian chiold crawling through the rubble… crying… aren’t you?
You should. Attacks never ended. Still Gaza and West Bank are targeted
on daily basis.

Ghassan Mattar, a Palestinian boy, who lost his legs during an Israeli attack…. Marked for life

A
malnutrioned Palestinian toddler… Israel has a strict calculating
policies even on how many calories pro head enter Gaza, enough to starve
them slowly… Although High Court decided they have to release the
data about the calories-policies, Israel denies

Baby
child born with heart disease. Since Israel’s use of chemical weapons
there is an immense increase of child birt defects. A warcrime…

An
too early born child in Gaza. Depending fate, for most of neccesary
treatment, incubators, breathing appartuses or electricity to function
them, medicins are continuously short. While the world stays silences in
luxuoury and children in Palestine die….

A child in Jabaliya camp in Gaza, one of Gaza’s most targeted and highly populated areas in the world…

The
father of Palestinian Dena Balosha, 4, left, one of five members of the
same family including three children and two teenagers who were killed
in an Israeli missile strike, carries her body during their funeral in
the Jebaliya refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 29,
2008 May Allah swt grant him strength and courage and ease his
suffering. Ameen.

Another
child martyred… Another father carrying his child to a grave, and
even the graveyard are a target during air raids by Israel. When you are
Palestinian, you even not rest in your grave….

Fathers with their babies… No words to express these ongoing atrocities and tragedies…

Children mourning at the funerals

Killed by Israel. Shot point blank in the little head. When will there be justice….?

Israel’s teaches it’s soldiers to target to cause a sudden death. Shot right in the heart…. A child…

When
this picture was shown in media, even the news read of AlJazeera
cried… live on television… The whole world should for the insanity
of Israel and it’s crimes is going on every day…

Palestinian Baby Martyr.. may you be like an angel in Paradise…Ameen

A child killed and thousands attend his funeral…. every time again….

Palestinian medics carrying the bodies of children died during one of Israel’s offensives during Cast Lead | Gaza

A father… looking at his son killed by Israeli tankfire

Funeral Prayer in the mosque for a little Palestinian baby, killed by Israel’s cruel attacks

Palestinians gathering, praying and mourning for the loss of their loved ones…

Children at Rafah border… another often targeted area in the Gaza Strip. Gaza, world’s largest open air concentration camp

Also Palestine’s children, never give up… A boy, in prayer….

Palestinian child praying with his family…

For
many mosques or places of worship have been destroyed… Here, children
amidst rubble of a mosque and Islamic school in Southern Rafah, Jan 11,
2009

Child on what was once… the roof of a mosque…

Child carried by a relative, in the background a mosque which has been spared of bombing…. for now….

A
child collecting rubble in the most dangerous area of Gaza where
Israel’s snipers continuously shoot people to death. Rubble to earn
money for food. Hence, Red cross, at least a non excisting person, based
on a Israeli propaganda prepped report told in April 2011 there is no
humanitarian crisis in Gaza…. What do you think?

A girl, mourning the death… the ongoing massacres cause immense and unimaginable damage…

This
is Palestine. These are the Children of Palestine. Schoolboys, sitting
in their classroom of which, half the students are killed. Their names
on the carton boards aside the live ones… Who said there is no
humanitarian crisis… No humanity at all in Palestine due to Israel’s
zionism

A
Palestinian girl on her way to school. No schoolbus, no car, no comfy
safe transfer to school like u are used to bring your children.
Continuous danger even on way to school and back again, day in day
out…

That
is… if there is any school left…: Palestinian schoolgirls walk in
the rubble of the Sakhnin School, devastated in Israel’s latest
incursion into Gaza, in Beit Lahiya, northern of Gaza Strip, Saturday,
Jan 31, 2009

Another school building destructed by Israeli attacks, a child sitting aside a pile of books which are left…

A Palestinian child….

And another child in the endless rubble

No
sewage or water systems, no electricty or gaspipes in Gaza camps… a
child carrying a gas tank. Welcome to Palestine 2011… When you
showering in nice warm water next time, think of this boy walking and
carrying gascontainers through the dangerous rubble not to heat water
for showers but to be able to cook ….or to cook the polluted water to
drink….

Palestinian child showing shrapnel

And another child showing his dove…

Palestinian child with his sheep

Palestinian
children playing… like your children, football. Amidst the violence
and oppression only they can be targeted any time…

Hoping
for better… Palestinian children making peace signs… When will the
world bring them peace and free them of occupation, oppression and
massacres?

When
you grow up in Palestine, moqawama (resistance) is in your blood, not
because Palestinians want to… they need to… A child, carrying a flag
during a protest, closely watched by Israeli soldiers who have their
fingers on the trigger…..

The children of the stones. For stones, are the only thing to throw, to defend, even when it is against an Israeli tank…

A boy with a slingshot… while Israeli soldiers attacking weaponed until their teeth and protected by armor

And when you have no slingshot, no stone, no fear left….just show them your muscles!! Ya Shabab you make me proud.

If they don’t take that away from you too… Khalil, a boy who lost his arm during an Israeli attack

Palestinian kids look… will you look after them too….?

For she has dreams too….
....and he too....

….and he too….

Not
see their homes, belongings and dreams shattered all the time. No
crisis in Palestine Israel says. See for yourself: The Village of
‘Awarta, May 2011, half the village’s houses and everything inside
looted and all not able to take or steal is demolished

A Palestinian child from ‘Awarta village near Nablus, sleeping among the devastated belongings of a family….

Another ‘Awarta child in the trash and rubble of Israeli soldiers house “searches” April 2011

Children
looking at soldiers while the whole Awarta village is under curfew for
over a month and continuing, April 12 2011 Collective Punishment is
against International Law, Geneva Convention and the Hague Ragulations.
Everywhere but not in Palestine

So
he also keeps waving the flag, to ask your attention, for his rights,
for his country which does not excist no more if it is up to Israel and
it’s contiuous efforts to ethnically cleanse the whole of Palestine from
the Mediteranian Sea to the RIver Jordan. Forget all details, that is
what it is all about….. And still… he has rights too

If
you would grow up under this violence, under these crimes, under these
continuous genocidesand oppression, watching your loved ones or friends
being slaughtered.. you would resist too…

When
this is your daily “routine” to go to school… you will fight as
well… they make you because no child is born that way….

If
you live every day, really every day in fear of soldiers, attacks,
under curfew, violence, tear gas, bombs, shells, chemical weapons… you
will resist

If the place you live in, is being demolished, not once, but over and over and over again… you will resist….

Even if you get wounded or loose limbs.. you will resist these atrocities….

When
you are attacked with illegal white phosphorus, you also will throw a
stone… to resist.. even if you know it will be no defence.. you will
try to resist….

For Peace….

To see a future and witness it with both your eyes…

Without daily attacks by tanks, pointing their weapons at your unarmed children…

No more 4 month old babies targeted and killed…. Iman Hijo from Khan Yunis Refugee Camp. May he rest in peace. Ameen.

Unshakle the youth, the children of Palestine, and resist these crimes…

Resist
these crimes too, untill there are no more ghosts playing in the
streets, but until all Palestinian children also are able to BE a
child….

To “ensure” you see as less as possible of the ugly reality of occupation, Israel attacks pressAttacks
or  hinders activists from entering so they do not become a witness in
the first place and above all… attacks, shoots and jails photographers
for what is captured by the lense will nor easily deceive people.

So they also detained Bilal Tamimi. A camera-man. Exposing truth,
capturing atocities in hope, tireless, even knowing endangering his own
life in the process to create awareness for the crimes done to
Palestinians.

Here are his children on April 20, 2012


Poem Baby Martyr by Angel Falasteen- a Palestinian Mother …

I’m six and seven
And up to eleven,
Then I’m an adult
In an Israeli court
My hands tied in the back of my back
He comes to me with a punch and a sack.
He covers my head with a hood of Zionist stench
Though my belly is tough, it will not flinch.
The noise is loud and pierces my brain.
My pathetic shirt hangs proud with a fresh blood stain.
My poor mother is worried sick, I’m sure.
She burried my brother before me. She will endure.
And my dad too, depression got him in the end
With no home, no land, no olive trees to tend.
I’m in here for days on end
Or is it months or even years, I no longer comprehend.
The noise is too loud
And I can feel the shroud.
He beats me again today
Then its another’s turn to play.
I’m broken now, but I’ll not confess.
I’ll leave my body, let those murdering bastards clean up the mess.
A few more thoughts before I go
I am human. This you must know.
You’d never know it `cause I’m tough as a rocks I throw.
I had hoped to grow a mustache so fine.
Maybe marry Muna. I’d be hers and she’d be mine
Maybe be a father….our children free in Palestine.