Children in Palestine

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Children of Palestine
Children in Palestine
• There are 2,039,000
Palestinian Children in
the Occupied Palestinian
Territories (UNICEF).

• Children make up 54.2%
of the population
(UNICEF).

• In Gaza 70% of the
children are registered
refugees (UNICEF). In
the West Bank the figure
is around 30% (UNRWA).
The Refugees
• “The old will die, the young will
forget,” David Ben Gurion.

• The Palestinian refugees were
created in 1948 when around
750,000 Palestinians were either
forced from or fled their homes. A
further 200,000 refugees were
created in 1967.

• Registered Palestinian refugees
live in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories, Jordan, Syria and
Lebanon. Services are provided to
them by UNRWA. Today they
number 4.7 million (UNRWA).
The Refugees
• Most refugees live in registered camps. These
are overcrowded and lack resources and
facilities. Streets are usually alleyways and there
is a severe lack of space for children to play.
Open sewers run through some camps. Access
to electricity and other municipal services is also
extremely limited.

• Refugees in Lebanon are systematically
discriminated against, denied both the right to
own property and to work in over 80 professions.

• The largest refugee camp, Jabaliya in Gaza, is
home to over 100,000 people. It has a population
density of 76,000 were sq. km, three times that
of Manhattan (UNRWA).

• Only Jordan has given the refugees citizenship,
elsewhere they remain stateless, lacking both a
passport and nationality.
In their own words
• Living in the camp means that I live in a
place that doesn‟t belong to me, a place
where I could be kicked out off at any
moment. Asma, 14, Qalandia Camp,
West Bank

• My dream is to become an English
teacher, but sometimes my mother says
that people can‟t have dreams if they live
in Shatila. Farah, 14, Shatila, Lebanon.

• Palestinian children are without hope
now. Sometimes I do not have the
feeling that I will go back to my
homeland. I am afraid to die before
returning back. I wish to go back. I want
to feel safe. Haneen, 13, Beach Camp,
Gaza.

• Source: Save The Children
Health Care
• In July 2010, out of 947 applications to
leave Gaza for health treatment Israel
denied or unnecessarily delayed 16.7%
(WHO).

• In villages in the seam zone pregnant
women usually leave their homes one
month before expected birth as they may
not be able to cross the checkpoints to
hospitals (WHO).

• In Gaza 12% of child deaths are due to
diarrhoea, B‟Tselem.

• In Gaza 95% of children experience
nightmares or bedwetting symptomatic of
post-traumatic stress-disorder (February
2009, Care International).

• In Sderot up to 74% of children suffer
PTSD, (Hebrew University, October 2007).
Health Care and the Gaza War
According to WHO during Operation Cast
Lead:
• 16 Health workers killed and 25 injured on
duty;
• 15 out of 27 hospitals damaged;
• 43 our of 110 clinics damaged or
destroyed;
• 29 out of 148 ambulances damaged or
destroyed.
• Damaged facilities have not been rebuilt
as construction materials are prohibited,
WHO, January 2010.
• In July 2009 UNOCHA reported 77 out of
480 essential medicines and 140 out of
700 disposable items were out of stock
with no legal means of replacing them.
• Eight hour electricity blackouts are the
norm for Gaza and have caused a large
number of deaths.
Nutrition
• “The idea is to put Palestinians on a diet, but
not to make them die of hunger,” Dov
Weisglass, 2006.

• “Chronic malnutrition in the Gaza Strip has
risen over the past few years and has now
reached 10.2%,” WHO.

• Amongst Palestinian Children as a whole
22.5% of children under 5 suffer acute (9.3%
or chronic (13.2%) malnutrition, CARE
International.

• In Gaza13.2% of children are suffering from
acute malnutrition, putting them on par with
children in countries such as Nigeria and
Chad.

• 65% of children aged 9-12 months, and 35%
of pregnant women are anaemic, Care
International.
Water
• “There is no reason for Palestinians to claim
just because they sit on lands they have the
rights to that water,” Katz-Oz.
• All water in the West Bank is under the
control of the Israeli water authority. Israel
uses 80% and rations 20% for the
Palestinians.
• Palestinians often pay 4 times more for
water than Israelis and if they exceed their
quota they are fined. In the summer water
supplies to Palestinians are frequently cut
off whilst the illegal settlements continue
unrestricted use.
• Between 180,000 and 200,000 West Bank
Palestinians have no access to running
water and the Israeli army frequently
prevents them from collecting rain water,
Amnesty International.
• Due to the blockade of Gaza the sewage
and water treatment system is collapsing.
Amnesty International state 90-95% of the
drinking water in Gaza is unfit for
consumption.
Education
• As part of the collective punishment of Gaza
paper and pencils, along with toys, sports‟
equipment and more specialist educational
resources were banned.
• Palestinian students from Gaza are prohibited
from taking up educational opportunities outside
Gaza.
• During the first and second Intifadas Palestinian
schools, universities and kindergartens were
closed. Home schools were also declared illegal
and teachers who facilitated them imprisoned.
• During operation Cast Lead 159 school and
university buildings were damaged or destroyed,
rebuilding has not been possible because of the
blockade, PCHR.
• Throughout occupied Palestine education
standards are falling as pupils give up hope. In
Gaza the average class size is 38 and 90% of
UNRWA schools run on double shifts, UNRWA.
• In East Jerusalem the school dropout rate is
50%, ACRI. ACRI also found half of classrooms
in East Jerusalem were sub standard and a
quarter were “inappropriate.”
• In Lebanon there is quota on Palestinians
attending universities.
Freedom of Movement
• “Gaza is a prison and Israel seems to
have thrown away the key,” John Dugard,
UN Special Rapporteur.

• Travel between Gaza and the West Bank
is banned.

• In the West Bank there are between 500
and 700 checkpoints, permits are
required to cross these.

• 90% of West Bank Palestinians and
100% of Gaza Palestinians and
Palestinian refugees in other countries
are banned from entering their capital
city.

• Many children have been killed working in
the tunnels beneath Gaza.
Home Demolitions and Residency
• Approximately 24,000 Palestinian homes have
been demolished since 1967, ICAHD.

• During Operation Cast Lead a further 3,500 to
4,000 homes were completely destroyed and up
to 20,000 damaged. PCHR.

• “Children who have had their home demolished
fare significantly worse on a range of mental
health indicators, somatic complaints,
depression/anxiety, social difficulties, higher
rates of delusional, obsessive, compulsive and
psychotic thoughts, attention difficulties,
delinquency, violent behaviour,” Save the
Children.

• 94% of building applications for Area C (60%) of
the West Bank are refused.

• Palestinians living in East Jerusalem or the West
Bank can have their residency revoked and be
transferred to Gaza. Frequently only one parent
is transferred leading to devastating
consequences for family life.
The Security Fence/ Apartheid Wall
• Built mostly inside the West Bank the wall when
complete will annex 8.5% of the territory and
separate it from Jerusalem.
• Approximately 260,000 Palestinians living in 81
communities will be trapped in the so called
“Seam Zone,” Save the Children.
• Ma‟an Development Centre reports a further 98
communities comprising 312,810 people who
are surrounded by the wall, settlements or other
illegal Israeli infrastructure.
• Trapped communities have no access to Israel
and only limited access to the West Bank.
Residents also require a permit to live there
which they can lose if they get married, move
temporarily or even take up employment outside
of this area. Palestinians entering the Seam
Zone without a permit can be gaoled for five
years.
• Reports suggest that the future of communities
in the Seam Zone is untenable as they are often
cut off from land, healthcare, education and
families. See World Bank Technical Report,
May, 2007.
• According to Bimkom, the Wall, “almost totally
ignores the daily needs of the Palestinian
population” and is “focused almost exclusively
on the desire to maintain the fabric of life of
Israeli settlers.”
Child Prisoners and Prisoners
• In addition to using children as human shields
there were as of April 2010, 280 child prisoners
held in Israel, DCI.

• According to Defence of Children International,
Palestinian child prisoners in Israel are routinely
tortured, denied access to lawyers and held in
conditions that violate the UN Declaration of the
Rights of the Child.

• Defence of Children International also state that
child prisoners held in Palestinian facilities also
lack sufficient protection.

• In addition, since 1967, over 600,000
Palestinians have been imprisoned, many without
charge. Again this has a devastating impact on
family life. Furthermore, since 2006, prisoners
from Gaza have been denied family visits.
Violence
• Violence has greatly affected the lives of both
Palestinian and Israeli children.

• Israeli children have been targeted in suicide
bombings and other armed attacks.
Palestinian children, whilst not officially
targeted, have been killed in even greater
numbers, due to the use of overwhelming
force, lax rules of engagement and sheer
malice. For example, during the first two
weeks of the Second Intifada, the IDF fired
700,000 bullets and projectiles in the West
Bank and 300,000 in Gaza. One wit from the
IDF central command quipped, “A bullet for
every child.”

• Since 2000 to July 2010, 1,446 Palestinian
children and 124 Israeli children have been
killed. During Operation Cast Lead up to 431
Palestinian children were killed.
Unrecognised
• “We need the Negev for the next generation of
Jewish setters,” Shai Hermesh, The Jewish
Agency.
• Approximately 90,000 Palestinian Israeli citizens
live in 45 unrecognised villages.
• Although they are Israeli citizens their land is
zoned for Jewish settlement, consequently their
villages are denied all municipal facilities, ie, water,
electricity, roads, schools, healthcare, etc. Their
homes are also subject to mass demolitions.
• Palestinian citizens of Israel are routinely and
systematically discriminated against and viewed as
a “demographic threat,” ACRI. The Israeli
government frequently considers how it can reduce
their fertility.
• A 2006 Hebrew University study found that
Palestinian Israelis had only one third of the
amount spent on their education as of that of their
fellow Jewish citizens.
• Since the killing of 12 Palestinian Israelis in
October 2000, a further 28 Palestinians have died
at the hands of the police, (2010). No one has
ever been charged or disciplined. ACRI
The Olive Harvest
• The olive harvest is special to rural
Palestinian communities. It is
common for a whole village to come
out to collect the harvest together.

• Since 2000 over 1,000,000
Palestinian fruit trees have been
uprooted or demolished. Over
500,000 olive trees.

• Olive trees close to the illegal Jewish
only settlements are off limits to
Palestinians and their crop is usually
harvested by the illegal settlers. The
wall also cuts off farmers from their
crops.

• Frequently ancient olive trees are
stolen, uprooted and replanted as
ornaments in the roundabouts of the
illegal settlements.
International Humanitarian Law:
The Fourth Geneva Convention
• Art. 16. The wounded and sick, as well as the infirm,
and expectant mothers, shall be the object of
particular protection and respect.

• Art. 17. The Parties to the conflict shall endeavour to
conclude local agreements for the removal from
besieged or encircled areas, of wounded, sick, infirm,
and aged persons, children and maternity cases, and
for the passage of ministers of all religions, medical
personnel and medical equipment on their way to
such areas.

• Art. 18. Civilian hospitals organized to give care to
the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity
cases, may in no circumstances be the object of
attack but shall at all times be respected and
protected by the Parties to the conflict.

• Art. 23. Each High Contracting Party shall allow the
free passage of all consignments of medical and
hospital stores and objects necessary for religious
worship intended only for civilians of another High
Contracting Party, even if the latter is its adversary. It
shall likewise permit the free passage of all
consignments of essential foodstuffs, clothing and
tonics intended for children under fifteen, expectant
mothers and maternity cases.
International Humanitarian Law
• Art. 27. Protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their
honour, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manners and
customs. They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against
all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity.

• Art. 33. No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally
committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are
prohibited.
Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited

• Art. 49. Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from
occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country,
occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.
The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the
territory it occupies.

• Art. 50. The Occupying Power shall, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities,
facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children.

• Art. 53. Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging
individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to
social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered
absolutely necessary by military operations.
International Humanitarian Law
Art. 55. To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying
Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the
population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical
stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are
inadequate.

• Art. 56. To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying
Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of
national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and
services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory.

• Art. 59. If the whole or part of the population of an occupied territory is
inadequately supplied, the Occupying Power shall agree to relief schemes
on behalf of the said population, and shall facilitate them by all the means at
its disposal.
Such schemes, which may be undertaken either by States or by impartial
humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red
Cross, shall consist, in particular, of the provision of consignments of
foodstuffs, medical supplies and clothing.
All Contracting Parties shall permit the free passage of these consignments
and shall guarantee their protection.
UN Convention: the Rights of the Child
Article 2. States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the
present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination
of any kind, irrespective of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's
race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic
or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.
• Article 6. 1. States Parties recognize that every child has the inherent right to
life.
• 2. States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and
development of the child.
• Article 24. 1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of
the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of
illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that no
child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.
• Article 27. 1. States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of
living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social
development.
• Article 28. 1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to education, and
with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal
opportunity
• Article 31. 1. States Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure,
to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child
and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
• Article 37 States Parties shall ensure that: (a) No child shall be subjected to
torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
• Article 38. 1. States Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for
rules of international humanitarian law applicable to them in armed conflicts
which are relevant to the child.
Human Rights
• “As the International Committee of the Red Cross
has stressed repeatedly, the dire situation in Gaza
cannot be resolved by providing humanitarian aid.
The closure imposed on the Gaza Strip is about to
enter its fourth year, choking off any real
possibility of economic development. Gazans
continue to suffer from unemployment, poverty
and warfare, while the quality of Gaza's health
care system has reached an all-time low.
“The whole of Gaza's civilian population is being
punished for acts for which they bear no
responsibility. The closure therefore constitutes a
collective punishment imposed in clear violation of
Israel's obligations under international
humanitarian law,” ICRC June 2010.

• “…recognition of the inherent dignity and of the
equal and inalienable rights of all members of the
human family is the foundation of freedom, justice
and peace in the world… it is essential, if man is
not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last
resort, to rebellion against tyranny and
oppression, that human rights should be protected
by the rule of law,” The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
Palestinian Children

“In accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, article
1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognizes that all peoples have
the right of self-determination. The right of self-determination is of particular importance
because its realization is an essential condition for the effective guarantee and observance
of individual human rights and for the promotion and strengthening of those rights. It is for
that reason that States set forth the right of self-determination in a provision of positive law in
both Covenants and placed this provision as article 1 apart from and before all of the other
rights in the two Covenants.”

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, General Comment 12, 1984.
Index of Photos
• 1. Palestinian boys at UNRWA summer camp in Gaza during an attempt to break the world record for
bouncing basket balls, 2010.
• 2. School children.
• 3. Palestinian refugees from 1948.
• 4. Alley way in a refugee camp.
• 5. Children‟s party.
• 6. Health clinic.
• 7. Al Quds Hospital in Gaza after being hit by white phosphorus shells during Operation Cast Lead.
• 8. Child next to food aid.
• 9. Children collect water from a water tanker – a familiar scene in both Gaza and the West Bank.
• 10. Restarting school in a tent following Operation Cast Lead.
• 11. Smuggling livestock from Egypt into Gaza.
• 12. Family sit on the ruins of their home following demolition in East Jerusalem.
• 13. Child in Qalqilya looks across the under construction wall that now seals the town.
• 14. Israeli soldier uses Palestinian child as human shield during the second Intifada (uprising), 2000-2005.
• 15. Palestinian child in Gaza with wounded doll. Photo taken in aftermath of Operation Cast Lead.
• 16. Sealed water pump next to „unrecognised‟ village in the Negev, Israel.
• 17. Palestinian boy olive picking in the West Bank, October 2006, (John Levanz).
• 18. Ban Ki Moon, UN Secretary General holds press conference in burned out UNRWA compound in Gaza
following Operation Cast Lead.
• 21. Cartoon of Handala. A creation of Palestinian refugee Naji-al-Ali, Handala is a 10 year old Palestinian
refugee; his back is turned to the world until he can return home.
• 22. Palestinian girl at cultural festival in Bethlehem next to the separation wall.
• 23. Refugee children coming home from school in Dheisheh Refugee Camp, Bethlehem, October 2006,
(John Levenaz), and a Palestinian boy runs into the sea in Gaza.