Palestinian children are the most tragic victims of the Israeli occupation policy: Their collective childhood is stolen as they are subjected to traumatic incidents which leave mental as well as physical wounds they will carry for the rest of their lives. On an almost daily basis Palestinian children are subjected to humiliating treatment at checkpoints, bombardment from Apache helicopters and F16 fighters and shelling from tanks. Furthermore, they are often prevented from reaching their schools or from going to hospitals due to the internal closures. In more severe - but not rare - cases children experience loss of their homes when Israeli bulldozers destroy them as an act of collective punishment for so-called "security reasons". Closure has prevented Palestinian men from working in Israel; the resulting high unemployment rate has had a severe impact on the living standard of children – according to a survey released in August 2002 by USAID and Care International 19.7% of all Palestinian children between 6-59 months suffer from anemia, 9.3% of the total population suffer from malnutrition.

Palestinian children play in Khan Younis refugee camp    Photo: PCHR field worker

The World Bank estimated in February 2002 – before the Israeli Operation Defensive Shield and Operation Determined Path and the following periods of closures and curfews - that 84.6% of Gazan families and 57.7% of West Bank families live below the international recognised poverty line at 2 dollars per day.  This dire economic situation - and in cases where the father is either dead or disabled - often forces children to start working from a young age in order to help support the family.