Despair of Palestinian children

By Richard Miron
BBC correspondent in Jerusalem

A group of girls sing in unison in a circle in the playground of the Samiha Khalil school in Ramallah.

Most young Palestinians have had direct experience of the conflict

In the glare of the bright summer sun, the older girls in their blue striped uniforms lead the younger children through the verses and the accompanying actions of arm waving and leg shaking.

The school classrooms are clean and freshly painted, and the corridors resound to the sounds of pupils at work and at play.

The children appear, at first glance, to be lively and happy.

But across the valley, just a few hundred metres away on a neighbouring hilltop, sit the red-roofed houses of the Jewish settlement of Psagot.

This area has been the focus of fighting between the Israeli army and Palestinian gunmen with civilians caught in-between.

We are talking about a way of life to some extent... where children are constantly under the threat that something bad could and will happen Dr Cairo Arafat

That violence has affected many young Palestinians.

"I once had a nightmare that the Israeli soldiers came to school and sentenced everyone to death - the next day I didn't want to come to school," says Samr Bargouti a bright-eyed 13-year-old girl.

Everyday violence

Almost all the children at the school have direct experience of the troubles that erupted three years ago.

The evidence at the Samiha Khalil is not hard to find.

Two bullet holes have punctured the glass above the door of the first-floor classroom, which the teachers say is the result of shootings from the nearby Jewish settlement.

Violence is a regular feature of life for the children of Ramallah.

The crash of stones on Israeli army jeeps and the bang of rubber bullets are often heard in the centre of town.

Many families have had family members who have been arrested and detained by the Israeli forces.

Travel between the towns of the West Bank has become very difficult, dividing families and making normal life difficult.

Mental misery

Tahani Lubani a teacher at the Samiha Khalil school travels for two hours in each direction through army checkpoints in order to reach her pupils.

But she says her difficulties are slight compared to the children she teaches.

"Maybe a student had a father brother imprisoned or killed - she's not in a good mental state - all of that had an impact on concentration in the class not feeling well - feeling down and depressed," she says.

I once had a nightmare that the Israeli soldiers came to school and sentenced everyone to death Pupil Samr Bargouti

Over 2,200 Palestinians have died and thousands more have been injured - among them numerous young people.

The Palestinian Authority has established a National Plan of Action (NPA) for youngsters affected by the conflict.

"'We are not talking about isolated incidents [of trauma]," says Dr Cairo Arafat, a psychologist and director of the NPA.

"We are talking about a way of life to some extent... where children are constantly under the threat that something bad could and will happen."

Dr Arafat fears for the psychological well-being of all Palestinian youth.

She has seen an increase in illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression, and fears that unless there is some political solution the problems will only worsen.

"The vast majority of children felt that it was quite unlikely the situation would get any better, and unless we build a new reality that's real children won't be able to change their perceptions."

Hope in short supply

In the playground of the Samiha Khalil, seven-year-old Mohammed plays a boisterous game of football with his friends.

Despite his happy demeanour he has a bleak outlook for the future, enforced by personal experience.

Adolescents are prone to trauma

Once his home was hit by gunfire from the nearby Jewish settlement, a bullet came right through the window near his bedroom, he says.

"I think about the situation and how people are dying because of the Jews," he says - and he is not sure how or when there will be peace.

Hope is a rare commodity for Palestinians, and ongoing violence is breeding more despair among the young in this conflict which has affected so many in the past three years.

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