Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Gaza Diary: Not a life for children

Gaza Diary: Not a life for children   
By  Omar, a humanitarian worker in partnership with Oxfam 
 
 
A young Palestinian girl wounded in an Israeli air strike on Gaza
[GALLO/GETTY] 
"Why us? Why are we cold? What is happening?" my children ask all the
time. 
They are six and two. When they ask for chocolate and I cannot give it to
them, they ask why. I explain to them that it is because of the closure,
but this does not explain things any further to them, they still ask:
"Why? Why us?" 
What they least understand is why their lives are being affected by
something which they are not responsible for.
It is hard for me to explain. I am 37-years old and have spent my whole
life under occupation. My father was a refugee from Barbara, my original
village. He said to me the other day: "Son, we have never lived in a
situation like this before. I hope that this will be the last time that we
live like this, forever".
But people live in hope. They believe, even after all this time, that
peace will return to us.
It has been five days now since I have had a shower. This is due to a lack
of power to fuel the water system and to the hectic times that are upon us.
It is winter and we are all beginning to get very cold. Without
electricity, all my family and I can do to stay warm it to huddle around a
gas lamp. We cover ourselves in sheets. 
Sometimes, I warm some water for my children to immerse their hands or
feet in. But there is very little that we can do apart from hope that this
will be the last time that we live like this.
The cold makes it difficult for us to get to sleep but even when we manage
to, the blasts of Palestinian and Israeli rockets wake us throughout the
night. The tremors and explosions scare my children so much that they now
sleep with my wife and me. 
They are so small and vulnerable and also very confused. They come home
from school talking of Hamas and Fatah, but they do not understand the
situation. 
This is not a life for children. It is not for anyone.
Stress and anxiety
I try as best as I can to divert their attention away from the crisis that
is continuing to unfold before them - I take them to the sea or to a
relative's home. 
I cannot even turn on the television because we have had no electricity
for five days. To find out what's going on or whether or not there will be
military operations I ask my colleagues in Jerusalem to keep me updated. 
Your Views 
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I also call my family every few hours to find out if they are OK.
My children live in an area of violence and hear on a daily basis people
arguing, complaining and shouting about the situation. To be honest, they
need some professional support for their stress and anxiety but, of
course, this is not available to us. 
Like many other children living in Gaza, they can rarely get away from the
crisis, even while they sleep.
This situation is affecting a lot of children. The other day, when I went
to my kid's school, the teacher said that 70 per cent of the children were
failing their exams. 
The stress of the situation, whether children realise it or not, will
effect their education. It is not great for school work or anything at all.
A lack of good quality food, clean drinking water, milk, sleep, fear and
cold are just some of the issues that the children of Gaza face.
The adults, too. 
The unborn child
There is already little hope for the future for the children of Gaza but
without education, they really have nothing. Education is the only capital
that we have for our future.
My third child is due in March. This is just two months away.
As a father and a husband I am worried - really worried for my wife and my
unborn child. How can she deliver a child when there is no electricity and
little supplies in the hospitals? 
Will she and our third child suffer as a result? These are some of the
questions that keep me awake at night.
Speaking about this makes me want to cry, not just for my family but also
for the people of Gaza.
 
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C3B8EC78-16EE-484E-A852-337BD96C0ABE.htm
 
 
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 gli abusi ad 
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hello all
if we are going to talk about the misery and suffering of the
palestenians we should always remember who is nehind the israelis, who
supports them and makes them so strong that they never respect any of
their promises- these are the americans
the israelis have been behaving like vulgars and they never keep a
promise,. at the same time the palestenian lost hope and confidence in
everyone and every organisation beginning with the united nations and
the arab league and all the arab countries. they even lost confidence
in themselves and began to accue each other of betrayal. this is
another reason why israel is misbehaving with them in that brutal way.
i think plastenians should agree on one thing whatever that thing was
then they will find a lot of people all over the world supporting them
and helping them. they should help themselves before they ask others
to help them.