Why? Palestine’s Children.
University of Maryland students protest the occupation of Palestine in 1984 and 2024
Some math facts- in 14 months, and in Gaza alone, Israeli soldiers and weaponry have killed approximately 44,835 people including 17,492 children. Just over 39% of the dead are children. 39%. On average, that means more than one child killed every hour. 87% of the schools in Gaza have been destroyed by Israeli bombs. In September 2024, an estimated 242 children were in Israeli Military Prisons. The captured children are tortured, used as human shields, starved, raped, and killed. The incomplete list of names of child martyrs goes on and on.
A Few Stories
Dunia Abu Mohsen, 12, talks to reporters from her hospital bed.
Dunia Abu Mohsen, a 12 year old girl, told reporters “I want to become a doctor, like those who treat us, so that I can treat other children. I only want one thing: For the war to end.” At the time she was recovering from losing her leg, along with six of her family members, to an October 27th 2023 Israeli airstrike. The Gaza doctors and nurses that treated her took care of her for almost two months until on December 17th 2023, she was killed by an Israeli tank shell fired at the hospital.
Hind Rajab, 5, smiles at the camera and tilts a commencement cap.
Hind Rajab, a 5 year old child, was the sole survivor of an Israeli assault on her family- on January 29th, 2024 she spoke on the phone with emergency aid workers at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and begged to be rescued from a car in Gaza filled with her dead family members and still under fire from an Israeli tank. For three hours while rescuers negotiated with Israeli forces for permission to save the child, dispatchers stayed on the phone with Hind. They prayed with her, listened to her fears, and did everything they could to get her help. Then,
After hours waiting for permission, the ministry of health negotiated safe access with the Israeli authorities for an ambulance. The paramedics arrived at about 6pm and were shot upon arrival. Two weeks later, their remains were recovered – along with the decomposed bodies of Hind and her family.
Omar Hussam Yaquob Shuwaiki, 15, sits on a bench in the occupied west bank.
Omar Hussam Yaqoub Shuwaiki, 15, was shot and killed in the Occupied West Bank by an Israeli private security guard on December 5, 2024- just over two weeks ago as I write this. Israeli forces encircled his body and refused to call an ambulance for 30 minutes or let others help him. Then they covered him in medical foil, took him to an undisclosed location, announced his death, and still have not released his remains to his family. As of now, 171 children have been killed in the Occupied West Bank, in addition to over 17,000 children in Gaza.
The Big Picture
These three kids survived trauma unimaginable for most Americans, only to be killed in cold blood. These kids are unique and their stories are unique, but the severity and relentless of the violence visited upon them is not. These are only a few, awful, recent atrocities from just over a year, but children living under occupation have survived or died in the brutality and systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians for over a century.
These children are children. They deserved better from us. Other children still do. Youth justice
While Palestinian children are by far the most impacted by the ongoing genocide, the occupation’s harm reaches far outside of the scope of Israeli Defense Force tanks and guns. Just this month, student members of the SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) at George Mason University had their dorms raided by armed police and were served with four year criminal trespass notices that essentially function as expulsions. This is a familiar tactic of a long, widespread trend of school, employer, and state retaliation against youth protesters in the USA and internationally.
Kids are doing what adults say we hope for- standing up for their beliefs, committing to projects, learning, growing, and communicating. Yet adults have met and continue to meet their behavior with relentless repression and brutality.
My Commitment
For each of my students that has taken action to protect their peers, to acknowledge reality, to encourage the adults in your life to catch up- know that I am so very proud of you, inspired by you, and grateful to you. For every kid taking action that doesn’t have somebody encouraging you, or that wants more support- my email is open. At Solve for Why, you have the space to question the world. You have the freedom to speak truth to power. You have the safety to know that (at least) one adult in your life will stand by you.
Finally, above all else- for the Palestinian and diasporic children. If you are trying to transfer schools, if you want support in your learning, if you’re preparing for tests, or if you just want an adult to listen and do what they can to help, I am here. Your sessions are without charge, no questions asked, as frequently as you need. I will never do “enough”- but I will do this.
Further Learning:
Free Documentary: “The Night Won’t End: Biden’s War on Gaza”
Podcast: Palestine Solidarity Encampments Are a Rehearsal for Liberatory Self Governance”
Take Action in Solidarity:
Buy eSims to help keep communication open
Support refugees directly (and here and here)
Help your local Palestinian Youth Movement chapter
Join your campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine
Send a letter in defense of the George Mason University SJP organizers
Keep wearing your kufiya- or get one now