ربي اجعلني مقيم الصلاة ومن ذريتي

Israeli policies such as closure and destruction of property have had a devastating effect on living standards in Palestine. By 2003, over 60% of the population was living under a poverty line of $2 a day.

Palestinian children adapt their games, in spite of the devastation around them.

Palestinian boys take a last look and kiss 11-month-old Hoda Shalof, who was killed after an Israeli tank shelled her home in Rafah refugee in Spring, 2002.

Over 50% of the Palestinian population are under 18, but the proximity of conflict means that many children are politicized from an early age and are forced to grow up earlier than their counterparts in other parts of the world. One of the consequences is that opportunities to play and have fun are rare.

Palestinian children put on a smile for the camera.

Children help to set up a new home in tents after the destruction of their homes

Boy running through smoke

Young Palestinians take on Israeli tanks with stones and leftover rubble before running for cover.

Thousands of Palestinian families have lost their homes as a result of Israel’s policy of demolishing houses as a form of collective punishment against the families of activists & others.

Children come together to light memorial candles for the dead.

Since September 2000, over 2,500 children have been arrested by Israeli troops, police and special forces. All of these minors are subject to military regulations, held in military camps or prisons and tried by military courts.

Closures, violence and the destruction of property constitute the principal threats to education in Palestine today. In 2002, children lost an average one month of a nine month school year due to the unrest.

DCI data indicates that the youngest age category of children 0-8, are the principal victims of house demolitions.

Every day thousands of Palestinian children p*** checkpoints, military vehicles and personnel on their way to school.

An Israeli soldier yells at a Palestinian child to turn back at the Kalandia checkpoint on 22 May 2002, as he attempts to head from Jerusalem in the direction of the West Bank city of Ramallah.
AFP PHOTO/ Atef Safadi

In March-April 2002, Israeli forces invaded major West Bank cities and towns and established direct control over much of the Palestinian population. The devastation and violence used in these attacks were unprecedented. The devastation wreaked on Jenin camp (pictured right) has become a watchword for Israel’s disproportionate use of force in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

A child takes the playful approach with an Israeli soldier.

A Palestinian teacher carries a visually impaired student across a U.N. run rehabilitation centre which was damaged by Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip on 6 March 2002.
REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

A Palestinian boy looks through a wall of a Palestinian police post destroyed by the Israeli army at the northern entrance of the West Bank town of Ramallah on 27 July 2001.
AFP PHOTO/Emmanuel Pain

A Palestinian girl flashes the V-sign behind a shattered window in the West Bank town of Hebron on 13 July 2001.
AFP PHOTO/EMMANUEL PAIN

A Palestinian boy displays a piece of an Israeli shell in the West Bank town of Hebron on 13 July 2001. Israeli tanks launched a pre-dawn raid into the Palestinian-controlled area, shelling buildings and leaving 17 people wounded, after one Jewish settler was killed and five wounded.
AFP PHOTO/ Emmanuel Pain

A Palestinian girl waves her flag from her balcony overlooking the street.

Palestinians run for cover as Israeli soldiers open fire during clashes in the West Bank town Nablus on 25 March 2001.
REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini

DCI/PS prepared this poster during the first months of the second Intifada to raise awareness regarding the m***ive increase in Israeli violations of Palestinian childrens rights, in particular violations of the right to life and security.