Storytelling is one of the oldest modes of education and has taken many different forms over the years. Stories can be used to convey basic information, social customs, and more. Specifically, children’s literature (novels, poetry and more) has grown and developed into its own multifaceted genre.
This article shows how the detention of Palestinian children by Israeli occupation forces impacts education and development. It explores children’s experiences in detention, and how these impact on subsequent life chances. It also looks at child responses to the continued occupation by Israel. This is done in the context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and Israeli violations of international law. The primary research on which this article is based focuses on Israeli human rights violations and military detention of minors. This negatively affects a child’s development within their community, and their legal right to an education.[i] Data is collected from ex-detainee experiences and accounts from open-ended questionnaires and interviews
By Zeina Azzam
“During Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza and its 1.8 million inhabitants, Palestinian poet Khaled Juma penned a moving poem titled ‘Oh Rascal Children of Gaza’. The first few lines were about the chaos and mischief that the children had perpetrated in their neighborhoods before the war, but the wistful ending laments, ‘Come back/and scream as you want/and break all the vases./Steal all the flowers./Come back./Just come back…'”
The group of girls, ponytailed and dressed in pink, stretched their arms out to the sides and pivoted onto their toes, trying desperately to hold still. Eagle-eyed, the instructor surveyed Gaza’s latest crop of would-be ballerinas.
Through educational events, humanitarian support, and cultural preservation, the Jerusalem Fund is helping build the movement for Palestinian liberation.
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