The New Generation

I am a Palestinian, staying in the West Bank, in the city of Nablus. I would love to tell you what is taking place here on the Palestinian streets. The issue which I am going to write about is hardly mentioned in the media, and very few people know about it.

Well, People keep talking about the Palestinian losses; about 700 martyred and 21,000 injured, about the Palestinian economic crisis, about thousands of uprooted olive trees, about the checkpoints and the peace process. Well, I am not against all that. Yet, all of what is mentioned above is not the real loss, simply because there is NO liberation without sacrifices. The real loss is THE NEW GENERATION; right at this moment we are having a very sick, frustrated and exhausted generation, let me tell you this small story...

On the day of Eid, I was asked by my father to take my two little brothers and sisters to the market and buy them some toys. I took them to the store downtown and asked them to select their gifts, and I wasn't that much surprised to see them coming back to me after 10 minutes holding two machine guns. I tried my best to convince them to select different toys, lets try something else, I said. NO, both of them replied simultaneously. It just so happens that the store manager is my friend. He told me it is not only my brother and sister, It is the case with every kid who has entered this shop this Eid. Both of them were very glad to have these toy machine guns. On our way back home, they were shooting at each other. I asked them what on earth made them select such toys, and why they didn't try something else. Their reply was justified, they have been going to school everyday under fire, they have decided enough is enough, if anybody will shoot at them, they will shoot back... Who could stop them anyway? Isn't it their right? Nighttime was the real action when lots of relatives and neighbors arrived our house with lots of kids along with them. I was sitting and watching them. They divided themselves into two groups, one group represents the Jews and the other represents the Arabs.

It was a real drama, they acted out everything, almost everything- shooting, throwing stones, beating, arresting. These little kids even remembered the funeral where one of them falls martyr, and they were all chanting in one voice (Allah Akbar).

If you were there watching these small angels crying for their "martyred friend", you would have never stopped crying the whole night. These small kids are turning out to be very violent, even with their dads, moms, teachers and friends. When I ask my small brother to go and do his homework he immediately replies, "How the hell do I guarantee that I'm going to reach school tomorrow, and even if I get there, the teachers won't come? I don't want to go school tomorrow". It's the same case with my sister, I don't want to force them, it is enough what they have been facing for the last few months.

My next-door neighbor's son (8 years old) is seriously thinking of committing suicide. "Is it my fault that my daddy lost his job? If it isn't, then why the hell does he have a short temper and beats me every single day? Why the hell does he want me to be perfect when nothing is perfect in our lives? I am fed up with this life." he says. "The teachers have become frustrated from getting to school via the bypass roads, the parents are frustrated with being unemployed, and the army is shooting at us... what are we supposed to do??" says another kid.

Dear friends, in brief, these kids need to be supported, need to be listened to. If not, we are honestly losing the entire up and coming generation. This topic needs to be considered seriously, lots of measures need to be taken to help them, at least that is what I believe...