It goes without saying that the occupation exacts a terrible toll on all the Palestinian people and especially those in the camps and indeed on all young people. The latter groups are particularly targetted by the Israeli forces which is reflected starkly in the appalling casualty figures with respect to younger people and children in Palestine.
The occupation as we have been told on so many occasions attempts to steal the childhood of Palestinians. Children and young people are not only killed, wounded and disabled. Many more experience the loss of their brothers and sisters and parents through imprisonment. They witness in their homes, schools, and play areas, the shootings and beatings of Israeli soldiers. They experience the arbritrary violence of soldiers who raid their homes, rip up their belongings and furniture usually in the early hours of the morning. Then there are the checkpoints with all their routine threats and daily provocations.
It is an environment in which nowhere is secure and safe. Where you worry about the safety of your friends and family especially when they leave their home. Will they return? Will they be arrested? Will they be hurt? It is an environment of total warfare at the physical and emotional level. Where your enemy denies your fundamental right to live safely and even your identity and history.
A core aspect of the Palestinian resistance is to do whatever they can to minimise the damage of this oppression and to sustain what they term as ’steadfastness’. It is a resistance which takes many forms, and is reflected in all aspects of daily life from the child centredness of family life and to an incredible range of social and cultural activity, from drama, music, sport to summer picnics and trips.
In the camps, where the oppression is especially severe the work of centres such as Yaffa in the Balata camp and the Childrens Centre in Almari are crucial. All the workers in these centres, the majority of whom are young adults and volunteers are clear that their work is informed by resistance and to provide through a wide range of activities the personal and collective psychological resources to overcome the impact of occupation in all its forms.
The workers live in the camps, have a shared experience with the youngsters they work with. They are trusted. They know the pressures on the children and young people. They know the roots of the pressure on their lives and how and in what ways these pressures have to be released. They recognise the importance of knowing your history, and of recognising how the occupation seeks to destroy your hopes and dreams and your security. They develop activities which allow for joy, laughter, release, and build solidarity and care. Agonies and hurt are thereby shared and not left as a burden on the individual alone. To keep going, to live, to develop are all seen and felt as resistance, as the deepest possible indication that they can never be defeated whatever the short term problems. They won’t go away. They won’t stop living and laughing and loving. They have the one invincible tool which the Israelis seek daily to destroy. They are steadfast!
