By Hiyam Noir
On Gaza Strip, lives a young heroine, her name is Aya Masoud, she is 8 years old. Aya was born without arms. She is a fantastic girl, with a strong will and determination to survive in the most difficult situation, the hardship which for decades, has formed the lives of the Palestinian society on Gaza Strip. Born without arms, Aya have learned to use here both feats and her toes, to make it possible to manage her every day routines. Aya is very good in school, one of the best in her class. Aya is an extraordinary example of how even small children can manage to survive, under the most difficult circumstances, which are affecting their daily lives.
Despite codified international laws about the rights of the children, including the "Convention of the Rights of the Child", the Palestinian children are still paying a high price, being the innocent victims of the Israelis occupation. The many dispossessed Palestinian children. The rights of the many less fortunate, their right to protection from violence, their right to training and education while growing up, has been exposed to danger, inevitably threaten their security. The Israelis have also designed measures during the occupation of Palestinian territories, which is aimed to deprive the Palestinian children and the Palestinian youth of their rights to opportunities, to assess progress.
Palestinian children with special needs and disabled children are particularly vulnerable. The devastated Palestinian infrastructure, including the Israelis attacks with missiles and rockets on human targets, have also damaged schools and university buildings, and killed or maimed hundreds of Palestinian children and university students. In the aftermath of the Israelis destruction, the schools and universities, has been closed. Inability to reach schools and universities due to closures and mobility restrictions as well as, at times, the Israelis have used armed force, to take control over Palestinian educational facilities, then turning them into armed positions.
Against international laws and conventions, Palestinian children are held in Israeli military and civil detentions centres, with no legal representation, or parental visits. Many Palestinian children has been killed or injured, faced with permanent disabilities, some children in the occupied territories similar to Aya Masoud, in our reportage, are missing limbs, or they suffer from other physical or mental birth defects. These birth defects are also linked to factors that have devastated the Palestinian economy and also played a role, in a necessity to prevent child anemia and malnutrition.
The most devastating Israeli measures for the Palestinian society, has been and are still the curfews, the closures of the borders, the checkpoints and the Israelis incursions, which have made it difficult, and many times hart near impossible for health care professionals to make follow – up – reports to work and the medical crew in ambulances and health care vehicles to reach medical clinics or hospitals with disable patients, people with chronicle deceases, or the many seriously wounded, or delivery of humanitarian aid.
-Hiyam Noir contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.
