Growing up angry in Gaza_4341

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"They are surrounded by violence, violations of human rights, poverty. Put all this in a big box, close it, shake it up and imagine what kind of new generation is growing up here,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login," he says.
In a town garage, "Smile Again," a Palestinian non-governmental organisation, organises activities and therapy for neighborhood children.
Yazid El-Shinbari, 12, sits with a "Top Gun" hat pulled to his eyebrows and says that he is "a prisoner. In Gaza,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, but also in the house because my parents don't want me to go out to the street."
They grow up in frustration, anguish, anger, poverty and hate for their Jewish neighbours.
Dr Sami Owaida heads one such center.
"The symptoms —anxiety, fear, rebellious behavior, refusal to leave the house — they need to be protected and their parents cannot do so. For a child, this is terrible," Owaida says.
Most of Gaza's minors — 840,000 out of a population of 1.4 million — have never left their narrow piece of land stretched out on the Mediterranean coast, access to which is strictly controlled by Israel.
Gaza's northern town of Beit Hanun — a favorite spot for militants to launch rockets into the Jewish state — has seen its share and more of Israeli soldiers. More than 80 people died in an Israeli offensive in November.
Arij Nassir, a 13-year-old girl with a serious look,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, recounts how she passes her hours watching Israeli television, especially programs for children. "They play on clean beaches. I've seen gardens, games, even a zoo... It seems very far from here."
"The kids today never see Israelis as human beings. All they see are soldiers, in tanks or helicopters. For them, they are just killing machines.
A whistling noise sounds outside. The children's faces brighten. "A Qassam, a Qassam! Bravo!" they cheer, referring to the homemade rockets fired by Gaza militants into Israel.
"In the streets, they play stone throwers against the soldier. The soldiers are cruel, the stone throwers intrepid. The game is called 'Arabs and Jews.'"
Mental health hospitals in Gaza say more and more parents are coming in, overwhelmed by the traumas suffered by their children.
"I often go to Israel for medical conferences," he says. "When I tell some adolescents in Gaza that all Israelis aren't monsters, they treat me like a traitor," he says.
Bassam Nasser, 37,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, director of the Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, was one of the rare Palestinians in Gaza who was allowed to study at a university in Tel Aviv.
Growing up angry in Gaza
"I remember Israelis visiting Gaza in the 1970s to have their cars fixed, or to buy furniture because it's cheaper here. And I remember my friends working summer jobs in Israel."
"The Israeli doctors and researches whom I meet know that it is dangerous to see a new generation grow up with such hate next to them... We talk about it, but what can you do?"
For the children of Gaza, prisoners of the narrow coastal strip surrounded by the Israeli army, the outside world is nothing but fury, violence and tragedy — a menacing universe that they fear.
"My generation knows Israel because we used to work in Israel, so we are ready to make peace," he says. "We know that Israelis are human beings."
On this particular day, around 30 children, five of them girls, sit in a circle. The theme of the day's session is written on a pink piece of paper taped to the wall: "How to protect myself."
Olaa El-Shinbari, the director of the centre, says that "the children are becoming more and more aggressive, at a younger age. They argue and fight between themselves, threaten each other with death for nothing."