The agonies of Palestinian children

It's 12 o'clock. Can you guess what it means? It means that at least one child died in Gaza in the past hour. Well that's the info the UN gave in their latest report regarding the war between Israel and the Palestinians.

Over the past few weeks, the world's focus has been on two territories, one is a state and the other a people struggling for statehood. They are located in the Middle East.

The smaller of these two territories belongs to the ancient nation of Palestinians. This land hosts a small strip known as Gaza. Gaza is located to the east of the Mediterranean and is bordered by Egypt and Israel. It consists of a land area half the size of greater Dhaka. With a population of 1.8 million, it has long been a victim of aggression and mass destruction perpetrated by the neighbouring Israel.

A child is born innocent. They are born without any trace of evil or deceit in them. Each child who has died in the recent brutal onslaught on Gaza deserves to rest in eternal bliss. As we learn about these Israeli savageries unleashed on Palestinian children, we keep bleeding inside far away in Bangladesh. Perhaps these innocent babies and teenagers and their parents are among the most helpless in the world today.

Most of these children know little about the harsh realities the elders are facing now in Palestine. They need not to. Theirs is the age of growing up in an environment of pure love and peace. But they have been made to witness blood, flames and bomb attacks on buildings. In the midst of these destructive activities, many children are dying, with others groaning in hospitals after being injured in explosions.  When an Israeli attack takes place, maybe they carry out routine schedules --- doing home tasks, playing in a field, or sleeping in their mothers' lap.

Armed conflicts like this target women and children systematically, with the final goal of destroying a nation. This is what the Israeli army has let loose on the Palestinians. Those children who can escape death in these aggressions have to go on with a traumatised life later. Many Palestinian children run the risk of becoming physically disabled and mentally challenged. In every single protracted war, mankind loses a vulnerable generation altogether. For example, in the Syrian civil war around 2 million children became victims of the conflict.

Over the last few decades, many people  have raised their voice against the killing of helpless boys and girls in the armed conflicts around the world. Among them is Graca Machel, the former Minister for Education in Mozambique, who said, "War violates every right of a child - the right to life, the right to be with family and community, the right to health, the right to the development of personality and the right to be nurtured and protected."  In the recent past, Pope Francis expressed his deep concern and called on the warring parties in the Middle East to put an end to the violence which is wounding and killing countless children.

Recent developments in warfare have significantly heightened the dangers for children. During the last decade, it is estimated that a large number of children have been killed; 4-5 million physically disabled, 12 million children left homeless, more than 1 million orphaned or separated from their parents and around 10 million children psychologically traumatised.

All these figures are increasing. By the time this article is published, more children will become homeless, killed or maimed.

When we started having history lessons at school, the first thing our teacher said to us was that the point of learning history was to learn from the mistakes people made in the past, and not to repeat those mistakes. Right from that time we started learning about the crustaceous period to that of Homo erectus to civilisations and battles, the two World Wars etc. These words echoed in our classroom. But against the backdrop of the current world situation in terms of war and mankind, we sometimes feel that these words related to history were never uttered outside the classroom. We feel inclined to believe that the leaders of the countries like that of Israel never attended history classes at school.

History has taught us something unique: the more civilised we become, the more barbaric we get. The more we know about science the more acts of destruction we take recourse to. As we have learnt about the benefits of nuclear energy, we are exploring the newer destructive possibilities of it.

After the devastation wrought by World War-I, the League of Nations was formed. The League of Nations was a body of nations, whose main function was to provide a forum for resolving international disputes and make sure war did not break out on the earth again. But mankind has defied the laws and history witnessed World War-II. Thereafter, the United Nations (UN) replaced the ineffective League of Nations. The function of the UN was to promote peace, security, and economic development. Other than the UN and its bodies, many non-government international organisations exist in today's world to promote peace and human rights such as Save the Children, Oxfam, Red Cross, Action Aid, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.  

Despite the never-ending efforts put in by these organisations, the strength of the superpowers has a critical role in ensuring equality and fairness in all parts of the world. On a number of occasions they have disappointed us. These developed and mighty countries are at times seen working only for their own economic or geopolitical interests. For example, in the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinians, the Western powers, despite knowing everything, are indirectly backing Israel, though also condemning the Israeli atrocities.

The superpowers like to take advantage of the countries in wars by getting involved in the trading of war weapons, post-war reconstruction, occupation of valuable resource grounds and establishing military, political and economic controls.

The wars and conflicts in the Middle East, especially that involving Iraq-Iran, Syria, and lately, the Israeli attack on the Palestinians in Gaza, are a pointer to it.  

Against this backdrop, it is now time to stop and think for a moment about what Israel is doing to the innocent Palestinian children. The children do not understand wars, or why they occur. It's their time to have the first taste of the world. In place of the chirp of birds, the Palestinian children wake up in the morning with the deafening sounds of bombs and shells. This is a kind of war crime against.  

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