Report: Palestinian Children ‘Feel Abandoned’ by World

AL-QUDS (Dispatches) – Four out of five Palestinian children whose homes were demolished by the Zionist regime in the West Bank and East al-Quds said they “felt abandoned” by the world, a new report has revealed.
The findings, published by Save the Children, come as Palestinian residents of the East al-Quds neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan are at risk of imminent eviction from their homes, pending decisions by the Zionist regime’s court.
Save the Children spoke to 217 Palestinian families whose homes were demolished by the regime over the last ten years.
The charity found that 80 percent of children surveyed felt their parents would not be able to protect them and said they felt “powerlessness and hopelessness about the future”.
The majority of the children surveyed by the charity also displayed high rates of distress, including feelings of sadness, fear, depression and anxiety.
“I still feel traumatized by the soldiers and their dogs attacking and injuring my father [during the demolition],” Ghassan, 15, told Save the Children.
“I have nightmares about the bulldozers ripping away every stone in our house, and the sounds of the explosions still haunt me.”
These findings come as Palestinian communities in the Occupied East al-Quds neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and Beita fight possible expulsion from lands they have lived and worked in for generations.
In March, a UN agency warned that the Zionist regime was increasing home demolitions of Palestinians living in the West Bank.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Palestinian Territories (OCHA) said in a report released on Tuesday that the regime’s actions resulted in the displacement of 305 Palestinians, including 172 children. At least 435 people also had their livelihoods or access to services affected.
The agency also noted that so far in 2021, the monthly average of Palestinian structures targeted represents a 65 percent increase compared with the monthly average in 2020.
Since 1967, the occupying regime has demolished 28,000 Palestinian homes across the West Bank and East al-Quds, according to the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions.
Save the Children believes the demolitions have uprooted at least 6,000 Palestinian children over the last 12 years.