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Palestinian Children in Gaza
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- There are 2,150,000 children in the occupied Palestinian
territory.
- Every year approximately 700 Palestinian children from the
West Bank are prosecuted in Israeli military courts after being arrested,
interrogated and detained by the Israeli army.
- There are about 800,000 children in Gaza; the majority of them have never travelled outside of Gaza.
- The Separation Wall dividing the West Bank from Jerusalem denies thousands of Palestinian children the right to the city.
- There are about 800,000 children in Gaza; the majority of them have never travelled outside of Gaza.
- The Separation Wall dividing the West Bank from Jerusalem denies thousands of Palestinian children the right to the city.
Findings:
- Results of a baseline survey conducted by Save the Children
Sweden and East Jerusalem-YMCA indicated that all adult ex-detainees and 90.6%
of child ex-detainees suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Moreover,
ex-detainee children in general were at higher risk, in comparison with a
standardized sample, for all symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,
including introversive and thought problems, anxiety/depression, and
withdrawal, while adult ex detainees were at high risk of mental disorders in
comparison with a non-patient sample.
- Results indicated that 65.2% of younger ex-detainees suffer
from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms.
- Younger child ex-detainees (15 years of age) suffer from more
severe trauma due to their separation from their families at such a critical
age. Results indicate that intervention was very much affective in reducing the
PTSD symptoms of beneficiaries.
- The majority of ex-detainee children and adults mentioned face
family, social, financial and emotional difficulties after their release.
Family dynamics worsen after the child’s release, parents become more
overprotective and authoritarian, and children become less communicative, more
nervous and unable to stand by their family limits. Parents were bothered by
their children’s mood and behaviour and mostly bothered by the child’s
performance at school/work. Interestingly, social behaviour was the most
satisfying area, which may indicate a better social functioning than other
demanding functioning areas. In general, the data indicates high parenting
stress due to the parents’ preoccupation with their own life issues, like
health, work, and mood problems.
The Post–trauma rehabilitation of ex-detainee children
programme aims at facilitating the re-integration process of
child ex-detainees into their community through enhancing their educational and
vocational lives through providing educational vocational support.
From Save The Children Sweden website
