Children Everywhere have Rights

Introduction

Learners have the opportunity to consider what daily life is like for children on both sides of the conflict and how they have hopes and dreams just like them.

Learning Intention: I am learning about the hopes of children in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.

Success Criteria: I can describe similarities and differences in the lives and hopes of Palestinian and Israeli children.

Preparation: Copies of case studies. Room organised for cooperative learning.

Activity 1

Possible answers for Venn diagram

Palestinian Both Israeli

Wish that life could be easier

Locked inside when there is a curfew

Must leave for school very early in the morning to get through the checkpoints

Many families are separated from each other as they can’t cross the checkpoints

Want peace

Don’t know much about the war but want the fighting to stop

Afraid

Don’t want to be hurt or to hurt others

Don’t know people from the other community

Have families and friends

Want to do well in school

Don’t always agree with their parents or siblings

Have hopes, dreams and fears

Guards at school

Afraid Palestinians will blow them up

Have gas masks to protect them

Must join the army

Believe it would be dangerous to go into Palestinian land

CASE STUDIES – Answer sheet

    1. Mona
      1. Is Mona Israeli or Palestinian?
        Palestinian.
      2. What happens to Mona during a curfew?
        She is locked inside and has nothing to do but fight with her brothers and sisters.
      3. What does Mona want to do?
        She wants to go to school and to live in peace.
      4. Why do the soldiers scare her?
        Soldiers scare her as she believes they will shoot you even if you have done nothing wrong.
      5. What does she think of Israeli children?
        They think she is not as good as them.
      6. How will she feel when peace comes?
        She will be happy as she will be able to go anywhere she wants without having to cross a checkpoint.
    2. Gill
      1. Is Gill Israeli or Palestinian?
        Gill is Israeli.
      2. What happened to the guard at her school?
        The guard was killed by a bomb somewhere away from the school.
      3. Why is there a guard at her school?
        She believes the guards are there to keep the Palestinians from blowing her up.
      4. Why does she feel scared?
        She feels the guards will not be able to protect her.
      5. Why does she have a gas mask?
        So that she can breathe in the event that gas is dropped.
    3. Michael
      1. Is Michael Israeli or Palestinian?
        Palestinian.
      2. Is he Muslim, Christian or Jewish?
        He is Christian.
      3. Who does he live with?
        He lives in a boys home in Jerusalem.
      4. Where is his father?
        His father is in America.
      5. Why are Palestinian families separated?
        He believes Palestinian families have to live apart from each other because of the war.
    4. Gul
      1. Is Gul Israeli or Palestinian?
        Israeli.
      2. Why does he like living in Jerusalem?
        He likes living in Jerusalem as he thinks it is the centre of everything in Israel and there is a lot to do.
      3. Gul’s mother doesn’t want him to join the army. Why not?
        Gul’s mother brought him up to be kind to people and she thinks going into the army will change the kind of person he is.
      4. What does his sister think of the occupation (of Palestinian land by Israel)?
        She thinks the occupation is bad and doesn’t want to be part of it.
Boundaries and Events: How Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory Became What they are Today