The Israeli government uses illegal collective punishments to cause daily hardship and suffering to the Palestinian people, these include regular unannounced curfews which last for days or weeks at a time, arbitrary arrest and detention or innocent men, women and children – some of whom are held for months with no charges ever being laid against them – assassinations, demolitions and destruction of personal and public property. All of which is illegal under International Law.

“I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at roadblocks. It reminded me of what happened to us in South Africa, where they battered us and heckled us, and took joy in humiliating us. My heart aches.” Desmond Tutu 2002.

“An occupying power must NOT destroy private or public property...” IV Geneva Convention

“No person may be punished for an offence they have not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.” Article 33 IV Geneva Convention

Checkpoints

Israeli checkpoints surround all Palestinian cities and many of the villages and refugee camps. Every day hundreds of thousands have to queue, often for hours, to ask permission from Israeli soldiers to go to work, school, and the shops, to travel around their own country, to access medical services and to carry on a normal life. The checkpoints are often closed for no reason, people are refused passage, and they are used to harrasss and detain medical personnel. On examination days many students have been denied access to their school or university missing vital exams. Women have given birth in the dirt, leading to too many deaths of mothers and children, and thousands of people have been assaulted and murdered by the soldiers, with many more thousands illegally detained. These checkpoints are illegal under International Law.

They Burn The Flower by Areej Mohammed, 15

...and stole the dream of all adj!!! (adjective, meaning all the describing words you can think of).

Translation of the written Arabic:
They cut the flowers
The flower bud said it would grow into a revolution
Then they cut the bud
The flower said that it will grow again from it’s roots
After they cut the roots the flower said ‘I have kept the seeds to this day and my revenge is reserved inside the soil and tomorrow we will see what happens’.
How can the screams of birth come from the silence of tombs?
The sun will be cold but the buds of flowers will not be cold

To the left of the chick in the egg shell: Where will peace come from? Where is the international conscience?

The Sleeping Countries

Translated:

from the top: ‘we call them all the time...’
from the bottom: ‘...and they are sleeping’

From right to left, top to bottom: Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Morocco and Palestine

Alaa

I am 17 years old and live with my parents and my four younger sisters, who are 15, 10, 7 and 4.

My father was shot at his right hand by Israeli soldiers at the beginning of the last Intifada, in 2001, and cannot use it properly yet. My mother, during the first Intifada, was shot on the left shoulder by an Israeli settler.

I was arrested one year ago and spent three days in an Israeli prison, during which they repeatedly questioned me.

I am a high school student and have been volunteering for one year at the Palestinian Medical Relief Society during emergency aid operations.

I have witnessed many invasions by Israeli military.

Since the Occupation started, me and my family have not had any chance to go out of the city. Living here means feeling like you are in a prison. Often students cannot go to school and pass their exams because the soldiers and tanks are in town.