The image of a lifeless Syrian infant, Aylan Kurdi, that washed up on a Turkish beach has focused the attention of the world on the plight of children. Aylan and most of his family drowned while fleeing Syrian violence. But children in Gaza and the West Bank can’t flee the violence by Israel terrorists. Four year old Ali Saad Dawabsheh was burned to death in an Israeli terrorist attack recently. While Israelis say they want to help Syrian children, they have turned their backs on their violence against Palestinian children
By Mohammed Asad
Mohammad AsadThe images of the lifeless body of Aylan Kurdi which washed up on a beach in Turkey as he and his family tried to flee the violence and conflict in Syria caused people around the world to take notice of the plight of refugees and especially children who are often victims of regional conflict.
The images struck a cord with children in the Gaza Strip, children that have been targeted for violence by the Israeli Defense Forces, Israeli’s heavily armed and brutal assault military. During the 2014 Israel war on the Gaza Strip, nearly 500 children under the age of 18 were killed, many intentionally shot by Israeli soldiers.
This week, Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip showed solidarity with Aylan Kurdi and the movement to protect refugees and children. No child anywhere needs more protection from violence than the children of the Gaza Strip, which has been placed in a military embargo by Israel that prevents food and necessities from entering from the outside world.
The issue is extremely sensitive to Palestinians especially in the wake of the murder of a children by Israeli terrorists recently.
An 18-month-old Palestinian boy has burned to death in July 2015 by Israeli Jewish settlers who set fire to the baby’s family house in Duma, a village south of Nablus city in the Israeli military occupied West Bank.
The parents of Ali Saad Dawabsheh and his four-year-old brother were also injured in the attack. The baby’s father died earlier and this week the baby’s mother died from the Israeli terrorist attack.
Israeli terrorism goes unreported in the world media. The United Nations reported recently that there have been more than 120 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians just in the Israeli military occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2015. Few of the attacks have been taken seriously by the Israelis and even fewer have been prosecuted.
The Israeli news media, which lives to defend Israel, has downplayed terrorist attacks by Jews and exaggerated any violence attributed to Palestinians.
These are photos from the protest by the children of the Gaza Strip this week.
photographer Mohammed Asad's photo of Dalia Khalifa won an award in March 2015 at a competition organised by the UN.
'Unbreakable' - is the photo of 9yr old Dalia Khalifa, taken at Al-Shifa Hospital on Aug 9th, 2014. Dalia was badly injured in an Israeli air strike during Operation 'Protective Edge'.
'Unbreakable' is the Grand Jury Winner in the photography competition, organised by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Middle East and North Africa (UN OCHA).
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Mohammed Asad's home in Shujaiyya was destroyed by Israeli missiles, mortars and tank fire on Friday August 1, 2014 while he was documenting the Israeli massacre of civilians in the Gaza Strip. He is now living in temporary housing as he scrambles to find Internet access to share his photographs when possible.]
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