April 5th marks Palestinian Child’s Day, it is not celebration rather it is a day highlighting the horrific treatment of Palestinian children by the occupying Israeli authorities. On this day in 1995, President Yasser Arafat abided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and dedicated the day as the Palestinian Child’s Day.
For Palestinian children, the commemoration reeks of hypocrisy and opportunism. On this day, despite Israel’s colonial violence and military occupation being common knowledge, Palestinian children are divested of their own reality; their violation at the hands of Israelis is normalized; and their dreams of a normal life are generalized without context.
The Palestinian Children Day aims to highlight the difference between Palestinian children and their peers as their vulnerability is ignored by Israeli forces on a daily basis.
It aims to attract the world’s attention to the challenges they face as their rights to safety and education are chipped away. Meanwhile, Access to education is difficult for children who live in refugee camps and villages that do not have a school.
