AL-BIREH, West Bank -- Areen, my 6-year-old daughter, has been unusually quiet. This normally energetic, very talkative child could not fully understand why school was canceled on Saturday after she was dressed and ready to go. On Sunday, during the news broadcast of the death of 12-year-old Mohammed Aldura, who was murdered in cold blood by Israeli occupation forces, she burst out with watery eyes questioning, "How did they reach us?" In her innocence, she actually believed that we had rid ourselves of the Israeli military occupation.
As far as Areen could understand, the screeching ambulances that pass the front of our house every 15 minutes are carrying kids like Mohammed -- just like her -- who have been shot by Israeli troops. She remains stumped on how these Israeli soldiers reached "our neighborhood."
Areen, like many Palestinian children, is refusing to leave the house or go to sleep. When asked why, she says she fears her fate will be like that of Mohammed. When asked why she refuses to sleep, she mentions Sara Abdel Haq, the 2-year-old toddler in Nablus who was also killed by Israeli gunfire last week. She says Sara was buried while she slept. This is what she could comprehend from Sara's televised funeral.