There Is No "Peacetime" in Palestine

Unreported in the mainstream media, Palestinian children continue to be killed by Israeli forces

By Justina Poskeviciute

As we assess the year, it is difficult to miss a gruesome piece of information: that 2022 has been the deadliest for Palestinian children in the West Bank in 15 years.

This is what Save The Children reports on November 23, 2022:

The number of children killed by Israeli security forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank has doubled this year to 34, following the shooting of two teenage boys in a consecutive day.

Tragically, this number has increased since then, and it doesn’t include 16 children killed by Israeli bombardment in Gaza this summer.

Although rarely reported on in the mainstream media, Palestinian children are more than statistics: they are a new generation of Palestinian people who are growing up in a hostile, traumatizing, and literally deadly environment.

What does that mean?

First, this environment is not here by accident. These are actual policies designed by the Israeli government. The killings, the detentions, the ethnic cleansing policies that target Palestinian children are all part of the system, not its unintended consequences.

Second, it’s a reminder that there is no “peacetime” in Palestine. There is no peace without justice, and what justice can there be when Palestinian children and adults are living under a system of apartheid, settler colonialism, and a brutal military occupation needed to sustain it all.

As long as our governments keep silent and complicit or, even worse, keep on supporting Israel and its policies, Palestinian children will continue to be deprived of their childhoods.

Because remember: there is no peacetime in Palestine.

Justina Poskeviciute

Justina is CODEPINK’s Engagement Manager and a freelance writer. You can also find her on Spotify and Twitter.

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