Palestine: Breastfeeding resilience at birth

I used to see his tiny hands covering his ears so that the sound wouldn't pierce his head and  the violet. Oh, the violet that overflowed from the pupil of his eye. It was a terrifying scene embodied in a small form, a sight of a child that never leaves my mind. Every part of his body trembled, and apparently, even his mother's embrace wasn't enough to make him calmer.

At that moment, I understood how tragedy is born and how things die slowly, steadily.

I wonder, and every human soul wonders, and perhaps questioning hurts more than answering. But for this reason, are wars waged? So that the sound of killing is less painful than his trembling echo.

What matters most to impact a child's life? Security, bonding, proper nutrition, and a dignified life. 

This is a brief overview of what Thomas Weisner discussed in one of his anthropology lectures, and these basics he talked about seem to be more prevalent today in Western countries than in the Arab world, specifically in the stolen land of Palestine.

For the Palestinian child, it's either to die in his mother's womb or survive to suckle patience from his mother’s breasts. It's ugly to force a child to suckle patience without guilt or any justification. the upbringing of the child begins with fear and panic attacks. He learns how to survive, finally realizing that living amidst war is an attempt to survive and all his efforts to survive are mere trials!

What could we possibly wish from all this psychological traumas? And perhaps they are more damaging than physical pain. These true life traumas can be named as a hungry, bloodthirsty wolf that kills all meanings of life until fear and hostility lead to depression and a desire for suicide.

I read in a newspaper, “they died, those who survived."

This is the reality: to make a child suffer from the beginning of his life until he grows up to be a disturbed man, always anxious and delayed in mental and physical growth. He cannot integrate into society, even if he survives physically. He becomes a self-destructive, identity-deprived human being! He deserves to live in peace, and this is his basic right denied.

As for the occupying power, the best way to control a land is to kill its children physically or spiritually, producing a generation that embraces psychological traumas, whether they appear directly or the symptoms persist in the long run.

George Orwell in his well-known book "1984" said, "How does one man impose his authority on another, Winston?" Winston thought and then said, "By making him suffer." Today's world seeks to raise a child correctly to produce a cohesive generation. But what if war is the main axis for building a child's personality, meaning his eyes feed on cruelty, and he "suffers" a word that cradles him since childhood?

Only then will he grow up disturbed or grow up as a monster. Today's criminals were children who struggled with life instead of receiving love and security until all the poems of life turned into sorrows, and every sorrow is incurable. It stores in the mind until it appears in terrible ways that one can't comprehend! And what do we expect from the sorrows of war except psychological pain and a soul slaughtered with all the ruin it faces?

Statistics, science, and also the World Health Organization have revealed that the most deadly diseases in the world, responsible for 6% of total deaths, are cardiovascular diseases. But this doesn't apply to those who feed on patience - the Palestinian children.  Simply, if the soul is not choked to death, it will be choked by fear, nothing else.

a child is born, and his nationality is written (Palestinian), then all synonyms of peace burn in his soul. When the soul burns, the world will continue to pay the price to extinguish the fire, but nothing survives; all that remains is attempts to treat the ashes.

Written in Arabic by :   Zahraa Jafar

Translated to English by :  Ajer Hashim and Tarneem Maitham

Translated to Kurdish by : Ajer Hashim

Poster Design by: Ali Mohammed