Jenin, occupied West Bank – The teenagers do not hesitate when asked what they aspire to be when they grow up. “Martyrs,” they say in unison, referring to the term used by Palestinians to describe anyone killed by Israelis.
But when asked what they would like to become if they were not living under Israeli occupation, a shy silence settles on the tiny living room of an apartment in the Jenin refugee camp where the seven friends, aged 14 to 18, are gathered. They have no answer.
Instead, they start to recount how they had helped Palestinian fighters respond to a major Israeli raid last week in which about 1,000 soldiers in armoured vehicles and backed by drones and missiles stormed the camp. Some say they had spied on Israeli positions and carried messages. Others made Molotov cocktails. All of them say they played their part.
“We are not afraid. We are used to this,” 17-year-old Araf says.
His comments reflect a belief among many young people in Jenin that fighting the occupation is their main purpose in life. Faced with a lack of prospects for the future, in the eyes of young people here, resistance is the only way to confront a reality in which Israeli soldiers breach their homes, arrest their parents, and even kill their friends or relatives.
This, mental health experts say, means death often becomes an all-too-real scenario.
Original from www.aljazeera.com
