There is not a lot to say about working in Jalazone camp because not a lot happens here. The people live in extreme poverty and life is evidently difficult. The UNRWA has a strong presence here. Food aid is handed out periodically, but there is often not enough to go around. Last year the U.N built a school for over 1000 children at the camp, its gleaming white walls stand in stark contrast to the filth of Jalazone.
I meet with the headmaster of the school who tells me that before it was built the children here could obtain little or no state education. The typical class size is 50-60 children, almost double the English maximum. I ask if the school struggles with funding: “We have enough to pay salaries but we do not have enough to buy new equipment. Because of the recession countries are giving less money to the UN so aid budgets are being cut.” I ask if the recession is having a direct impact on the lives of Palestinians. “Undoubtedly yes. The people here are poorer than they were a year ago, there are no new projects for infrastructure or education, housing projects have stopped and money is running out.”
The children are learning English as a second language and tell me of their desires to travel to the USA, Amsterdam and London. The majority I speak to are 13 and 14, I ask them how they feel about Israel. “We are angry about what they do to us. But most Israeli people are OK. It is the soldiers we hate.” I ask if they hate Israel as a country: “No, we are angry, but we do not hate.” Being younger than most of the people I speak to, I expected them to be far more reactionary, but in truth despite the squalor of their surroundings they bear remarkably little animosity to Israel. One tells me the story of what happened to his friend. “My friend was 16 and was playing in the street with a football last year. It got dark and he was near Beit El (the Israeli settlement) and so the soldiers shot him in the chest. They left him in the road for 2 hours until is family came looking for him.” I ask if he survived: “Yes, but last year they killed 3 teenagers from Jalazone.” I ask how often the soldiers kill young people. “Across all of Palestine, everyday people are killed.”
I meet with the headmaster of the school who tells me that before it was built the children here could obtain little or no state education. The typical class size is 50-60 children, almost double the English maximum. I ask if the school struggles with funding: “We have enough to pay salaries but we do not have enough to buy new equipment. Because of the recession countries are giving less money to the UN so aid budgets are being cut.” I ask if the recession is having a direct impact on the lives of Palestinians. “Undoubtedly yes. The people here are poorer than they were a year ago, there are no new projects for infrastructure or education, housing projects have stopped and money is running out.”
The children are learning English as a second language and tell me of their desires to travel to the USA, Amsterdam and London. The majority I speak to are 13 and 14, I ask them how they feel about Israel. “We are angry about what they do to us. But most Israeli people are OK. It is the soldiers we hate.” I ask if they hate Israel as a country: “No, we are angry, but we do not hate.” Being younger than most of the people I speak to, I expected them to be far more reactionary, but in truth despite the squalor of their surroundings they bear remarkably little animosity to Israel. One tells me the story of what happened to his friend. “My friend was 16 and was playing in the street with a football last year. It got dark and he was near Beit El (the Israeli settlement) and so the soldiers shot him in the chest. They left him in the road for 2 hours until is family came looking for him.” I ask if he survived: “Yes, but last year they killed 3 teenagers from Jalazone.” I ask how often the soldiers kill young people. “Across all of Palestine, everyday people are killed.”
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