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Military Resistance 12D1

Upon Leaving The Army Last Summer, He Filed A Claim With The VA, Seeking Medical Care And Financial Compensation
He Has Not Yet Received A Response
Its Ridiculous That Ive Been Waiting Seven Months Just To Be Examined By A Doctor Absolutely Ridiculous

Nearly 90 percent performed actions in Iraq or Afghanistan that made them feel proud, yet only 35 percent believe both wars were worth fighting. March 29, 2014 by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post [Excerpts] More than half of the 2.6 million Americans dispatched to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan struggle with physical or mental health problems stemming from their service, feel disconnected from civilian life and believe the government is failing to meet the needs of this generations veterans, according to a poll conducted by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation. The veterans are often frustrated with the services provided to them by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Pentagon and other government agencies. Almost 60 percent say the VA is doing an only fair or poor job in addressing the problems faced by veterans, and half say the military is lagging in its efforts to help them transition to civilian life, which has been difficult for 50 percent of those who have left active service. Overall, nearly 1.5 million of those who served in the wars believe the needs of their fellow vets are not being met by the government. When I raised my right hand and said, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, when I gave them everything I could, I expect the same in return, said Christopher Steavens, a former Army staff sergeant who was among 819 vets polled. He served in Iraq in 2003 and in Kuwait two years ago, where he was injured in a construction accident. Upon leaving the Army last summer, he filed a claim with the VA, seeking medical care and financial compensation. He has not yet received a response. Its ridiculous that Ive been waiting seven months just to be examined by a doctor absolutely ridiculous, he said. Nearly 90 percent performed actions in Iraq or Afghanistan that made them feel proud, yet only 35 percent believe both wars were worth fighting. More than 600,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have become partially or totally disabled from physical or psychological wounds are receiving lifelong financial support from the government, a figure that could grow substantially as new ailments are diagnosed and the VA processes a large claims backlog.

MILITARY NEWS

Commanding Officer Of The Navys El Centro Air Field Removed From His Job In July
He Was Getting So Familiar With Junior Sailors Especially Women That Other Officials Had To Keep A Watchful Eye On Him At The Base Club
He Tried To Coerce His Underlings Into Not Speaking To An Investigator Looking Into Allegations

Capt. Devon Jones U.S. Navy photo March 24, 2014 By Jeanette Steele, The San Diego Union-Tribune [Excerpt] The commanding officer of the Navys El Centro air field was removed from his job in July because he created a bad office climate, including getting so familiar with junior sailors especially women that other officials had to keep a watchful eye on him at the base club. A Navy report on Capt. Devon Jones does not substantiate allegations that the commanding officer groped women, but it does conclude that he intimidated the office with confrontational behavior and that he tried to coerce his underlings into not speaking to an investigator looking into allegations.

At least one subordinate told the investigator that working for Jones required a daily Xanax or Prozac to cut the stress. The report was released on Monday to U-T San Diego in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. It concludes that Jones -- a former F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet pilot who wears the Distinguished Flying Cross allowed stress over a bad marriage to compromise his ability to lead effectively. The commanding officer would often complain for up to two hours a day about his frustrations and about sports in a way that delayed the work of his staff. He would also micromanage them -- including mowing the grass on base himself, because he disliked the way it looked, and insisting that the bases bowling alley be repainted a color that he approved. Capt. Jones should be provided support and time to work through the issues in a way that wont affect those whom he is responsible to lead, the investigator concluded. But he also recommended that Jones receive an oral reprimand and a letter of caution in his file. Additionally, the investigation disclosed an unrelated problem at the El Centro base, home of the Navys Blue Angels flying team. Female sailors found cameras hidden in phony air fresheners in their barracks bathrooms. The investigator also recommended immediate action to improve security at the barracks. Jones has been reassigned to the staff at the Naval Air Forces command in Coronado.

Odierno Babbles Stupid Meaningless Bullshit When Soldiers Ask How Come High Officers Get Trivial Punishments For Serious Criminal Offenses:

They Seem To Get A Slap On The Wrist While Im Expected To Discharge Soldiers For Positive UAs, APFT Failure, Weight Problems And The Legal Issues
Mar. 24, 2014 By Kathleen Curthoys, Staff report; Army Times [Excerpts] Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno answers questions from soldiers Friday during his two-hour virtual town hall meeting. A company-grade officer asked, I would like to know how Im supposed to maintain my own motivation to stay in (and that of my company) when we have numerous field grades and GOs in various legal/court-martial situations, yet they seem to get a slap on the wrist while Im expected to discharge Soldiers for positive UAs, APFT failure, weight problems and the legal issues. Several other people echoed that question, some mentioning the sentencing the same week of Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair. Odierno replied: I will tell you that it is a small fraction of our senior leaders involved in this behavior. The large majority of our senior leaders are maintaining high standards and are great examples of leadership. It is incumbent on all of us to continue to enforce the Profession of Arms by sustaining high standards and holding people accountable.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose. Frederick Douglass, 1852

What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. -- Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787

Putins Justification For Occupying Part Of Ukraine, And Threatening To Invade The Entire Country, Has Been To Save The Russians There From The Fascists
Did The Current Ukrainian Authorities Come To Power In A Fascist Coup?
As Everyone Who Has Followed These Events Knows, The Mass Protests Against The Yanukovych

Regime That Began In November Involved Millions Of People, From All Walks Of Life
Plenty Of People In The West Now Spread Russian Propaganda, Sometimes For Money, Sometimes From Ignorance, And Sometimes For Reasons Best Known To Themselves
March 7, 2014 by Timothy Snyder, NYbooks.com/ [Excerpts] The Russian invasion and occupation of Ukraines Crimean peninsula is a disaster for the European peacetime order. But more critical still is just what Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks he is doing. The clues are there before us, in the language of the Kremlins non-stop propaganda campaign in the Russian media. The repeatedly recycled categories are the fascist coup in Ukraine and the Russian citizens who suffer under it. Putins justification for occupying part of Ukraine, and threatening to invade the entire country, has been to save the Russians there from the fascists. Did the current Ukrainian authorities come to power in a fascist coup? As everyone who has followed these events knows, the mass protests against the Yanukovych regime that began in November involved millions of people, from all walks of life. After the regime tried and failed to put down the protests by shooting protestors from rooftops on February 20, EU negotiators arranged a deal whereby Yanukovych would cede power to parliament. Rather than signing the corresponding legislation, as he had committed to do, Yanukovych fled to Russia. The prime minister is a liberal conservative, one of the two deputy prime ministers is Jewish, and the governor of the important eastern province of Dnipropetrovsk is the president of the Congress of Ukrainian Jewish Organizations. Although one can certainly debate the constitutional nuances, this process was not a coup.

And it certainly was not fascist. Reducing the powers of the president, calling presidential elections, and restoring the principles of democracy are the opposite of what fascism would demand. Leaders of the Jewish community have declared their unambiguous support for the new government and their total opposition to the Russian invasion. Of the eighteen cabinet posts that have been filled in the new government, three are held by members of the far right party, Svoboda. Its leader had less than 2 percent support in a recent opinion poll one that was taken after the Russian invasion of Crimea, an event that presumably would help the nationalists. In any event, this is the grain of truth from which, according to the traditional rules of propaganda, Putins fascist coup has been concocted.

One Petition From Russian Speakers And Russians In Ukraine Asks Putin To Leave Ukrainian Citizens Alone To Solve Their Own Problems. It Has Been Signed By 140,000 People
The second conceit, that of the oppression of Russian citizens in the Ukraine, lacks even this. Over the last few months one Russian citizen has been killed in Ukraine. He was not threatened by Ukrainian protestors or by the current government. Quite the opposite. He was fighting for the Ukrainian revolution, and was killed by a snipers bullet. In any case, since Ukraine does not allow double citizenship, there are few Russian citizens resident in the country. But lets consider those that are: One notable group are the soldiers and sailors at the military base at Sevastopol. Since these are military men on a military base, they hardly need protection. Another major group are those masked Russian special-forces who are now occupying Crimea. A third are the Russians who have been bused across the border to stage pro-Russian demonstrations and beat Ukrainian students in the cities of eastern Ukraine. A final group of Russian citizens are former Ukrainian riot policemen who took part in the suppression of demonstrations. Having been rewarded for their actions with a Russian passport, they can and do travel to Russia. None of these groups, by any stretch of the imagination, could be plausibly described as a victimized minority requiring protection. Putin and others blur the category of citizenship by speaking of Russian compatriots, a category that has no legal status. By compatriots Putin means

people the Russian government claims as Russians or who, according to the Kremlin, self-identify as Russians and who therefore need its protection. This sort of argument, the need to protect the Volksgenossen, was used to significant effect by Adolf Hitler in 1938 in enunciating German claims to Austria and then to the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. Hitlers substitution of ethnicity for state borders led then to the Munich conference, appeasement, and World War II. Russian historian Andrei Zubov has developed the comparison with Nazi aggression further, likening Putins action to the Anschluss, and recalling that the Anschluss led to a war that turned against its authors. The parallel has also been noted by the chief rabbi of Ukraine. Even if the protection of Volksgenossen were legally justified, it is simply not clear who these people might be. It is true that Ukrainians speak Russian, but that does not make them Russian, any more than my writing in English makes me English. The language issue can be confusing. Ukrainian citizens are usually bilingual, in Ukrainian and Russian. Russians, like the targets of their propaganda, are rarely bilingual. So it has been all too easy to equate the capacity to speak Russian with a Russian identity that is in need of protection from Russia. Some citizens of Ukraine of course do see themselves as Russians about 17 percent of the population but this does not mean that they are subject to discrimination or indeed that they identify with the Russian state. Even in Crimea, where the emotional connections to the Ukrainian state are weakest, only 1 percent of the population identifies Russia as its homeland. In a number of recent protests, Russian-speaking Ukrainians and members of the Russian ethnic minority in eastern Ukraine have made clear they categorically reject any claim that they need Russian protection. One petition from Russian speakers and Russians in Ukraine asks Putin to leave Ukrainian citizens alone to solve their own problems. It has been signed by 140,000 people. This might seem remarkable, since everyone signing it knows that he or she will be in the bad graces of the Russian authorities if Russia completes its invasion. But it makes perfect sense. Russians in Ukraine enjoy basic political rights, whereas Russians in the Russian Federation do not. An excellent propaganda apparatus, such as the Russian one, can find ways to repeat its message over and over again in slightly different ways and formats. Plenty of people in the West now spread Russian propaganda, sometimes for money, sometimes from ignorance, and sometimes for reasons best known to themselves.

As The Chief Rabbi Of Ukraine Put It A Few Days Ago: There Were Many Differences Of Opinion Throughout The Revolution, But Today All That Is Gone Take the idea of Jewish Nazis, which must be taken on if the current Kremlin propaganda about the revolution in Kiev is to have any logical basis. The claim is that Nazis made a coup; the observable reality is that some of the people now in power are Jews. And then we evince our skepticism that Jews are Nazis or that a Nazi coup would put Jews at the top of the Ukrainian state apparatus. When the parliament of the Russian Federation (in an appropriately old-fashioned Soviet-style unanimous vote) authorized Putin to use military force throughout Ukraine, it defined the war aim as the restoration of social and political normality. This is effective rhetoric, as it slips in the implication that what is actually happening in the world, the actual politics and society of actual Ukraine, is not normal. As Putin sat slouched in his chair at his press conference, shifting between clever oneliners and contradictory constructions, he seemed to be struggling to reconcile tactics and ideology. On the one hand, he has been an extremely good tactician, far more nimble and ruthless than almost anyone with whom he deals. He carried off his plan in Crimea with panache. He broke all the rules in an act of violence that should have opened a space for the true world, the world he wants, the glorious Russian gathering of Russian lands and peoples. Yet dramatic action did not summon the envisioned new reality to life. Ukraine did not reveal itself to be a Russian land unhappily and temporarily ruled by a few fascists whose coup could be undone. It looks instead like a place where the revolutionary mood has been consolidated by a foreign invasion. As the chief rabbi of Ukraine put it a few days ago: There were many differences of opinion throughout the revolution, but today all that is gone. He continued: Were faced by an outside threat called Russia. Its brought everyone together. There are now protests against the Russian occupation throughout the country, even in the south and east, where most people watch Russian television and where the economy is closely linked to Russia.

Ukrainians who just a few days ago were in conflict with one another over their own revolution are now protesting together under the same flag. There have been violent clashes, as for example in Kharkiv, but these have been caused by busloads of Russians brought from across the border. It seems unlikely that the beatings of Ukrainian students by Russian tourists (as the Ukrainians, with typical humor, call them) will lead Ukrainians to think that they are Russian compatriots. Russian propaganda has elegantly provided a rationale for Russian tactics and articulately defined a Russian dream for Ukraine. But in the end propaganda is all that unites the tactics and the dream, and that unity turns out to be wishful. There is no actual policy, no strategy, just a talented and tortured tyrant oscillating between mental worlds that are connected only by a tissue of lies.

STUCK ON STUPID

High School Soccer Team Defies Stupid Ref:

Colorado Soccer Team Dons Headscarves After Muslim Teammate Is Banned From Field

March 18, 2014 BY Carol Kuruvilla, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS These girls know how to play fair. When Colorado referees told high school soccer player Samah Aidah she had to sit out of a game for wearing her hijab, her teammates decided to take matters into their own hands. Overland High Schools entire varsity soccer team donned headscarves in honor of Aidah, a move that helped the young Denver woman get back on the field. The refs wouldnt let Samah play with her hijab so today we all wore one for the game #lovemyteam #letsamahplay, wrote teammate Divine Davis in a Twitter post that quickly went viral. Davis told Aquila-Style that the trouble happened during a game against a rival school on March 12. The referees reportedly told Aidah that wearing a hijab on the field was dangerous. The move to ban the young girl from the playing field came despite FIFAs recent decision to lift the ban on hijabs and turbans during soccer games. The organization now supports male and female players who wear head coverings for religious purposes. Regardless of the rules, Davis and other members of the Overland Trailblazers just thought the referees were being unfair. I think it is okay for girls to play sports in their hijabs and they should not be questioned or restricted from playing. No matter what sports, Davis said. For the next game, the team members showed their support by wearing their own headscarves. We took this picture before the game and Samah was able to play, Davis said. Even though they didnt win the game, the Trailblazers learned that thousands around the globe had their backs. Their photo has been retweeted more than 20,000 times.

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CLASS WAR REPORTS

DANGER: CAPITALISTS AT WORK

The 67 People As Wealthy As The Worlds Poorest 3.5 Billion:

The Rich Got Richer. And It Was Quite Fast And Dramatic
Each Of The 67 Is On Average Worth The Same As 52 Million People From The Bottom Of The Worlds Wealth Pyramid
3/25/2014 by Kasia Moreno, Forbes Insights [Excerpts] Oxfam International, a poverty fighting organization, made news at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year with its report that the worlds 85 richest people own

assets with the same value as those owned by the poorer half of the worlds population, or 3.5 billion people (including children). Both groups have $US 1.7 trillion. Thats $20 billion on average if you are in the first group, and $486 if you are in the second group. Oxfams calculations of the richest individuals are based on the 2013 Forbes Billionaires list. I decided to take a closer look at this group of 85 in search of trends. Thats when I realized that they are by now a much wealthier group. The rich got richer. And it was quite fast and dramatic. For example, while last year it took $23 billion to be in the top 20 of the worlds billionaires, this year it took $31 billion, according to Luisa Kroll, Forbes wealth editor, writing on Forbes.com. As a result, by the time Forbes published its 2014 Billionaires List in early March, it took only 67 of the richest peoples wealth to match the poorer half of the world. Each of the 67 is on average worth the same as 52 million people from the bottom of the worlds wealth pyramid. Bill Gates, the worlds richest man, with a net worth of $76 billion, is worth the same as 156 million people from the bottom. Who are the 67? The biggest group28 billionaires, or 42% of themis from the United States. No other country comes close. Germany and Russia have the secondhighest number, with six each. The rest are sprinkled among 13 countries in Western Europe, APAC and the Americas. That the biggest group of the super rich comes from the U.S. should not be a surprise, as the country holds almost a third of the worlds wealth (30%), significantly more than any other country, according to the Global Wealth Databook, from Credit Suisse Research Institute. However, Europe, with a slightly bigger chunk of the worlds wealth (32%), produced substantially fewer of the richest. That is due to less dynamic economies, which do not equal the U.S. in how they foster innovation, on which many of the newest U.S. fortunes are based. When comparing the ratio of the richest to the percentage of the worlds wealth held by each country, it is Russia that comes out the most lopsided, with its holdings skewed to the super rich. As a country, Russia holds only half a percent of the worlds wealth, and yet it has 9% of the 67 richest. The 67 fortunes come from three main industries: technology (12), retail (12) and natural resources-based sectors such as oil and gas, mining and steel. The geographical split by industry illustrates the state and progression of the various economies. Almost all technology fortunes are recent and from the U.S. (Microsoft MSFT -1.08%, Oracle, Facebook). Retail is dominated by second- or third-generation Western Europeans. The

majority of the rich whose money comes from natural resources are from emerging markets, with most of them from Russia. The majority of the 6740, or 60%, to be preciseare self-made. This rarified group of people thus shows that there is wealth mobility over time in the highest echelons, among both individuals and countries. Had there been less global mobility, the majority of the richest would necessarily have inherited wealth and come from the countries with the oldest fortunes, which are in Western Europe. Already back in the late 1980s, when Forbes first started to compile its Billionaires list, Western Europe stood apart from the rest of the world, with the majority of its fortunes inherited. That did not provide a longterm edge. Today, just 13 of the 67 come from Western Europe. And while they are self-made in the sense that they have not been inherited from family members, at least some of them are based on privatizations of formerly state-owned assets, making them the inheritors of their peoples wealth. Late breaking: Forbes has just announced it is updating its Billionaires rankings in real time now. The latest counts show that over the last month the number of billionaires whose net worth equals that of the 3.5 billion poorest people has fallen to 66.

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

Children Of The Occupation -Growing Up In Palestine:

The Settlers Stopped Us. They Beat My Father Before My Eyes
These Children Are Often Pumped For Information On Relatives And Neighbours By Their Interrogators
Nawal Jabarin Wants To Be A Doctor When She Grows Up. She Lives In A Cave With 14 Siblings, In Constant Fear Of Military Raids

Nawal Jabarin, 12, and her brothers, two-month-old Issa and two-year-old Jibril, in their West Bank home. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum for the Guardian Around four million Palestinians have known nothing but an existence defined by checkpoints, demands for identity papers, night raids, detentions, house demolitions, displacement, verbal abuse, intimidation, physical attacks, imprisonment and violent death. 7 February 2014 by Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian The rough track is an unmarked turning across a primeval landscape of rock and sand under a vast cobalt sky. Our Jeep bounces between boulders and dust-covered gorse bushes before beginning a bone-jolting descent from the high ridge into a deep valley. An Israeli army camp comes into view, then the tiny village of Jinba: two buildings, a few tents, a scattering of animal pens. A pair of military helicopters clatter overhead. The air smells of sheep. At the end of this track in the southern West Bank, 12-year-old Nawal Jabarin lives in a cave. She was born in the gloom beneath its low, jagged roof, as were two of her brothers, and her father a generation earlier. Along the rock-strewn track that connects Jinba to the nearest paved road, Nawals mother gave birth to another baby, unable to reach hospital in time; on the same stretch of flattened earth, Nawals father was beaten by Israeli settlers in front of the terrified child. The cave and an adjacent tent are home to 18 people: Nawals father, his two wives and 15 children. The familys 200 sheep are penned outside. An ancient generator that runs on costly diesel provides power for a maximum of three hours a day. Water is fetched from village wells, or delivered by tractor at up to 20 times the cost of piped water. During the winter, bitter winds sweep across the desert landscape, slicing through the tent and forcing the whole family to crowd into the cave for warmth. "In winter, we are stacked on top of one another," Nawal tells me.

I Saw The Soldiers Beat Them With The Heel Of Their Guns
She rarely leaves the village. "I used to ride in my fathers car. But the settlers stopped us. They beat my father before my eyes, cursing, using foul language. They took our things and threw them out of the car." Even home is not safe. "The soldiers come in (the cave) to search. I dont know what theyre looking for," she says. "Sometimes they open the pens and let the sheep out. In Ramadan, they came and took my brothers. I saw the soldiers beat them with the heel of their guns. They forced us to leave the cave." Despite the hardships of her life, Nawal is happy. "This is my homeland, this is where I want to be. Its hard here, but I like my home and the land and the sheep." But, she adds, "I will be even happier if we are allowed to stay." Nawal is one of a second generation of Palestinians to be born into occupation. Her birth came 34 years after Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem during the six-day war. Military law was imposed on the Palestinian population, and soon afterwards Israel began to build colonies on occupied land under military protection. East Jerusalem was annexed in a move declared illegal under international law. The first generation Nawals parents and their peers are now approaching middle age, their entire lives dominated by the daily grind and small humiliations of an occupied people. Around four million Palestinians have known nothing but an existence defined by checkpoints, demands for identity papers, night raids, detentions, house demolitions, displacement, verbal abuse, intimidation, physical attacks, imprisonment and violent death. It is a cruel mosaic: countless seemingly unrelated fragments that, when put together, build a picture of power and powerlessness. Yet, after 46 years, it has also become a kind of normality. For the young, the impact of such an environment is often profound. Children are exposed to experiences that shape attitudes for a lifetime and, in some cases, have lasting psychological consequences. Frank Roni, a child protection specialist for Unicef, the United Nations agency for children, who works in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, speaks of the "inter-generational trauma" of living under occupation. "The ongoing conflict, the deterioration of the economy and social environment, the increase in violence this all impacts heavily on children," he says. "Psychological walls" mirror physical barriers and checkpoints. "Children form a ghetto mentality and lose hope for the future, which fuels a cycle of despair," Roni says.

But their experiences are inevitably uneven. Many children living in the major Palestinian cities, under a degree of self-government, rarely come into contact with settlers or soldiers, while such encounters are part of daily life for those in the 62% of the West Bank under full Israeli control, known as Area C. Children in Gaza live in a blockaded strip of land, often growing up in extreme economic hardship, and with direct and shocking experience of intense warfare. In East Jerusalem, a high proportion of Palestinian children grow up in impoverished ghettoes, encroached upon by expanding Israeli settlements or with extremist settlers taking over properties in their midst.

Violent Attacks On The Local Palestinian Population Are Frequent, Along With Military Raids And The Constant Threat Of Forcible Removal From Their Land
In the South Hebron Hills, the shepherds who have roamed the area for generations now live alongside ideologically and religiously driven Jews who claim an ancient biblical connection to the land and see the Palestinians as interlopers. They have built gated settlements on the hilltops, serviced with paved roads, electricity and running water, and protected by the army. The settlers and soldiers have brought fear to the cave-dwellers: violent attacks on the local Palestinian population are frequent, along with military raids and the constant threat of forcible removal from their land. Nawals village is inside an area designated in the 1980s by the Israeli army as "Firing Zone 918" for military training. The army wants to clear out eight Palestinian communities on the grounds that it is unsafe for them to remain within a military training zone; they are not "permanent residents". A legal battle over the fate of the villages, launched before Nawal was born, is still unresolved. Her school, a basic three-room structure, is under a demolition order, as is the only other building in the village, the mosque, which is used as an overspill classroom. Both were constructed without official Israeli permits, which are hardly ever granted. Haytham Abu Sabha, Nawals teacher, says his pupils lives are "very hard. The children have no recreation. They lack the basic things in life: there is no electricity, high malnutrition, no playgrounds. When they get sick or are hurt, its hard getting them to hospital. We are forced to be primitive." The children are also forced to be brave. Nawal insists she is not afraid of the soldiers. But when I ask if she has cried during the raids on her home, she hesitates before nodding almost imperceptibly, unwilling to admit to her fears. Psychologists and counsellors working with Palestinian children say this reluctance to acknowledge and vocalise frightening experiences compounds the damage caused by the event itself. "Children say they are not afraid of soldiers, but their body language tells

you something different," says Mona Zaghrout, head of counselling at the YMCA in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem. "They feel ashamed to say they are afraid." Like Nawal, 12-year-old Ahed Tamimi boldly asserts that she, too, has no fear of soldiers, before quietly admitting that sometimes she is afraid. Aheds apparent fearlessness catapulted her to a brief fame a year ago when a video of her angrily confronting Israeli soldiers was posted online. The girl was invited to Turkey, where she was hailed as a child hero.

"I Woke Up, There Were Soldiers In My Bedroom. My Mum Was Screaming At The Soldiers.

Ahed Tamimi, 12, plays hopscotch, likes movies about mermaids and teases her brothers at home in Nabi Saleh. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum for the Guardian

Amid tree-covered hills almost three hours drive north of Jinba, Nabi Saleh is a village of around 500 people, most of whom share the family name of Tamimi. From Aheds home, the Israeli settlement of Halamish is visible across a valley. Founded in 1977, it is built partly on land confiscated from local Palestinian families. An Israeli army base is situated next to the settlement. When settlers appropriated the village spring five years ago, the people of Nabi Saleh began weekly protests. Aheds parents, Bassem and Nariman, have been at the forefront of the demonstrations, which are largely nonviolent, although they often involve some stone-throwing. The Israeli military routinely respond with tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets, jets of foul-smelling fluid known as "skunk", and sometimes live ammunition. Two villagers have been killed, and around 350 including large numbers of children injured.

Ahed was shot in the wrist by a rubber bullet. At least 140 people from Nabi Saleh have been detained or imprisoned as a result of protest activity, including 40 minors. Bassem has been jailed nine times four times since his daughters birth and was named a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International; Nariman has been detained five times since the protests began; and Aheds older brother, Waed, was arrested. Her uncle, Rushdie Tamimi, died two days after being shot by soldiers in November 2012. An Israel Defense Forces investigation later found that soldiers fired 80 bullets without justification; they also prevented villagers giving medical aid to the injured man. Ahed, a slight, elfin-faced girl, is a discomforting mix of worldliness and naivety. For a child, she knows far too much about tear gas and rubber bullets, demolition orders and military raids. Her home, scarred by repeated army assaults, is one of 13 in the village that are threatened with being bulldozed. When I ask how often she has experienced the effects of tear gas, she laughs, saying she cannot count the times. I ask her to describe it. "I cant breathe, my eyes hurt, it feels like Im suffocating. Sometimes its 10 minutes until I can see again," she says. Like Nawal, Ahed is familiar with military raids on her home. One, while her father was in prison, began at 3am with the sound of assault rifles being battered against the front door. "I woke up, there were soldiers in my bedroom. My mum was screaming at the soldiers. They turned everything upside down, searching. They took our laptop and cameras and phones." According to Bassem, his daughter "sometimes wakes up at night, shouting and afraid. Most of the time, the children are nervous and stressed, and this affects their education. Their priorities change, they dont see the point in learning." Those working with Palestinian children say this is a common reaction. "When you live under constant threat or fear of danger, your coping mechanisms deteriorate. Children are nearly always under stress, afraid to go to school, unable to concentrate," Frank Roni says. Mona Zaghrout of the YMCA lists typical responses to trauma among children: "Nightmares, lack of concentration, reluctance to go to school, clinginess, unwillingness to sleep alone, insomnia, aggressive behaviour, regressive behaviour, bed-wetting. Psychosomatic symptoms, such as a high fever without a biological reason, or a rash over the body. These are the most common things we see." The flip side of Aheds life is one of poignant prosaicness. She plays hopscotch and football with her schoolfriends, likes movies about mermaids, teases her brothers, skips with a rope in the sitting room. But she shrinks from the suggestion that we photograph

her near the army watchtower at the entrance to the village, only reluctantly agreeing to a few minutes within sight of the soldier behind the concrete. Her answers to questions about what the protests are over and the role of the army seem practised, the result of living in a highly politicised community. "We want to liberate Palestine, we want to live as free people, the soldiers are here to protect the settlers and prevent us reaching our land." With her brothers, she watches a DVD of edited footage showing her parents being arrested, their faces contorted in anger and pain, her own confrontation with Israeli soldiers, a night-time raid on the house, her uncle writhing on the ground after being shot. On top of witnessing these events first-hand, she relives them over and over again on screen. The settlers across the valley appear to her as completely alien. She has never had direct contact with any of them. No soldier, she says, has ever spoken a civil word to her.

Its Like Living In A Prison. No One Can Visit Us

Waleed Abu Aishes family put a steel cage over their house in Hebron after attacks by settlers: Its like living in a prison. No one can visit us. Soldiers are there day and night. I dont remember anything else. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum for the Guardian

Its the same for 13-year-old Waleed Abu Aishe. Israeli soldiers are stationed at the end of his street in the volatile city of Hebron 24 hours a day, yet none has ever acknowledged the skinny, bespectacled boy by name as he makes his way home from school. "They make out they dont know us, but of course they do," he says. "They just want to make things difficult. They know my name, but they never use it." Nowhere in the West Bank do Israeli settlers and Palestinians live in closer proximity or with greater animosity than in Hebron.

A few hundred biblically inspired Jews reside in the heart of the ancient city, protected by around 4,000 soldiers, amid a Palestinian population of 170,000. In 1997 the city was divided into H1, administered by the Palestinian Authority, and H2, a much smaller area around the old market, under the control of the Israeli military. H2 is now a near-ghost town: shuttered shops, empty houses, deserted streets, packs of wild dogs, and armed soldiers on most street corners. Here, the remaining Palestinian families endure an uneasy existence with their settler neighbours. In Tel Rumeida, Waleeds neighbourhood, almost all the Palestinian residents have left. Only the Abu Aishes and another family remain on his street, alongside new settler apartment blocks and portable buildings. Waleed lives much closer to his settler and soldier neighbours than either Ahed Tamimi or Nawal Jabarin: from his front window, you can see directly into settler homes a few metres away. Next door to his home is an army base housing around 400 soldiers. Following violent attacks, stone-throwing, smashed windows and repeated harassment from settlers, the Abu Aishes erected a steel mesh cage and video cameras over the front of the three-storey house where the family has lived for 55 years. When not at school, Waleed spends almost all his time inside this cage. "For me, this is normal," he says. "I got used to it. But its like living in a prison. No one can visit us. The soldiers stop people at the bottom of the street, and if they are not from our family, its forbidden for them to visit. There is only one way to our house, and the soldiers are there day and night. I dont remember anything else: they have been here since I was born." Despite his "normality", he wishes his friends could come to the house, or that he and his brother could play football on the street. The cage, and public condemnation that erupted in Israel following the broadcast on television of a Jewish woman hissing "whore" in Arabic through the mesh at female members of the Abu Aishe family, have reduced settler attacks and abuse. But Waleed still gets called "donkey" or "dog", and is sometimes chased by settler children. His mother, Ibtasan, says the soldiers take no action to protect her children. "They have got used to this way of life, but its very exhausting. Always I am worried," she says as images from the street below flicker on a television monitor in the corner of the living room. "It was easier when they were little, although they had bad dreams. They would sleep one next to me, one next to my husband and one between us." A 2010 report by the childrens rights organisation Defence for Children International (DCI) said Palestinian children in Hebron were "frequently the targets of settler attacks in the form of physical assaults and stone-throwing that injure them" and were "especially vulnerable to settler attacks". I ask Waleed if hes ever tempted to retaliate. He looks uncomfortable. "Some of my friends throw stones at the soldiers," he says. "Even if I wanted to, I couldnt, because the soldiers know me."

Stone-throwing by Palestinian children at settlers and security forces is common, sometimes causing injuries and even deaths. Bassem Tamimi neither advocates nor condemns it: "If we throw stones, the soldiers shoot. But if we dont throw stones, they shoot anyway. Stone-throwing is a reaction. You cant be a victim all the time," he says.

They Have Destroyed His Childhood. He Saw His Father, His Brother, His Sister Being Arrested.

People respect me because Ive been arrested so many times, says Muslim Odeh, 14, who lives in Silwan, East Jerusalem. Photograph: Quique Kierszenbaum for the Guardian

Another father, whose adolescent son has been detained by the Israeli police 16 times since the age of nine, concurs. "We have the right to defend ourselves, but what do we have to defend ourselves with? Do we have tanks, or jet fighters?" asks Mousa Odeh. His son, Muslim, now 14, is well known to the Israeli security forces in the East Jerusalem district of Silwan. A few minutes drive from the five-star hotels around the ancient walls of Jerusalems Old City, Silwan is wedged in a gulley, a dense jumble of houses along steep and narrow streets lined with car repair workshops and tired grocery stores. It has always been a tough neighbourhood, but an influx of hardline settlers has created acute tensions, exacerbated by the aggression of their private armed security guards and demolition orders against more than 80 Palestinian homes. The areas youths throw stones and rocks at the settlers reinforced vehicles, risking arrest by the ever-present police. "Every minute you see the police up and down, up and down," Muslim says. "They stop us, search us, bug us. When Im bored, I bug them, too. Why should I be frightened of them?" The boy insists he is not among the stone-throwers, an assertion that

stretches credulity. "The police accuse me of making trouble, but I dont throw stones, ever. Some of my friends, maybe." Hyam, Muslims mother, says her son, the youngest of five children, has changed since the arrests began. "They have destroyed him psychologically. Hes more aggressive and nervous, hyper, always wanting to be out in the streets." Muslims detentions have followed a typical, well-documented pattern. Between 500 and 700 Palestinian children are arrested by Israeli security forces each year, most accused of throwing stones. They are often arrested at night, taken away from home without a parent or adult accompanying them, questioned without lawyers, held in cells before an appearance in court. Some are blindfolded or have their hands bound with plastic ties. Many report physical and verbal abuse, and say they make false confessions. According to DCI, which has taken hundreds of affidavits from minors in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, these children are often pumped for information on relatives and neighbours by their interrogators. Muslim has been held for periods varying from a few hours to a week. For Muslim, his repeated detentions are a rite of passage. "People respect me because Ive been arrested so many times," he tells me. Child psychologists see it rather differently. They say young boys are often feted as heroes when they return from detention, which denies them the scope to process their traumatic experiences and express common feelings of acute anxiety. According to Zaghrout, boys are expected to act tough. "In our culture, its easier for girls to show fear and cry. Boys are told they shouldnt cry. Its hard for boys to say they are frightened to go to the toilet alone or that they want to sleep with their parents. But they still have these feelings, they just come out differently in nightmares, bed-wetting, aggression." Mousa, Muslims father and the imam of the local mosque, says that, despite his sons bravado, he is an unhappy and insecure boy. "When the army comes, he clings to me. Since the beginning of the arrests, he sleeps with me." While Mousa is talking, Muslim suddenly leaves the house carrying a knife, intent on puncturing a football being kicked against the front wall by local children. "This is disturbed, irrational behaviour," Mousa says. "This is because of the arrests. They have destroyed his childhood. He saw his father, his brother, his sister being arrested. There is a demolition order on the house. Most of our neighbours have been arrested. This is the childhood of this boy. He is not growing up in Disneyland." Mousa describes his own detention while trying to prevent the police arresting his son. "They carried me in my underwear from here to the Russian Compound [a cell and court complex in central Jerusalem]. Can you imagine more humiliation than this? We are religious people we dont even let our children see us without clothes. If you gave me a million dollars, I would not go outside in my underwear." The moment when children realise their parents, especially their fathers, cannot protect them is psychologically significant, according to experts. "For children, their fathers are

the protectors of the family. But often these men reach a point where they cannot protect their children. Sometimes soldiers humiliate fathers in front of children. This is very difficult for children who naturally see their father as a hero," Zaghrout says. According to Roni at Unicef, "Children can lose faith and respect when they see their father beaten in front of them. These children sometimes develop a resistance to respecting people in authority. We hear parents saying, I cant control my child any more they wont listen to me. This creates great stresses within a family." Muslim now skips school regularly, saying it bores him, and instead spends his days roaming the streets. According to Mousa, the boys teachers say he is hard to control, aggressive and uncooperative. At the end of our visit, the restless teenager accompanies us back to our car. He bounces along the road, leaning in open car windows to twist a steering wheel or honk a horn. As we prepare to leave, he gives us a word of warning: "Be careful. Some kid might throw rocks at you." Despite their difficult lives, each of these four children has a touchstone of normality in their life. For Nawal, it is the sheep that she tends. Ahed likes football and playing with dolls. Waleed is passionate about drawing. Muslim looks after horses in his neighbourhood. And each has an ambition for the future: Nawal hopes to be a doctor, to care for the cave-dwellers and shepherds of the South Hebron Hills; Ahed wants to become a lawyer, to fight for Palestinian rights; Waleed aspires to be an architect, to design houses without cages; and Muslim enjoys fixing things and would like to be a car mechanic. But growing up under occupation is shaping another generation of Palestinians. The professionals who work with these children say many traumatised youngsters become angry and hopeless adults, contributing to a cycle of despair and violence. "What we face in our childhood, and how we deal with it, forms us as adults," Zaghrout says. "There is a cycle of trauma imprinted on Palestinian consciousness, passed down from generation to generation," Rita Giacaman, professor of public health at Birzeit university, says. "Despair is also handed down. Its hard for children to see a future. The past not only informs the present, but also the future."

To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation commanded by foreign terrorists, go to: http://www.maannews.net/eng/Default.aspx and http://www.palestinemonitor.org/list.php?id=ej898ra7yff0ukmf16 The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves Israeli.

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