2. Peace Not Walls
  3. Art By Palestinian Children

Pictures With Letters

This gallery contains letters or notes written by Palestinian children paired with a drawing. All of the writings and drawings were created by students in the ELCJHL (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land) in 2003.
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  • I HAVE A DREAM I am a 15 year old Palestinian boy; I was born during the first intifada, and entered the first grade the year the Palestinian Authority was established; so I barely could remember the hard years of the Israeli occupation. I grew up to see the Palestinians and to hear stories about the misery of the Israel occupation. I had the feeling that I would be one of the first Palestinian generations that would enjoy freedom for the first time in the recent history. However this hope was lost in March 29th last year, (2002) when the Israeli forces invaded my city Ramallah, and occupied our house for almost a week. Suddenly I realized my generation would not be the exception, I ought to live like my father’s generation as well as my grandfather’s generation. A life I should reject and not give in for any occupation or invading forces. I believe people are born to be free and have their own free will. We are the new Palestinian generation, we will raise our strong free will against the occupation forces by calling upon all the peace lovers of the world in general and the Israeli peace lovers in particular, and convey a clear message to them that we are peace makers. We are no less than the boys and girls of any other nation, we have ambitions and hopes, we dream like anyone else. We want to live our childhood out and not escape this state of our life. Therefore I have a dream. I have a dream to go to my school and come back in the afternoon without seeing my parents waiting for me in the front of my house worried to death that somthing could happen to me from the soldiers of the occupation. I have a dream that I could go along with my friends to a public park and play without being harmed purposefully or accidentally by the random shootings. I have a dream that I could go to bed without listening to the sounds of machine guns around the house and in the streets I have a dream that one day all people will stand behind us, the children of Palestine to help us grow with no harm physically, mentally and morally, to be future leaders who will build a Palestine as a peaceful nation.

    I HAVE A DREAM I am a 15 year old Palestinian boy; I was born during the first intifada, and entered the first grade the year the Palestinian Authority was established; so I barely could remember the hard years of the Israeli occupation. I grew up to see the Palestinians and to hear stories about the misery of the Israel occupation. I had the feeling that I would be one of the first Palestinian generations that would enjoy freedom for the first time in the recent history. However this hope was lost in March 29th last year, (2002) when the Israeli forces invaded my city Ramallah, and occupied our house for almost a week. Suddenly I realized my generation would not be the exception, I ought to live like my father’s generation as well as my grandfather’s generation. A life I should reject and not give in for any occupation or invading forces. I believe people are born to be free and have their own free will. We are the new Palestinian generation, we will raise our strong free will against the occupation forces by calling upon all the peace lovers of the world in general and the Israeli peace lovers in particular, and convey a clear message to them that we are peace makers. We are no less than the boys and girls of any other nation, we have ambitions and hopes, we dream like anyone else. We want to live our childhood out and not escape this state of our life. Therefore I have a dream. I have a dream to go to my school and come back in the afternoon without seeing my parents waiting for me in the front of my house worried to death that somthing could happen to me from the soldiers of the occupation. I have a dream that I could go along with my friends to a public park and play without being harmed purposefully or accidentally by the random shootings. I have a dream that I could go to bed without listening to the sounds of machine guns around the house and in the streets I have a dream that one day all people will stand behind us, the children of Palestine to help us grow with no harm physically, mentally and morally, to be future leaders who will build a Palestine as a peaceful nation.

  • Dear Lovers of Peace Peace is a small and beautiful word, but not everyone knows what it means. I love peace, all Palestinians love peace and love to have a permanent peace, but Israel doesn’t want peace, they want our land and our trees, oil, culture, customs of Palestinians, all things that we have saved it from our grandparents, we want to live safely but we don’t have it, we want to live in our houses together without killing families, neighbors and friends. In our free time we don’t have anything to do or to take. We have only soldiers in our streets, tanks over our cars and mens in the Israilys prison…their families stay waiting for them a long time. Are we killers? Are we blood shedders? Terrorists??? Because we want to bring back out land!! Put yourself in our place and see if a stranger enters your land or will you stay looking on the destroyed trees that you have planted many years ago and waited to grow to be more beautiful trees in your house and to be proud of it. Besides the most beautiful oil when it was pure and gold without bullets in it. From all this we only want you to know how we are in bad conditions facing difficult daies in our life, and we want you to know that we love peace and hope to live without anyone share. And we will emphasize that we will have VICTORY and FREEDOM, if God’s will or we will stay fighting for peace and victory. PEACE 8th grade Ramallah.

    Dear Lovers of Peace Peace is a small and beautiful word, but not everyone knows what it means. I love peace, all Palestinians love peace and love to have a permanent peace, but Israel doesn’t want peace, they want our land and our trees, oil, culture, customs of Palestinians, all things that we have saved it from our grandparents, we want to live safely but we don’t have it, we want to live in our houses together without killing families, neighbors and friends. In our free time we don’t have anything to do or to take. We have only soldiers in our streets, tanks over our cars and mens in the Israilys prison…their families stay waiting for them a long time. Are we killers? Are we blood shedders? Terrorists??? Because we want to bring back out land!! Put yourself in our place and see if a stranger enters your land or will you stay looking on the destroyed trees that you have planted many years ago and waited to grow to be more beautiful trees in your house and to be proud of it. Besides the most beautiful oil when it was pure and gold without bullets in it. From all this we only want you to know how we are in bad conditions facing difficult daies in our life, and we want you to know that we love peace and hope to live without anyone share. And we will emphasize that we will have VICTORY and FREEDOM, if God’s will or we will stay fighting for peace and victory. PEACE 8th grade Ramallah.

  • I was born to think that I have nothng to own. Help us to live in Peace. Please help me, I want to go home. I WANT TO LIVE IN PEACE.

    I was born to think that I have nothng to own. Help us to live in Peace. Please help me, I want to go home. I WANT TO LIVE IN PEACE.

  • Dear Diary, In the morning the sun is finally rising from behind the horizon after a long night of sorrow and darkness. It’s shining on a little country in the middle east, trying to draw away the shadows of it everlasting nights. I’m sitting in front of the small window in my bedroom, listening to a piece called “City of Peace” composed by a Jewish musician called David Pluss. In fact , I’m occupied by some thoughts. I’ve been looking at my life as a Palestinian youth for sometime , wondering what a life it is and how could it be described. To my surprise it seems to be undescribable in some way! It’s just as though I can’t find the right words for it anyway. Isn’t the term “word” supposed to be the most powerful of all four-letter words? It is said that, “temples crumble, empires fall, but a word fitly spoken” endures. Well then there must be some words that express those thoughts and describes life which is far away from reality nowadays. The first thing Iv’e noticed about my life as a Palestinian youth is the fact of living in a country that doesn’t exist on the world map-Palestine- and occupied country in the middle east- is just a place which many kids in different parts of this globe have never heard. It’s that holly land which has been turned into a dry desert of war and injustice. Being born to open your eyes on this land means being deprived of your human rights and even of some daily needs. Secondly, I’ve opened my tearful eyes widely to realize that the entire Palestinian nation is trapped in a murky, filthy cave , in this modernized world! They have been deprived of the right of moving freely in their own country or travel easily abroad. By the way, this has many consequences on the Palestinian people. Some of which are: 1. the general low living standard and bad financial situation 2. The disability of many kids to broaden their minds which is believed to be the result of not being exposed to different cultures Moreover I’ve noticed that I haven’t got any acknowledged citizenship as a real Palestinian State doesn’t exist. This has many negative impacts on our society. There are no how to protect people, and no social services such as health ensurance, sufficient means of education and intertainment, etc. In fact, being a student, I’m mostly affected by the fact of having no big options for completing my education after graduation from highschool, as a result, I’m going to have to leave my beloved home for study abroad. In addition to this, Palestinian people suffer from a shortage of daily needs that people elsewhere in the world take for granted, such as electricity, water, fuel and some kinds of medicine and products, They even don’t have mail service: Isn’t this ridiculous! Finally I’d like to put emphasis on the fact that many Palestinian kids and youth are suffering from depression and stress. They are traumatized by the war crimes that take place in their daily lives. They’ve been caused to become hopeless and pessimistic at such a young age. The world speaks a lot abut Palestinian infants who sacrifice themselves for the sake of this country and condemn their actions, But after all, no wonder their lives are nothing worth to them anyhow. Ah my dear isn’t this another tragedy in history? Nevertheless the monitoring world hasn’t even bothered to open its mouth. Perhaps it might resurrect once this entire nation has been stamped out! Is’t this what happened to the Red Indians in America and to the Inuits in the North Pole? Will this be our fate as well? This reminds me of a saying “Live Free or die” What a hard choice! But as a matter of fact, famous people such as Mahandas Ghandi, who led India to independence from the British rule, and Martin Luther King Jr had stood at this very point. Each of them had stuck to his dreams and rights determined to achieve freedom and justice . Once Martin Luther King said” I have a Dream: It was only a powerful word , but nowadays, man deeply knows that his dream has finally come true. My dear Diary, hoping to have been able to express some of what has been squeezing my souls, I have no more words to say other than” Man has two hearts: a heart that suffers and another that hopes.” written by Klara

    Dear Diary, In the morning the sun is finally rising from behind the horizon after a long night of sorrow and darkness. It’s shining on a little country in the middle east, trying to draw away the shadows of it everlasting nights. I’m sitting in front of the small window in my bedroom, listening to a piece called “City of Peace” composed by a Jewish musician called David Pluss. In fact , I’m occupied by some thoughts. I’ve been looking at my life as a Palestinian youth for sometime , wondering what a life it is and how could it be described. To my surprise it seems to be undescribable in some way! It’s just as though I can’t find the right words for it anyway. Isn’t the term “word” supposed to be the most powerful of all four-letter words? It is said that, “temples crumble, empires fall, but a word fitly spoken” endures. Well then there must be some words that express those thoughts and describes life which is far away from reality nowadays. The first thing Iv’e noticed about my life as a Palestinian youth is the fact of living in a country that doesn’t exist on the world map-Palestine- and occupied country in the middle east- is just a place which many kids in different parts of this globe have never heard. It’s that holly land which has been turned into a dry desert of war and injustice. Being born to open your eyes on this land means being deprived of your human rights and even of some daily needs. Secondly, I’ve opened my tearful eyes widely to realize that the entire Palestinian nation is trapped in a murky, filthy cave , in this modernized world! They have been deprived of the right of moving freely in their own country or travel easily abroad. By the way, this has many consequences on the Palestinian people. Some of which are: 1. the general low living standard and bad financial situation 2. The disability of many kids to broaden their minds which is believed to be the result of not being exposed to different cultures Moreover I’ve noticed that I haven’t got any acknowledged citizenship as a real Palestinian State doesn’t exist. This has many negative impacts on our society. There are no how to protect people, and no social services such as health ensurance, sufficient means of education and intertainment, etc. In fact, being a student, I’m mostly affected by the fact of having no big options for completing my education after graduation from highschool, as a result, I’m going to have to leave my beloved home for study abroad. In addition to this, Palestinian people suffer from a shortage of daily needs that people elsewhere in the world take for granted, such as electricity, water, fuel and some kinds of medicine and products, They even don’t have mail service: Isn’t this ridiculous! Finally I’d like to put emphasis on the fact that many Palestinian kids and youth are suffering from depression and stress. They are traumatized by the war crimes that take place in their daily lives. They’ve been caused to become hopeless and pessimistic at such a young age. The world speaks a lot abut Palestinian infants who sacrifice themselves for the sake of this country and condemn their actions, But after all, no wonder their lives are nothing worth to them anyhow. Ah my dear isn’t this another tragedy in history? Nevertheless the monitoring world hasn’t even bothered to open its mouth. Perhaps it might resurrect once this entire nation has been stamped out! Is’t this what happened to the Red Indians in America and to the Inuits in the North Pole? Will this be our fate as well? This reminds me of a saying “Live Free or die” What a hard choice! But as a matter of fact, famous people such as Mahandas Ghandi, who led India to independence from the British rule, and Martin Luther King Jr had stood at this very point. Each of them had stuck to his dreams and rights determined to achieve freedom and justice . Once Martin Luther King said” I have a Dream: It was only a powerful word , but nowadays, man deeply knows that his dream has finally come true. My dear Diary, hoping to have been able to express some of what has been squeezing my souls, I have no more words to say other than” Man has two hearts: a heart that suffers and another that hopes.” written by Klara

  • A LETTER Hi, really, I don’t know for who I write, but what I want to say in this letter about Palestinian life. My name is Sihan. I’m 13 years old in 8th class. I live in Ramallah. When the Antifada began , all the people of the world was with the Palestinians because they saw what Israil army do with Palestinians, they killed, injure, caught Palestinian people, but after that what happened in America in September [9/11] all that changed . People look nowadays for Palestinian terrorists but they don’t remember what Israil do with Palestinians nowadays. Every day we saw Israil army killed, injured, caught Palestinians, destroy houses and took off Palestinian grounds. Well all know that before few months Israil began to build a huge fence between West Bank and Israil areas. What can I say and describe my feel when I see everyday what Israil army do. I believe that all people aound the world saw that – but the question now why they say about Palestinians are terrorists? We aren’t like terrorists. We don’t do something wrong. We defence of our lands because they took off our lands , and we shall return it for Palestinians. Finally, I want from you this message to know that WE WANT PEACE. By Sihan

    A LETTER Hi, really, I don’t know for who I write, but what I want to say in this letter about Palestinian life. My name is Sihan. I’m 13 years old in 8th class. I live in Ramallah. When the Antifada began , all the people of the world was with the Palestinians because they saw what Israil army do with Palestinians, they killed, injure, caught Palestinian people, but after that what happened in America in September [9/11] all that changed . People look nowadays for Palestinian terrorists but they don’t remember what Israil do with Palestinians nowadays. Every day we saw Israil army killed, injured, caught Palestinians, destroy houses and took off Palestinian grounds. Well all know that before few months Israil began to build a huge fence between West Bank and Israil areas. What can I say and describe my feel when I see everyday what Israil army do. I believe that all people aound the world saw that – but the question now why they say about Palestinians are terrorists? We aren’t like terrorists. We don’t do something wrong. We defence of our lands because they took off our lands , and we shall return it for Palestinians. Finally, I want from you this message to know that WE WANT PEACE. By Sihan

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    I HAVE A DREAM I am a 15 year old Palestinian boy; I was born during the first intifada, and entered the first grade the year the Palestinian Authority was established; so I barely could remember the hard years of the Israeli occupation. I grew up to see the Palestinians and to hear stories about the misery of the Israel occupation. I had the feeling that I would be one of the first Palestinian generations that would enjoy freedom for the first time in the recent history. However this hope was lost in March 29th last year, (2002) when the Israeli forces invaded my city Ramallah, and occupied our house for almost a week. Suddenly I realized my generation would not be the exception, I ought to live like my father’s generation as well as my grandfather’s generation. A life I should reject and not give in for any occupation or invading forces. I believe people are born to be free and have their own free will. We are the new Palestinian generation, we will raise our strong free will against the occupation forces by calling upon all the peace lovers of the world in general and the Israeli peace lovers in particular, and convey a clear message to them that we are peace makers. We are no less than the boys and girls of any other nation, we have ambitions and hopes, we dream like anyone else. We want to live our childhood out and not escape this state of our life. Therefore I have a dream. I have a dream to go to my school and come back in the afternoon without seeing my parents waiting for me in the front of my house worried to death that somthing could happen to me from the soldiers of the occupation. I have a dream that I could go along with my friends to a public park and play without being harmed purposefully or accidentally by the random shootings. I have a dream that I could go to bed without listening to the sounds of machine guns around the house and in the streets I have a dream that one day all people will stand behind us, the children of Palestine to help us grow with no harm physically, mentally and morally, to be future leaders who will build a Palestine as a peaceful nation.
    Dear Lovers of Peace Peace is a small and beautiful word, but not everyone knows what it means. I love peace, all Palestinians love peace and love to have a permanent peace, but Israel doesn’t want peace, they want our land and our trees, oil, culture, customs of Palestinians, all things that we have saved it from our grandparents, we want to live safely but we don’t have it, we want to live in our houses together without killing families, neighbors and friends. In our free time we don’t have anything to do or to take. We have only soldiers in our streets, tanks over our cars and mens in the Israilys prison…their families stay waiting for them a long time. Are we killers? Are we blood shedders? Terrorists??? Because we want to bring back out land!! Put yourself in our place and see if a stranger enters your land or will you stay looking on the destroyed trees that you have planted many years ago and waited to grow to be more beautiful trees in your house and to be proud of it. Besides the most beautiful oil when it was pure and gold without bullets in it. From all this we only want you to know how we are in bad conditions facing difficult daies in our life, and we want you to know that we love peace and hope to live without anyone share. And we will emphasize that we will have VICTORY and FREEDOM, if God’s will or we will stay fighting for peace and victory. PEACE 8th grade Ramallah.