'Let us grow quietly'

By YITZHAK ELDAN
Rivlin hosted a bar- and batmitzvah event for children of families affected in terrorist attacks. (photo credit: MARK NEIMAN)
Rivlin hosted a bar- and batmitzvah event for children of families affected in terrorist attacks.
(photo credit: MARK NEIMAN)
Israeli children from all over the country have recently joined an unprecedented march initiated by the children of the Gaza envelope under the slogan “Let us grow quietly!”
Since Israel’s 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip, the residents of the Gaza envelop have been living under fire of terrorist organizations from Gaza: rockets, terrorist tunnels, booby traps, burning fields and tires and more.
The children of Gaza envelope haven’t had a day or night without fear of “Color Red” alerts, fear of being killed in their homes by rocket attacks or infiltration of terrorists into their communities.
The Israeli children of the Gaza envelope are denied all basic rights as described by United Nations: the right to a normal life, the right to security, the right to go to school and the right to play outside without fear, the right to sleep peacefully in a regular room not in a shelter, the right to live without missile alerts on a daily basis and the right to breathe fresh air and not the thick smoke of burning tires.
Today, November 20, Universal Children’s Day, marks the anniversary of the day that the UN Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.
On this day, while we identify with the suffering of children all over the world, we must remind the international community that it should look with empathy to the plight of the Israeli children.
How long will those responsible for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child at the United Nations, UNICEF and Save the Children remain silent? They should care for all children equally – Israeli children as well as Palestinian children.
Today, on International Children’s Day, our heart goes to the suffering of all children of the world – and certainly to the ones who are subject to daily indiscriminate rocket attacks: the Israeli children.
The writer is a former ambassador and head of Israel’s young ambassador school.