Tala S. is a high school girl as many others: she studies hard, hangs out with her friends, builds her future day by day. But her name, of evident Arab origins, predicts us an identity burden not as common as one can expect. Even though she goes to school as any other kid of the same age, it is in fact the place where she attends her classes that makes her a high school girl out of the ordinary.
Tala attends the American International School in Gaza, in the West Bank. As the majority of her classmates and friends, she sees the recent Gaza war with different eyes than the rest of the public opinion, either that of the politicians or of the adults of Gaza. And she wants to be the ambassador of these “different” ideas, that at the end of the day are just the mirror of the new Palestinian generation.
“The difference between my generation and the one of my parents is that we finally passed from saying ‘Only God can change this reality of murders and destruction’ to ” We are the only hope to change this reality’- says the young student; “Foreign reporters only interview adults and old people, making believe that discourage prevails among the people of Gaza. It is true that it does not seem to exist truce in the conflict, we only see death, destruction and refugees in the streets. But it is also true that if we do not rebel ourselves- and I do not mean violence in these terms – and fight with our intelligence and education against weapons, the status quo will remain everlasting. “
The Palestinian Territories, and especially the West Bank, have one of the youngest populations in the world according to UN reports. For this reason the recent war hit – both physically and psychologically – especially the under 18 population, statistically more exposed to risks because particularly developed; not only kids but also teen-agers, the future generation that will have to bear soon the burden of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its final (though not really concrete) conclusion, has a crucial role in this case.
Among the young gazawis it is more and more spread the idea that it won’t be any political leader or lobby to end up the conflict, but culture, education, the students of today, conscious citizens of tomorrow.
This idea is confirmed by the strong image of the now famous Palestinian girl that, after an air raid that destroyed her house, goes back to her place to try to save her books from the rubble. A scene that might remind us of the movie “The book thief” that paradoxically was set in Nazi Germany during the times of the Jewish genocide.
The picture became viral on the Internet and social networks, becoming the manifesto of the new Palestinian youth.
“I am tired of listening to my mother saying: ‘ We already are a dead people, why do they keep on killing us? – Tala continues – she says that the youngsters are psychologically dying: talking to them is like talking to a 70 year-old person that has no expectations or hopes. The only ambition is to have electricity for at least two hours during the day. But this is what the adults think, and probably the international community as well because of the media depicts us as a people without hope. But have they ever asked us what we think? Were we ever challenged? We all have a hope, and it is our education. We would all do as the girl in the photo, now our idol because it seems to be the only honest image that can represent our generation.
Saving Palestine from destruction means recollecting our books from the rubble; that picture for us is a metaphor that perhaps only serves to move Western readers a little and publishing a melodramatic story that sells newspapers, but for us it worths much more. It is an alarm clock that helps us become aware of our potential to end up the conflict.
Tala finally recalls an exchange experience with a high school in Boulder, Colorado, about a year ago: “The American kids were complaining about how it was pointless and boring going to school; sometimes we do not appreciate the value of what we have and how lucky we are. “
For days media have been talking about harmless children killed by the Israeli drones, or the adults of Gaza who are often interviewed by reporters as a random sample, but almost never about the population 13-25.
“We bear the heaviest burden, and we would be ready to take this charge if only someone would give us the opportunity to do so through an adequate education. It does not sound like a coincidence that Israel has bombed our schools and classrooms … we are the future, and without us, Palestine will no longer exist. This is how you destroy not only a population but an entire national identity: by killing culture and students. “
Tala attends the American International School in Gaza, in the West Bank. As the majority of her classmates and friends, she sees the recent Gaza war with different eyes than the rest of the public opinion, either that of the politicians or of the adults of Gaza. And she wants to be the ambassador of these “different” ideas, that at the end of the day are just the mirror of the new Palestinian generation.
