Schools reopened in Gaza on Saturday after Israel's devastating three-week war, and peaceful coexistence seemed further than ever from the traumatized minds of young Palestinians.
The girls seemed delighted to be back in class together, although the stories they had to swap were grim tales of dead cousins, wounded neighbors, close escapes, days without power or water, camping in the homes of relatives.
Asked why they were smiling, the girls said they were happy to be alive and safe, because during the bombing they had gone to sleep each night afraid they would never wake up again.
They got their information about the war from Arabic language broadcasters: Al Jazeera and al-Arabiya television from the Gulf, al Quds, al-Aqsa and Shehab, of Hamas, here in Gaza.
The West is seen as callous, uncaring, and pro-Israeli.
"They cry for Israelis because they lose a fingernail. They don't care if Palestinians get their heads blown off," said teacher Susan Mosleh.
"Israel attacked at the time of our exams because it wants to destroy our education," said a 15-year-old in her class. "It is not Hamas they want to kill. It is all Palestinians and their resistance."
"Israel had its own reasons," said another pupil. "They are to have an election. Our blood is the ink on the voting papers."
Some wanted freedom to travel instead of the tight Israeli blockade that suffocates the meagre economy and bars access to the outside world. But they saw no way of achieving it through compromise with the Jewish state.
Source: Reuters