Democratic Palestine : 16 (ص 23)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 16 (ص 23)
- المحتوى
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In February, the Israeli occupation
army staged a new week-long invasion
north of its self-proclaimed ‘security
zone’ - killing 17 Lebanese citizens, ter-
rorizing over 20 villages and detaining
over 2000 southerners. The Israeli air
force has staged three bombing raids in
1986, against Ain al Hilweh and Miyeh
Miyeh, outside of Saida. The most
recent, on April 7th, was particularly
massive with six US-made jets making
six bombing runs, dropping 220 kg high-
explosive bombs and firing air-to-ground
missiles. The Zionists declared that the
targets were «terrorist bases», but
among the 10 people injured were an
eight year old girl and a six year old boy.
Saida itself has been hit by several
car bombs - on February 5th and
another on April 10th which killed three
citizens and injured 35. Another car
bomb exploded in Ain al Hilweh, killing
four schoolchildren and three other
people. Local sources thought that it
was actually headed for Saida’s center,
but was stopped early and exploded in
the camp. These attacks are in addition
to continued shelling of southem vil-
lages by the Israeli and South Lebanon
Army forces, and the ongoing battle bet-
ween nationalists and fascists at the
frontline between Jezzine and Saida.
In the face of all this actual and
anticipated aggression, there is no
reason and no room for internal
Lebanese nationalist, or Lebanese-
Palestinian battles. A free and democra-
tic Lebanon can only be achieved by the
national and democratic forces’ struggle
against the opponents of this goal. It will
never be achieved by squabbling among
the national forces, each trying to
improve its own position at the expense
of others.
Visit to Ain al Hilweh
In late February, a member of the «Democratic Palestine» staff visited Saida and the two nearby Pales-
tinian camps, Ain al Hilweh and Miyeh Miyeh. Following are interviews with residents of the camps and
activists involved in various forms of mass work.
Ghassan
3
Kanafani Kindergarten
Um Nizar, director of the Ghassan Kanafani kindergarten in
Ain al Hilweh, is a 35 year old Palestinian woman, mother of
four children, ages 10 to 18. For many years she has worked in
the Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation. We interviewed
her in Ain al Hilweh in late February.
Will you give us an idea about the Kanafani Foun-
dation and the kindergarten?
After the martyrdom of Ghassan Kanafani in 1972, his
Danish wife and his friends established a cultural foundation in
his name. In particular, they had the Palestinian children in
mind, since Ghassan had great love for children and wrote
many stories for them. In 1972, the first kindergarten of the
foundation was set up in the Badawi camp (North Lebanon). It
was very simple and served 100 children. The second kinder-
garten was set up in Ain al Hilweh with 50 children. Later sev-
eral other kindergartens were started in other camps.
In Ain al Hilweh, we started with a small rented house,
then expanded until reaching our current state. Today we have
a building designed especially as a kindergarten. It is in the
shape of a hexagon on an area of 1506 m?. We have 300 chil-
dren, divided in two shifts - morning and afternoon. We have
six rooms with 25 children in each. Our staff consists of 16 edu-
cational personnel and a supervisor, three cleaning ladies, a
bus driver and a gardener. Activities include free play outdoors
and indoors, science lessons, story reading, music and drama-
tics. We give a full nutritious meal with every shift. We attend to
the health of our children. There is a monthly health check-up
and we make sure that the children have been vaccinated. We
take care of the social and psychological aspects as well. We
become like the children’s second parents and try to give them
a better life than is possible at home.
21 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 16
- تاريخ
- مايو ١٩٨٦
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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