Children in Mideast War Zone: 'Why Are They Trying to Kill Us?'

On Both Sides of the Border, Displaced Kids Learning Fear and Hate
ABC News
Jul. 26, 2006

July 25, 2006 — One of the greatest tragedies of war is the loss and suffering of innocent people.

In the Middle East, young children caught in the war zone are the most innocent of victims.

Since the warfare between Israel and Hezbollah militants started almost two weeks ago, approximately 600,000 people have become homeless in Lebanon.

Approximately 10,000 more lose their homes every day, U.N. officials say, and half of those displaced people are children.

Some remain in parks and playgrounds; others board ships to get out of the country. Yet other displaced children are injured and stuck in hospital beds, unable to leave.

"The first bomb hit my mother. The second hit the leg of my grandmother, and she died," a young girl in a hospital said to ABC News.

Suffering on Web Video

Children make up one-third of the population of Lebanon. You only have to look at their drawings to see their suffering.

A 15-year-old girl from Haifa, Israel, posted a video clip on the Internet, so people could see what her life was like every day.

Her video is set in Sania Park, a homeless camp in Beirut, Lebanon. It looks like a peaceful setting, but Sania Park is a homeless camp.

Children live there, playing in a bomb shelter, under daily threat from Hezbollah missiles.

In south Beirut, there is a playground in the parking garage of a mall. A thousand people live there, including hundreds of kids, hiding from Israel's bombs.

They ask simple questions, such as: Why is America's Army giving the Israeli army the weapons to kill us?

These children believe Israel and the United States are trying to kill them. They say Hezbollah, which runs the shelter, is there to help them.

"Because he help us and don't want us to die," one 10-year-old said.