Around the world, millions of children are the unheard voices of war. And the horrors they witness today will inform the adults they become tomorrow. Will they grow up to be the next leaders, teachers, freedom fighters or terrorists?
Children of Conflict is a four-part series which explores the lives of children whose lives are blighted by growing up in conflict zones. Nadene Ghouri goes in search of what the past has created and what the future holds for these young people.
She travels to Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lebanon but begins her journey in Gaza, where she meets children growing up in an environment of frequent violence and constant economic depression.
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PART ONE: Gaza
One of the World's biggest news stories, in one of the smallest and most claustrophobic strips of land on earth. Gaza is a virtual prison with no way in and hardly any way out.
In an exclusive story, we talk to the grandchildren of Fatima Al Najar – the oldest female Palestinian suicide bomber. Bewildered and grieving for their grandmother, the children say all they want to do is to follow suit and become 'martyrs' themselves.
"I want to do the same. And I will recruit the other children of this town for martyrdom," says 14 year old Fatima. When she grows up she wants to study chemistry and engineering at university. "That's if I don't become a martyr first," she says.
Her views are contrasted with another girl, 13 year old Rana, who dreams of being a journalist "so I can tell people how we suffer here. I am a child, I know what death means, I know what war means, I know what blood means. Me and all the children here know what it means".
Or Tehal, just 10 years old – and who wants to be the first female Palestinian president.
Her three wishes? To clean up the mess left behind by Israeli bulldozers, to give children their rights "because they have no rights here" and finally, "to build a new Gaza".
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