JERUSALEM-WESTBANK-GAZA - Ongoing violence and occupation is severely impacting the psychological well being of Palenstinian children and their parents.

Traumatic events such as the death or injury of family members and friends, house to house searches, mass house imprisonment, detention of people and humiliation experienced at checkpoints are causing irreparable damage to children and adults.

Many children show warning symptoms such as withdrawal, attention deficit, sleeping difficulties, nightmares, irrational fears, irritability, refusal to attend school, outbursts of anger and fighting, depression, anxiety, guilt and emotional numbing.

A recent (unpublished) study by Ms. Tamar Lavi from Tel Aviv University shows a 70 % prevalence of Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (PTSD) in Palestinian children from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while international studies about children in war-zones report that the risk for children to develop symptoms like PTSD lie between 20-60%. Such a high rate of PTSD in Palestinian children made it crucial for World Vision to take preventive measures in order to help children cope.

World Vision is currently preparing a psychosocial rehabilitation program to address the various problems that Palestinian children and their parents face. World Vision has also launched short-term psycho-social projects with children in camps during summer.