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IN THE WAKE OF THE TERROR ATTACKS
Fearful youth and children seek
support
The special hotlines for Jerusalem students have received thousands of appeals for help
and counseling on how to deal with the terror - related tension and anxiety.
In the wake of the wave of terror attacks in Jerusalem,
thousands of children and youth have called the
special hotline set up by the Ministry of Education,
and the Youth-to-Youth Hotline run by the Jerusalem
municipality.
Among the callers, the youngest being a 10-year-old,
were pupils who had survived terror attacks, as well as
those who had lost friends to terror.
“I can still see the ball of fire and the blood, and I can
still hear the screams – I’m scared,” said one.
“I said goodbye to a friend just two minutes before the
explosion in Jerusalem and now I feel guilty he was
killed and not me. Maybe I could have saved him,”
said another.
Yael Rottenberg, who is in charge of the Education
Ministry’s hotline said, “We tell the callers that it’s all
right to feel scared and to encounter difficulties as a
result of their experiences. Most of those calling
express feelings of anxiety, helplessness and
frustration.”
A boy who recently called the hotline said he had
witnessed a terror attack, and that the television news
of new attacks just keeps the memories painfully
fresh. “I’m scared. I can't fall asleep at night,” he told
the hotline.
The Jerusalem municipality’s Youth-to-Youth Hotline,
run by specially trained young people, has also received
a large number of calls. “Many of the kids feel better
talking to other kids, who can identify with what they
are going through,” said a psychologist supervising the
project.
The two hotlines have received many calls from
students afraid to even go to school. One boy said he
gets off the bus one stop before his regular stop,
because he is afraid of an attack. Others asked the
Ministry of Education to run special bus lines to
school to keep them from being exposed to suicide
attacks. “Many children said they plan to keep away
from malls and restaurants, and that they won’t take
the bus.”
Palestinian terror targets Israeli schools
and schoolchildren: A partial list
November 11, 2000: A Palestinian-made rifle-launched
grenade lands in Israeli territory and is found
by a student of the Neveh Dekalim School. The
student brings the grenade to school and it blows up.
Five students are lightly wounded.
April 4, 2001: Three mORTar shells are launched at the
Kfar Darom School.
March 29, 2001: A car loaded with explosives driven
by a Palestinian suicide bomber explodes next to a
school bus on the road joining Kedumim and Shavei
Shomron. The bus is damaged, but no one is hurt.
May 30, 2001: A parked car loaded with explosives
blows up just outside the ORT Leibowitz High School in
Netanya. No one in the school is hurt, but six
passersby suffer from shock.
July 9, 2001: A school bus passing through the
Kissufim crossing is spared when a car bomb driven by
a Palestinian suicide bomber – aimed at the bus –
explodes early, some 50 meters from the bus.
August 28, 2001: A 60mm mORTar shell lands in a
schoolyard in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood.
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