November 06, 2000, 02:43 PM
GAZA CITY (AFP English) - A sister of Mohammed Al Durra, the young
Palestinian boywhose widely-televised death by Israeli gunfire in late
September has become a symbol of the intifada, believes a ghost follows her everywhere, waiting to kill her.

Two of his brothers wet their beds at night and
have frequent nightmares, while a third refuses tobelieve Mohammed is dead.

These symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) are not confined to the Durra children,
according to therapists counseling young
Palestinians struggling to come to terms with the
killings and clashes currently characterizing life in
the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

"We are seeing more and more children suffering
from PTSD," said Rawya Hamam, a therapist from
the Gaza Community Mental Health Association.

"All children are affected either directly or indirectly," Hamam told AFP.

Symptoms of the disorder, she said, include thumb sucking, crying, clinging
to parents,nightmares, bed-wetting, poor appetite, poor sleeping patterns, short
attention spans, and aggression towards siblings or parents.

Palestinian television, which shows non-stop images of the intifada, or
uprising against Israel, including close-up views of bodies after they have been ripped
apart by bullets, gun battles, funerals and grieving relatives, is exacerbating the situation,
Hamam said.

The repeated broadcasting of Mohammed's death is having a particularly
devastating effect, she added.

The footage shows 11-year-old Mohammed cowering in terror next to his
father -- who is signaling for help from behind the small concrete wall where they are
trapped -- then being struck by bullets; and finally lying slumped across his wounded
father's lap.

The boy was killed just days after the September 28 start of the intifada
when he and his father were caught at the center of a fierce firefight between Israelis and
Palestinians near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, just outside Gaza City.

Hamam said children have taken to re-enacting the scene on school
playgrounds, one child taking the part of the father, the other of Mohammed.

"Other children say they are afraid they are going
to die the way Mohammed did," she said.

One child, named Hamza, told her, "I am afraid to
go to school. I am the same age as Mohammed. I don't want to be killed."

Mohammed Makhamier, who is involved in
counseling the seven remaining Durra children,
said the family has been especially traumatized,
not only because of Mohammed's death but also
due to the intense media attention on them, and
because of the repeated screening of the incident on television.

Nora, 6, the one who sees the ghost, is afraid to sleep at night because of
recurring nightmares. The children, he says, have become more isolated and withdrawn
and no longer want to go to school.

While most of the children believe their brother is now "a bird in
Paradise", Adam, 7, still believes Mohammed, "who used to protect me from the bullies at school",
will come walking home one of these days.

The Gaza Community Mental Health Association devotes most of its energies
to providing counseling at schools, but has also set up a hotline for parents to
telephone should they notice symptoms of PTSD.

A Palestinian journalist, who preferred not to be named, said he is
considering joining the dozens of callers who daily make use of the service.

His eldest daughters, aged nine and 10, he said, are convinced they are
going to be killed by Israeli rockets, after seeing helicopters launching attacks on Gaza
City.

"When they see the 'ugly pictures' on television, they scream," he said,
adding that he has now forbidden any switching over to the channel screening the intifada
footage.

One daughter after seeing a rocket attack on television news telephoned
him, screaming, "I am going to die, the Israelis are coming to kill us".

Normally top of her class, the daughter handed in a blank paper after a
test at school last week, even though she knew her work.

When questioned, she said she was terrified the school was going be hit by Israeli
rockets.

"This is how our children are being affected. It makes me want to cry," the
journalist said.