23 October 2013 — Mondoweiss

This is a short film produced by Defence for Children Palestine. Tayma ‘Fteiha is a 13-year-old girl rapper who must share the steps to her home in Silwan, East Jerusalem, with settlers who have colonized her neighborhood and aim to demolish Palestinians houses. They flash their pistols at her as they walk up the steps. She says she feels “crushed” every time she leaves her house.

“We had a childhood just like everyone else, but it wasn’t a normal childhood,” says 13-year-old Tayma. “Everywhere we turn, the settlers are around us … They came to our land, stole our land, and are saying that it’s theirs.”…….

“All the houses here are under threat of demolition [by Israel] so that the settlers can build a park for their children,” says Tayma. “They want to throw Palestinian families on the streets so that they can build parks for their own children.”

…..

“My dream is like the dream of any Palestinian kid,” says Tayma. “It is to live in safety and not in the shadow of colonization, and not to feel crushed every time I leave the house. And my other dream is to become a famous Palestinian rapper.”