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Last update - 22:09 21/08/2008 Middle-class Palestinian parents can't wait for school By Avi Issacharoff Tags: Ramallah, summer vacation RAMALLAH - Rula Ghanem sighs when asked to describe what she did with her children during summer vacation. She works for a nongovernmental organization in Ramallah, and her husband, Mazan, holds a senior position in the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Local Government. She enrolled both their children, a daughter and a son, in day camp, to give their lives some structure. "I wanted it to continue for as long as possible," Ghanem told Haaretz. "But after a few weeks, Hiam, 8, and Fadi, 6, informed us that they had had enough. Many of the camps in Ramallah are not very good and provide no added value to the children. They don't learn new things and most of the time they're in the sun, so our children asked to stay at home." Hiam and Fadi have been at home during the day, unsupervised, ever since. "I don't have a choice. They use the computer, ride their bikes a bit and watch television, and they manage. The main problem is they don't have a framework in the morning hours," Ghanem explains. At the start of the summer, Rula and Mazen took the kids for a few days to a hotel in Jericho, a popular vacation destination for people from the West Bank. "We also planned a longer vacation in Tunisia, but when we got to the Allenby Bridge [at the Jordanian border], the Israelis made us turn back because my son, Fadi, doesn't have a proper identity card. I have an East Jerusalem ID card and my husband's from the West Bank, so there were some registration problems," she says. Advertisement Many of the Ghanems' friends vacationed in Jericho. The resort village at Ein Bidan, near Nablus, and another one near Bethlehem, are also very popular among locals, although some people prefer taking a longer trip abroad, generally to an Arab state. Those with Israeli ID cards or with connections within the PA can even go to Israel. Hotels in Nazareth and Haifa are particularly desirable destinations. Rula Ghanem says the many swimming pools in Ramallah, however, offer the most popular way of beating the heat for both local children with nothing to do and their parents. Still waters Ziad, 13, and his friend Hisham, 12, stand at the edge of the pool and carefully plan their joint jump into the water. "One, two, three," they say and jump in, but their timing is less than satisfactory, and Hisham lags behind his friend. The school year begins in only five days, and the boys say the only thing they miss is their friends. "We don't want to go back to school. During the school year we don't have many chances to play together," Ziad explains. "It's best when there's no school, and we do whatever we want." Together with their friend Bilal ("He's sick today, so he didn't come), they usually play basketball nearly every day, watch hours of television and play with their Playstation, and once a week they go to the pool at one of Ramallah's famous hotels. Ziad and Hisham sit at a plastic table near the beautiful pool and try to understand their parents' attitude to summer vacation. "I think my parents would like to see me back in school already," Ziad says. "I know they're not happy with the fact that I'm not doing anything and that all I do most of the day is watch TV." Hisham disagrees. "I don't think it bothers them. I'd do the same things during the school year. At the start of vacation, I went to the library a lot and read quite a bit, so I'm doing important things." Hisham and his family vacationed in Jordan. "We were at Al-Quds Hotel for a week. We went to the mall a lot, and also swam in the pool." In the final analysis, it seems that, even though he won't admit it, Hisham misses school a little. One can assume that so do his parents. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Tears of joy Shahar Zubari's bronze medal was Israel's first of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 'Germ of corruption' Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeats his prediction that Israel will be wiped off the map.   1.   Middle Class Palestinians? 00:41  |  Chafeeka 22/08/08   2.   not only middle-class 11:28  |  julia 22/08/08   3.   Wow! Haifa and Nazareth! 13:46  |  SA 22/08/08

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