Many aspects of life in the Holy Land can generate toxic stress for children: the blare of missile alarm systems as rockets hurdle overhead, the pang of hunger in the stomach of a child growing up in poverty, or the sense of unease and fear on the street after a terror attack from a Jewish or Palestinian extremist.
These kinds of stressors, or adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), affect the day-to-day life of children and their long-term psychosocial development- and put peace farther out of reach.