The Six Day War | Survivor bears the wounds of conflict and occupation

On June 5, 1967, when the Six Day War between Israel and Arab countries broke out, I was 3 years old.

I was separated from my family that night because I could not put my shoes on quickly enough. I found my family the next day, but my sense of safety in the world had been shattered.

I continued to put on my shoes every evening for many years after that because living under occupation, I was always worried that the war might start suddenly again.

Despite 40 years of media coverage about the Israeli occupation, many Americans seem not to know the story of the Palestinians or what the occupation means. Because misinformation about the humanity of others often fuels war, one of the ways we can heal is to share stories about our experiences. Here is my story:

I am a Palestinian who lived 20 years of my life under occupation.

As a teenager living in Ramallah in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I endured oppression as a normal way of life. I felt that I had no right to live. The very existence of the Palestinians was often spoken about by Israeli media as a problem — an obstacle to peace.

Israeli soldiers often arrested Palestinian men between ages 15 and 35. No one knew where they were taken to or when they would return home. Israeli soldiers sometimes broke into homes between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., searching for suspects.

Curfews were imposed with no warning — for days, sometimes weeks. One could go outside for two hours every three days, maybe.

Israeli-Palestinian prisoner exchanges were made in the ratio of one dead or living Israeli for hundreds of living Palestinians. The underlying message about the worth of a Palestinian in such an equation was devastating.

And the harsh circumstances of life under occupation have been getting more extreme. Now, a wall twice the height of the former Berlin Wall cuts Palestinians from their orchards, relatives, workplaces and schools.

In Beit Iksa, my mother's village, the wall means that students who finish middle school cannot go to secondary school because it is in a neighboring village on the other side of the wall.

Palestinians also wait for hours at the endless checkpoints, and many people are turned back. People suffering from emergencies, diabetes, cancer or heart disease cannot get timely medical care, if at all.

I came to the United States in 1986 and found Palestinian viewpoints mostly absent from the mainstream conversation. Palestinians are talked about often, but are not necessarily talked with.

The United States influences both Israelis and Palestinians. To be an ally of freedom and security in the world, the U.S. government needs to support a just approach that ends violent oppression.

Occupation cannot lead to peace and safety for either Israelis or Palestinians. There is a strong link between human rights and genuine peace. And this peace is within our reach.

Guarding the freedom and dignity of everyone like we guard our own not only creates peace but also preserves our humanity.

I dream that some day soon, no more children experience war. No more children grow up under occupation. No more children have to put on their shoes every evening to heal an indelible wound.

Ibtisam Barakat is the author of "Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007). The writer wrote this for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine.