Palestinian children: Imprisonment & torture - a new policy.
saleh on November 29th, 2005Under 17’s form over 50% of the population here & I’ve been quite disturbed by the many accounts of arrest and torture of Palestinian children whilst here.
My time spent in the village of Marda and elsewhere a tangible sense of restlesness, internalised anger & alienation was evident amongst children. This was new, harvest teams and internationals from previous years confirmed that the children in Marda and elsewhere were behaving noticably different this year. Further enquiry confirmed a new policy of arrests (often in the middle of the night), detention and torture directed at children by the Israeli millitary. The situation was bad enough in Marda for the harvest team to discuss finding ways of supporting Marda’s children.
I followed this up with some research on the Defence for Children International’s website & the emerging picture is brutal. They’ve produced an excellent report Surviving the Present: Facing the Future (Pdf file).
I’ve also been recommended the following book:
“Stolen Youth: The Politics of Israel’s Detention of Palestinian Children”
by Catherine Cook, Adam Hanieh, and Adah Kay
Pluto Press, London, 2004. 197 pages
It draws on information from B’Tselem, The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, Physicians for Human Rights, the Gaza Community Mental Health Program & testomonials from children themselves, book review here.
Quotes from the Defence for children International Website
“The torture and psychological maltratment that children have reported includes humiliations, bieng subjected to cursing and threats of death, sexual abuse, attacks by dogs or exposure to electric shocks, bieng beaten, handcuffed, made to sit or stand for prolongd periods in excruciatingly painful positions and deprivation of food, sleep and access to the toilet.”
“These methods, which have a profound impact on the long term physical and psychological wellbieng of the child, are used to force juveniles into confessing and sometimes to coerce children into acting as collabrators for the Israeli authorities.”
“New repressive laws have paved the way for an escalation in arbitrary arrests and incidences of torture and mistreatment of Palestinian children.”
“A mounting number of children are being charged under the draconian administrative detention law which allows for detention without published charges or evidence for up to 6 months”
“The huge increase in arrests has overloaded the Israeli prison system meaning that children are held for long periods of time in temporary facilities, which are little more than medieval dungeons”
“Once the foreign protestors and camera crews have packed up and left, Israeli police and soldiers re-enter the villages to detain locals who they claim have been participating in the [peaceful] demonstrations. The children are taken together with the adults first to the nearest police station for interrogation, and then on to detention centres where they are held pending trial.”
“Children involved in peaceful protest against the Wall should never be subjected to tear gassing, violence or intimidation at the hands of soldiers, nor be arrested. These children should not receive especially severe sentences because of their involvement in protest against the wall.”
“The vast majority of children killed in 2004 were not partcipating in violent confrontations with israeli forces, but died while going about their daily lives”
“The Commitee on the Rights of the Child expressed grave concern of Israelis treatment of Palestinian children under arrest, during interrogation and in prison … the commitee called on Israel to investigate all cases of torture and inhumane and degrading treatment by Police officers & government officials and bring the perpetrators of these violations to justice. Two years on, it is as if these reccomendations, and this criticism of Israeli practices, had never been made.”
Source: Surviving the Present: Facing the Future (Pdf file)
