Remember these children
By: Tom Patton, UK
When is a child not a child?
Whereas Israeli children receive appropriate protection until they reach the age of 18, Israel treats Palestinian young people as adults from the age of 16[1], thus contravening the Convention on the Rights of the Child [2].
On 18 May 2007, 398 Palestinian children were in detention in the West Bank[3] and 10 in Gaza[4]. The UN classes them as political prisoners. The Israeli military generally detains them in adult interrogation centres before transfer to a central prison – an adult prison if they are over 16. They are routinely detained and tried without due process, without access to a lawyer during interrogation. Some have been subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment including blindfolding, handcuffing, beatings, sleep deprivation, position abuse, yelling and swearing and threats, including threats to members of their families[5].
The number of shootings of children by the IDF bears witness to the value attached by the military to the life of a Palestinian child. Questioned by Amira Hass of the Jerusalem newspaper Ha'aretz, an Israeli sharpshooter is reported as saying, "You don't shoot a child who is 12 or younger. Twelve and up is allowed. He's not a child anymore."[6]
But age is no protection. A 5-year old boy was killed in December 2006 by gunfire to his head. He was throwing stones[7]. In January 2007, a 10-year-old girl died of head wounds caused by an IDF percussion grenade during a demonstration against the annexation wall that cuts through the schoolyard[8] These are not exceptional occurrences.
Collaborators
As part of the programme, EAs met Ruth Hiller from the Israeli Peace Group, New Profile - a 'feminist grassroots movement' that 'works in a variety of ways to demilitarise the Israeli culture, society and political system.' Drawing largely on a parallel report published by Defence for Children International – Palestine, New Profile's 2004 Report, Child Recruitment in Israel[9], describes two ways[10] in which Palestinian children are recruited by the Israeli armed forces.
One of the tactics used to get information from the Palestinian Territories is to recruit informants. According to the DCI-P Report, 63% of children detained by Israeli security forces were asked or pressured to work as Israel Security Agency collaborators[11]. One of the issues arising from the case studies that the Report describes is the use of torture as a tactic for recruiting child collaborators.
Raed, from Gaza, told his story:
I was arrested on 12 January 2004 while I was crossing the Green Line into Israel to seek work. … In seconds I found myself surrounded by Israeli soldiers who arrested me. I was detained for two months. I was under investigation for ten days, for nearly five hours daily. I was beaten, tortured, threatened, cuffed, and sworn at. During interrogation, I lost my strength day by day. After ten days, I was surprised by the good treatment from the investigators. They took off my handcuffs and the investigator started to talk to me in a gentle way. He told me that they know about my family's bad economic situation and they are going to help me. Then he said that he only wants me to help them in return.[12]
He was finally recruited using sexual extortion.
Raed's is not an exceptional case.
An EAs experience
A month ago, I travelled on a Sunday morning to Nablus with one of my colleagues. Outside of East Jerusalem, Nablus is Palestine's largest city. It includes the site of the Biblical city of Shechem – the Canaanite city to which Abram travelled from Ur[13] and in which his grandson, Jacob, settled his family,[14] the place to which Joseph went to find his brothers only to be sold by them to traders as a slave.[15]
We reached the checkpoint at Beit Eba to the west of the city, situated below the steeply climbing heights of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. We had arranged to meet with two of our colleagues from Yanoun at the Anglican church of St Luke near the Old City. Our taxi took us up into the narrow east-west valley between the mountains, where the city is situated.
Once a month, the congregation is visited by a priest. A deacon from Ramallah conducted the service. There was a congregation of perhaps 30 to 40 people.
Using the Arabic translation of the Book of Common Prayer all seemed to be going to plan. We couldn't follow the preacher's words but he was well into his stride when, suddenly, there was an interruption - a burst of what seemed to be very close gunfire, echoed from elsewhere and punctuated by the slower and less regular boom of heavier explosions. No one in the congregation stirred, so neither did we. The preacher went on with his sermon.
Later, after the service we met a shopkeeper who told us what had happened. A funeral had been taking place, following the death of a boy. On Friday evening, two days earlier, IDF undercover soldiers had entered one of the three refugee camps in Nablus looking for a 17 year-old lad. Not finding him there, they went on to the Old City, found him, took him into a shop and killed him.
Other incidents of children killed
I have no further details but I know that these 'targeted assassinations' are not always – how would you put it – short and sharp? Clean and tidy? In February 2005, a 17 year-old boy from Dura, near Hebron[16], was killed by IDF gunfire to his chest, abdomen, pelvis and right leg after he was beaten.
In July 2004, in Tulkarm, a few miles north of Jayyous, two 16-year-old boys[17] were gunned down by undercover police while sitting in a restaurant.
Again in Tulkarm, in August 2005, three 16 year-olds lads[18] from the refugee camp were killed by undercover IDF gunfire.
Is violence the only option?
For the State of Israel, conflict seems to be resolved only by violence – there is no other option on the table. If you are comfortable with this, I know that you will do nothing.
On the other hand, there is always something we can do to support those Palestinians and Israelis longing for justice, freedom and life.
[1] Israeli Military Order 132
[2] Save the Children Briefing Paper Children in the occupied Palestinian territory,
18 May 2007
[3] As quoted by Save the Children from The humanitarian Monitor; Occupied
Palestinian Territory, February 2007, page 7
4 Quoted by Save the Children from the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights,
www.mezan.org
5 Palestinian Child Political Prisoners, 2006 Report, Defence for Children International – Palestine Section
[6] Ha'aretz 20 November 2000
[7] Jamil Abdul-Karim Jamil Jabji from Askar refugee camp - Information from Remember
These Children published by The American Educational Trust, PO Box 53062 Washington DC 20009
8 Abir Bassam Abed-Rabo Al-Aramin of Anata near Jerusalem - Information from
Remember These Children published by The American Educational Trust, PO Box 53062 Washington DC 20009
[9] Child Recruitment in Israel New Profile 2004
[10] The second way is their use as 'human shields' – see pp.48-49 of the Report
[11] Child Recruitment in Israel New Profile 2004, p.47
[12] Defence for Children International – Palestine Section, Documentation Unit, as
quoted on p.47 of the 2004 New Profile report Child Recruitment in Israel.
[13] Genesis 12:5-7
[14] Genesis 33:18-20
[15] The whole Joseph story can be found in Genesis 37:2 – 47:31
[16] Sabri Fayez Younis Al-Rioub - Information from Remember These Children
published by The American Educational Trust, PO Box 53062 Washington DC 20009
[17] Said Jamal Said Abu-Qamer and Ahmad Nabil Ahmad Barouq Information from
Remember These Children published by The American Educational Trust, PO Box 53062 Washington DC 20009
[18] Anas Marouf Assaf Abu-Zaina, Muhammad Tariq Abdul-Latif Othman and Mahmoud
Muhammad Ismael Hudaib. Information from Remember These Children
published by The American Educational Trust, PO Box 53062 Washington DC 20009
