A child will be subject to loud blasting heavy metal music, deprived of food, water and washroom facilities, will witness the threats of family members and even be subject to torture – shackled for long periods, forced to sit in positions without moving, beatings etc. The children are also shown pictures of other children and asked to identify their friends and neighbours as stone throwers. Also illegal. I was quite surprised that Netanyahu announced about the 20 year sentence for stone throwing as it already exists and that there are children who have been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. I suspect this is to stir up trouble so that the Israelis can enforce another “crackdown” to steal homes and land for illegal settlers. Three situations in East Jerusalem have provoked a strong resistance to the Israeli authorities in that first of all illegal Israeli settlers have surreptitiously managed to purchase a number of apartments in Silwan, a neighbourhood below the Dome on the Rock. They have a plan to move the 16,500 Palestinian residents out of Silwan, a neighbourhood that is 1000 years old. The Israelis believe that Silwan is situated on top of a Jewish archeological site called the City of David. With millions of dollars in investment the illegal settlers have been able to establish a large park that has been connected to this theme of the City of David that draws 300,000 visitors every year. The other situation that has been a source of tremendous pressure is in the neighbourhood Shu’afat also in East Jerusalem and the home of the Abu Khdeir family for over 500 years. On July 2, 2014 16 year old Mohammed Abu Khdeir was abducted in front of his home, driven to a nearby forest, beaten, forced to drink gasoline and burned to death in revenge for the kidnappings and murders of the three Israeli teens abducted in Area C of the West Bank (no Palestinians permitted). Since the murder, the large and prominent Abu Khdeir family has been targeted by Israeli authorities who continue to arrest family members with more than 25 in detention to date and without charge. Nobody can forget the videotaped beating of American Palestinian family member Tariq Abu Khdeir two days after Mohammed’s murder who was also detained without respect for the international covenants for the rights of the child. Documented testimonies of children and families who have dealt with this system have many commonalities. The children are beaten, roughly handled, threatened and denied even to use the washroom. Parents who know that they have the right to be present during the interrogation are blocked from the authorities who fill in a form that they felt the child’s welfare was threatened by their angry parent. The reality is that unjust experiences as described here are very common. The Israelis are compelled to keep statistics of detentions, imprisonments etc. but they do not. Statistically we only know at the end of December of each year how many children are “in prison”. They are not identified as being under remand, detained without charge etc. which makes it impossible to understand the actual numbers. Furthermore expensive court costs are levied at the families including a “deposit fine” that if their child is again caught throwing rocks that they will have to pay the ransom as stipulated by the court. The lockdown of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the prevention of Muslim worshipers who face aggression from violent Israeli Settlers and heavily armed Israeli forces has added to the tension. The world knows that East Jerusalem is illegally occupied by the State of Israel. As this territory is under occupation therefore the Israelis are not permitted to charge anyone with offenses or remove them from the occupied territory but they do. Israel is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions and the international covenants on the rights of the child and no one has challenged them in the international courts for these flagrant violations. The State of Israel refers to the occupied territories as the disputed territories and the world lets them get away with that. The State of Israel has no legal jurisdiction over East Jerusalem but have since 1967 operated with impunity in defiance of international laws which go on unfettered. The next few weeks will be difficult as Netanyahu will continue to raise the tensions in East Jerusalem. We are potentially witnessing another episode of ethnic cleansing depending on how the Pan-Arab community reacts. With Egypt clearing thousands of homes outside the Rafah Crossing in the Sinai, something may be at play. And then again it just could be my imagination. Bottom line? Children’s rights are violated every day and this is one of the systemic actions that Israel has been able to operate with immunity.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 10:54:23 +0000