TITLE: More Than 250 Palestinian Children Detained Since 28 September 2000

AUTHOR:

PUB: DCI/PS

DATE: January 15, 2001

Israel's excessive use of force since 28 September 2000 has taken many orms. Among their harshest tactics has been the detention of minors, with more than 250 children detained during the three months since the beginning of the Intifada. While the rights of Palestinian children are violated on a daily basis by the Israeli occupation, we have witnessed a severe intensification of this trend since late September, with the first detention occurring 30 September 2000, shortly after the almost daily clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians began. As a States Party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which entered into force in Israel on 2 November 1991, Israel is bound to uphold the articles contained therein. However, Israel's record during the past three months as well as before illustrates a patent disregard for its commitments under international law. Article 37 of the CRC states that "the arrest or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time." The article also asserts that "every child deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person," and that "no child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." In contrast, however, Palestinian children arrested, detained, and/or imprisoned by the Israeli occupation authorities routinely face violations of their rights, as provided in the CRC, the UN Convention Against Torture, the Fourth Geneva Convention and other international instruments. Such violations include being subjected to: torture, both physical and psychological; arbitrary arrests and detention; detention without trial; detention with criminal prisoners; detention with adult prisoners; and detention outside of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Furthermore, in 1999, the Israeli military once again began implementing Military Order #132, which allows for the arrest and detention of Palestinian children from 12-14 years of age. The Order, which was implemented during the first Intifada, was frozen after the signing of the Declaration of Principles in 1993. However, after the coming to office of Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the Military Order was re-instituted. One result of this has been the recent detention of numerous fourteen-year-old children. Prior to the beginning of the Intifada, approximately 70 Palestinian minors were detained in Israeli prisons. The number of children who have been detained following arrest in the recent period brings the total number of Palestinian children currently detained in Israeli prisons to more than 250. These children range in age from 14 to 17 years, with at least 105 of them from Jerusalem. During the past three months alone, Defence for Children International/Palestine Section's (DCI/PS) attorney has handled approximately 30 cases of minors arrested by the Israeli occupation authorities. The children are being held in Gush Etzion (near Bethlehem), Maskobiyya (in Jerusalem), Huwarra (in Nablus), Kadomin (Tulkarem and Qalqilya), Salem (Jenin), Ashkelon (near Gaza), Al-Jalemeh (near Haifa), Telmond (in Israel) and Megiddo (in Israel) prisons. Several of the arrests of children have been 'group' arrests, targeting groups of children in particular locations. Thirty-one of the thirty-five children from the village of Husam, near Bethlehem, have been arrested in this manner. In addition to being arrested, children are further traumatized by the nature of the arrests, which involves several stages. Children are usually arrested in their homes in the middle of the night, as Israeli soldiers forcibly enter the home, conduct a 'search' during which contents of the home are upset and family members are threatened and verbally abused. Even domestic space that is usually considered a safe-haven, a private realm, a respite from the insecurities of life in the streets, is disrupted and forced open to an external power. The violation of the house is both symbol and practice of the Israeli government's systematic control over Palestinians' lives. The occupying force persists in the investiture of the Palestinian's bodies and homes with a logic of shame and insecurity. Any encompassing structure that might afford a person some modicum of protection, security and privacy, has become for Palestinians a forcibly appropriated arena. The children are subsequently placed under detention and interrogated, during which time they are frequently tortured, which includes being beaten and subjected to "position abuse," or shabeh. Prisoners in shabeh are tied up in extremely painful positions, shackled to walls or small chairs that force them to contort their bodies, left in the same position for hours or days. The initial discomfort quickly turns to pain and grows more intense as time passes. In September 6, 1999, the Israeli High Court of Justice issued a decision to ban violent interrogation methods used against Palestinians by members of the Israeli General Security Services (shabak). Despite this ruling, cases of Israeli torture of detainees continue to be regularly reported. Moreover, it is important to note that this ruling addressed only members of the shabak, and did not address torture inflicted by Israeli police or military officials. By Israeli military order, it is permitted to detain Palestinian children for an initial four days, and then extend the detention another four days. After these eight days, in order to allow time to prepare a case to be raised against the child in military court, the prosecutor can order yet another extension of the child's detention. The prosecutor then requests the judge to arrest--not sentence--the child, and presents a charge sheet. The child can be held in this liminal status without sentence indefinitely, as has been the case with 17 year old Su'ad Ghazal. Though arrested in December 1998, Su'ad has yet to be sentenced. Palestinian children are left under circumstances which are not only difficult, but which also violate the children's human rights as laid out by the CRC and a number of other human rights agreements and conventions to which Israel is a party. Since the beginning of the Intifada, prisoners from the West Bank have been barred by the Israeli occupation authorities from family visits. In addition, in Telmond prison, more than 30 Palestinian children political prisoners are being held with criminal prisoners. The children being held in Telmond who come from Jerusalem have been arrested for throwing stones. Whereas children from the West Bank arrested for the same reason are detained as "security" prisoners, children from Jerusalem are detained as criminal offenders, on the charge of "blocking traffic." Not only does this system violate Israel's own laws requiring separation between "security" and criminal prisoners, detention with criminal detainees further places Palestinian children in dangerous and often corrupting situations. Evidence of a clear Israeli policy targeting children is clear from the increased number of arrests and length of sentences for Palestinian children. In the recent period, Israeli prosecutors have been requesting judges to issue longer sentences for children arrested for throwing stones, whether they are charged with criminal or "security" offences. Beginning in 1999, prosecutors began requesting sentences longer than the six-month maximum sentence routinely issued for Palestinian minors arrested for throwing stones. However in the recent period, prosecutors have further increased the requested sentence, with prosecutors routinely asking for sentences of a year or more imprisonment. Recently, after a prosecutor asked for sentences of 1 ½ years for two children, the DCI/PS lawyer succeeded in reducing the sentences to nine and ten months. Also disturbing are statements made by the judge in this case, as well as the appeals court, saying that the courts must not differentiate between children and adults who are engaged in stone throwing. It is clear that Israel's treatment of Palestinian children, throughout this Intifada and before, demonstrates their blatant disregard for Palestinian children's rights. Particularly disturbing is that indicators of the present situation were evident prior to the Intifada, beginning in 1999 with the re-implementation of Military Order #132, the initiation of mass arrests, and increased sentence lengths. In 1998, the DCI/PS attorney followed-up 89 cases of minors detained by the Israeli occupation authorities. In 1999 that numbered jumped to 202. DCI/PS urges local and international activists, organizations, and institutions to demand the prompt release of all Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons and detention centers. Please send faxes and emails to the following officials, and please cc. DCI/PS. Prime Minister Ehud Barak +972 2 566 4838 Minister of Justice Yossi Beilin +972 2 628 5438 Defence for Children International/Palestine Section is an independent, Palestinian non-governmental organization, established in 1992 to promote and protect the rights of Palestinian children as articulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as in other international instruments. DCI/PS, P.O. Box 55201, Jerusalem Tel: +972 2 240 7530 Fax: +972 2 240 7018 (Note: please try and use +970, if the above country code does not work) Email: dcipal@palnet.com END top