When Israel claimed women were sexually assaulted on a mass scale on October 7, the world exploded. Almost the entirety of Israel’s genocidal war was based on these and other allegations, many unsubstantiated. We all remember the infamous’40 beheaded babies” story, do we not?

This article is not about Israeli allegations per se, neither will it only focus on violations against Palestinian women. This is about a world that is immediately up in arms when one side merely alleges atrocities while it turns a blind eye to actual documented violations against the “other”.

In Gaza, it is painfully clear that we indeed, are ‘the other’. How else can anyone explain the muted cries of women being stripped, raped, starved and murdered practically in real time, on our phone screens, documented in UN reports and described in horrific detail in eyewitness testimonies? There is no other explanation than that Palestinians are what Arundhati Roy calls “Children of a lesser God”. We are the victims of deep-rooted colonialism, one whose geographic demarcations may have vanished but whose insidious, dehumanizing mentality still prevails and manifests in the ugliest of manners.

For nearly six months, Palestinians have endured unspeakable atrocities at the hands of Israel’s occupying army. Today, the Gaza Strip has been reduced to an emaciated shell of what it once was. As Gaza is being systematically decimated and ethnically cleansed, the world, for the most part, looks on. Barring sympathetic supporters and a few well-intended but timid political actors, nothing has been done to stop the carnage. Palestinians once believed there was no way the world would allow Israel to erase Gaza off the map, no way it could see a live-streamed genocide and do nothing. But that is exactly what is happening.

Then, when we thought things could not get any worse, something unfathomable emerged from the deathtrap of Gaza. When this happened, we were certain it would be the turning point in this hellish nightmare. Well-documented reports, corroborated by the UN and eyewitnesses on the ground, told of harrowing stories of sexual assault against Palestinian women in Gaza.

We were paralysed with horror when we heard of women being raped by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza, assaulted and stripped in front of their families. What’s worse, we all know that in times like these, the undocumented atrocities will far outnumber those documented. Who knows what horrors will unfold once the dust settles in Gaza; no doubt they will be so horrific, our entire nation will be traumatized for years to come.

The real question here is not how Israel’s soldiers perpetrated such gross violations. I think by now we can all agree that this depraved military establishment and its political echelon to boot, has dehumanized and vilified Palestinians so much and for so long, they will justify just about anything. No, the question is more about the moral compass of the rest of the world. While alliances and political interests are always part of the equation, even when the issue pertains to basic human rights, nothing can better explain the blatant hypocrisy, double standards and loss of collective humanity than the deafening silence today.

Our women have not only been killed, starved and displaced, they have been exposed to the very violations that sparked global outrage and a genocidal war against an entire population under occupation, unprecedented in modern history. This is not only unacceptable, it is an indelible stain on humanity. Sexual violence is a crime so heinous it is imperative to condemn and prevent, no matter the perpetrator or the victim. That must always be the baseline in any argument.

Palestinians will never get past this genocide; it is not something you can come back from. However, be assured, this is not only about the Palestinians. The world’s women, the majority of so-called feminists who have remained disgustingly silent, must know this: when you do not stand up for women, all women, no one will stand up for you in your time of need.

I once heard that anger is not a real emotion, but a cover for other feelings such as sadness, disappointment or fear. You need to peel back that outer layer to understand what is really going on inside.

Strange how this has lately resurfaced for me, but I think I know why. Lately, I and surely, millions of other Palestinians, have been filled with a blinding rage -- at Israel, at the United States, and at the world overall. This is a rage that is all-encompassing, the depth of which is palpable at the cellular level, permeating every molecule and every atom of our being. The genocide in the Gaza Strip has grated our emotions raw and we are left stinging and burning from our head to our toes.

Our anger is like a huge magnetosphere and we are all trapped inside, but its walls are translucent and we can see the source of our rage mocking us from beyond. We Palestinians are angry because we are so disappointed and we are angry because we are disillusioned and we are angry because we are drowning in sorrow.

Our disappointment lies in the fact that the world has failed us in the worst possible way and has allowed the unspeakable to be committed against us. Genocide is the ‘mother of all crimes’ and, contrary to the promises, the conventions and the historical lessons the world was supposed to learn, it has been committed over and over again. The Palestinian genocide, however, is unique in at least one way: it is live-streamed, which means no one can claim ignorance and everyone has a responsibility in stopping it. Hence, our disappointment is not limited to countries, Arab or otherwise, or to international and human rights organizations. It has spread to everyone in our orbit; acquaintances and people we thought were friends, but whose silence towards our slaughter is a deafening betrayal. Our sense of disappointment has discolored every relationship it touches because every relationship for us is a dichotomy: you are either with or against genocide and either support Palestine in word and deed, or not.

Our anger is a thin veil concealing our disillusion with the international community and its institutions, supposedly established to protect people in situations precisely like ours. We have confirmed what we knew all along, that these organizations were constructed for some and not all, for colonial powers and not those who suffer beneath them. Even when the highest court in the land rules in our favor, the Global North ensures that its ruling will not be implemented to save us, the oppressed, indigenous brown people whose lives apparently do not matter.

And finally, our anger is a survival mechanism to shield us from our own grief. Our sorrow over the murdered men, women and children, defenseless, homeless, starving and shivering in the cold, is so deep, so immense, we ourselves cannot fathom it. If we dare peek behind this anger and truly feel a fraction of the aching in our hearts, it will paralyze us for sure, because no people can endure the magnitude and scale of such suffering and not lose their minds.

We Palestinians know we cannot let go and that a new day is near. We know we must hold on just a little bit longer, because Palestine depends on it. We are no strangers to oppression, suffering and sacrifice and we know the price of our freedom has and continues to be painfully high. Still, we also know that a life without shackles and the yoke of oppression around our weary necks is the only life worth living.

This may be the hardest article I’ve written so far, for obvious reasons. As the genocide in Gaza grinds on into its fourth month, with winter in full force, the situation is so dire it has been described as hell on earth. To date, some 27,000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel, nearly 70% of them women and children. Another 70,000 have been wounded and at least 1.9 million people have been displaced. With only 2.3 million in the Gaza Strip to start with, this computes to 1% of its population being exterminated, and in less than four months.

However, in the midst of these horrific times, let us allow ourselves a sliver of hope. The ICJ ruling, announced on January 26, prompted mixed feelings among Palestinians who naturally, wanted to hear a clear and firm demand on Israel to stop its onslaught. However, even without the express demand for a ceasefire, the ICJ offered something to the Palestinians for which they have been demanding for many years: their suffering, their plight and the brutal oppression they live under, was finally acknowledged by the highest court in the world. More importantly, Israel is being called out for its crimes, displayed in real time for all to see. For this, we will be eternally grateful to South Africa and its exceptional legal team for bringing this case of genocide to the ICJ and forcing the world to look straight down the barrel of Israel’s cruel intentions.

Of course, for the Palestinians, we did not need an international court to tell us that Israel is committing a genocide, but it was cathartic to hear this acknowledged on a global platform. While we are aware that the actual charge of genocide perhaps needs years to prove, it only takes hearing the ruling and the case argued by South Africa to surmise that Israel is as good as convicted.

This is not insignificant, and we will cling to any shred of hope we can find in this unjust world. Having said that, this is no time to rest. If anything, it is time to push even harder because now, we have ICJ rulings in our favor and legal backing to claims we already knew were legitimate.

However, while this may have offered us some ray of light in the darkness in which we are all engulfed, the fact of the matter is that things continue to worsen on the ground in Gaza. This genocide is so heinous, not only in the brutality of the Israeli bombs and denial of basic aid to the people of Gaza, but in the fact that its people are suffering from multiple and simultaneous injustices. That is, those who are being starved are the same people who have been displaced and the same people who have been injured and cannot receive medical attention. They are the same people who have lost their homes and family members and the same people who are under the rubble. One atrocity does not cancel out another in Gaza and that is what makes this genocide so unimaginable.

We have reached a point where it is unnecessary to describe the horrors of life in Gaza because frankly, in the past four months, everyone has seen them. It is not a matter of the world not knowing. This may have been the case in other genocides and atrocities, but not this one. It really boils down to two things: The dehumanization of the Palestinians and Israel’s impunity for its crimes, the latter being a direct result of the former.

Shame on the world for accepting Israel’s vile propaganda, hook, line and sinker. Shame on the “western world” in particular, who we will never forgive. Shame on them all for aiding and abetting the slaughter of our people, their displacement, starvation and annihilation. This will not go unnoticed in the annals of history, which will paint each and every accomplice in the criminal light it deserves.

But these despicable powers do not know the lion-hearts of the Palestinians and their fierce loyalty to Palestine. They will never be able to kill us all and my hope is that this thought haunts them day and night.

A sign held up in one of the many protests around the world reads: “Killing the flowers will not delay spring”. Our Spring is coming, without a doubt.

Last Sunday, I embarked upon a two and a half hour journey to the borders of the Jordan Valley, to a Palestinian village in the West Bank named Aqaba. Aqaba lies to the east of Tubas city and has an area of 3,500 dunums. It seems entirely set back from the rest of the West Bank and it even has it own entrance with a welcome sign. You need to drive along a long, sandy road in order to get there. This picture shows the entrance sign to Aqaba. Upon my arrival, I was warmly greeted by the wheelchair-bound head of the Village Council, Haj Sami Sadeq with whom I had scheduled an interview. He kindly invited me into his office so we could discuss the fate of Aqaba at the hands of the Israeli Civil Administration. Aqaba, this small, unremarkable village tucked away in the corner of the West Bank, whose inhabitants live a simple and quiet life, is currently in the headlines on a regular basis.

Aqaba village is situated in Area C of the West Bank, between two Israeli military bases. A third base, which was located at the village’s western entrance was dismantled in June 2003. The area was declared a closed military zone in 1967. The population size has been diminished to only 300 people, down from above 1,000 prior to the 1967 War. The village was declared a military zone for purely strategic reasons, with Israel citing “security reasons” as its motive. A lot of the displaced families that left Aqaba left due to Israeli aggression towards them, choosing to go and live in the nearby cities of Tayaseer, Tubas and Nablus.

The Oslo negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) called for the transfer of power from the Israeli military and its civil administration over to the Palestinian Authority. As part of the overall process, the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip divided the West Bank (excluding east Jerusalem) into three areas: A, B and C. In Area C, Israel retained full military and civil control; approximately 74% of the West Bank has been categorized as Area C. Even though the interim arrangements as defined by these parameters were supposed to be temporary, as no final political settlement has been agreed between Israelis and Palestinians, the situation remains frozen. Ever since the occupation of 1967, Palestinians have required a permit from the Israeli Government in order to build on the land.

In 2004, the Israeli Civil Administration issued demolition orders for the whole village of Aqaba, citing the buildings in the village as “illegal structures”. The Israeli Army’s Military Order 143/04, issued on May 8, 2007, ordered the confiscation of 80% of the village lands and the demolition of all structures not within the village’s Master Plan, which was devised by the army. Currently, 35 of the 45 structures in the village have received demolition orders due to a “lack of a permit”. These include privately-owned homes.

The village itself, explained Haj Sami, is used predominantly for farming and grazing. It is clear though that if the demolitions go ahead, it will be impossible for the farmers to continue to make a living. Just looking around at the sparsely populated village, it is evident that although Aqaba is not a thriving community, those that live there are loyal to their roots and enjoy the simplicity of the life they lead. The only sound we hear as we stand outside his office is the laughter of children playing in the nearby nursery playground, some of them too young to understand how fragile their existence is.

Haj Sami Sadeq himself was born in 1955. An original resident of Aqaba village, he has first-hand experience of not just the occupation of the village and the rest of Palestine, but also violence at the hands of the Israelis. As a young man, he was shot by Israeli troops and had to be treated at a hospital in Jericho. He has been in a wheelchair ever since. He assumed the position of Head of the Village Council in 1997 and he informs me that the majority of his work is of a voluntary nature. I found it remarkable that this man is devoting all his time to drawing attention to the plight of the village and raising international awareness. He proudly tells me that, as a village, they have succeeded in many things; namely, drawing awareness to the international community, in particular to American and European organizations. He says that the village is also proud of their successful removal of the military base in June 2003 from the entrance to the village. After this decision, some people returned to the village.

Once we sat down in his office, I noticed a large purple file sitting on the desk. I asked Haj Sami what it contained. He handed it over to me. I opened it and found inside hundreds of documents, the majority of which were written in Hebrew. He told me that the file was the history of the court case. The papers were all court orders, demolition orders and relevant correspondence. Most recently, on April 17, 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court was petitioned by the village of Aqaba (represented by Israeli Advocate Eli Tusya-Cohen) to cancel the demolition orders that were placed on the village in 2004. Accordingly, all the petitions were rejected. The court did however state that, “nevertheless, we acknowledge the Respondents’ statement according to which a limited zone in the center of the village -- where there are residential buildings and public buildings built without a permit – has been marked, and the Respondents are not planning to demolish them for the time being.” So, for now, the fate of this village hangs in the balance. For as long as there is international interest in the area, and the spotlight remains firmly on the injustices being committed in the name of strategic purpose, it is likely that no further demolitions will take place just yet.

Anyway, the army's new willingness to recognize the presence of Palestinians in Aqaba is due first and foremost to the incredible courage and steadfastness of the Aqaba villagers themselves, and also to the willingness of people around the world, both organizations and the embassies representing governments, to invest in this village.

Whilst talking to Haj Sami, I noticed a nursery for children outside the office where we sat. He explained to me that the US-based “Rebuilding Alliance”, along with the Japanese and Belgian embassies had helped fund and build that nursery. His gratitude was apparent, despite the situation facing the village. He went on to explain that the international community has contributed in more ways than one; Britain helped to build a hall for the town and Belgium contributed to a bus that services the village. He went on to explain that Canadian and Italian organizations were amongst the first to help in 1999. To date, the village has received approximately $874,760 of foreign aid for the school, road construction, the nursery and the clinic.

However, the odd donation here and there is not enough. The international community needs to stand up and take notice. If one village can be saved from destruction, it would set a strong precedent for future villages facing demolition - and sure enough there will be future demolitions - allowing the Palestinians to envisage a future free of devastation.

On June 5th Palestine will commemorate the 41st anniversary of the June 1967 War. The war of 1967 is often referred to as al Naksa by the Egyptians, which literally translates to “the setback” (not to be confused with the Nakba “catastrophe” which was observed in May). Al Naksa refers to the further displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and Gaza during the 1967 War, as well as marking the start of Israel’s illegal occupation of these territories. Akin to the observance of al Nakba, it is also a demand for the respect of basic human rights and rule of law, especially the right of the refugees and the internally displaced to return and repossess their homes, lands and properties.

For those that do not know much about the conflict, a short recap of the events that lead to the war is necessary. From start to finish, the war lasted a total of 132 hours and 30 minutes. In May 1967, Egypt expelled the United Nations Emergency Force from the Sinai Peninsula which had been stationed there to provide a peace-keeping buffer zone. In response, on June 5th 1967, Israel launched a vicious pre-emptive attack against Egypt’s air force and against Syria and Jordan. Israel achieved great victories immediately, due to the surprise nature of the attack. The war was the most dramatic of all wars fought between the Arab Nations and Israel, with Israel gaining control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The results of the war affect the geopolitics of the region to this very day.

During the War of 1967, approximately a further 400,000 Palestinians were displaced. As was the case with the 1948 Nakba, most refugees were displaced by the Israeli military forces using tactics violating the basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights law; attacks on civilians, massacres, expulsion and destruction of property. Some 800,000 Palestinians fled the 1948 hostilities to refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and nearly 200,000 of them were forced to flee again in the June 1967 war. This double displacement highlights the extreme suffering of the Palestinians at the hands of Israel. Although Israel were quick to defend their actions, as they so often are, this mass displacement can only be likened to a form of ethnic cleansing; to rid the land of Palestinians, instead of encouraging the two nations to live side by side. This is a recurring theme in Israel’s behavior, and is evidenced not just in history, but also in the present day dealings with Palestinians and foreigners, whether at checkpoints or the airport.

So once again, the landscape of Palestine was altered by this event.

The marking of this occasion is bound to add fuel to the flames of the ongoing fire of the “right to return” for Palestinian refugees. In December 1948, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 194 as part of the attempt to deal with the complex situation in Palestine as it stood at that time. The “right of return” is enshrined in Article 11 which “resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date”. Although Israel accepted this resolution, there has followed much dispute over the years regarding its interpretation. Many critics, including Israel, say that it cannot be applied practically and to do so would threaten the existence of Israel. The ease with which the Palestinians can be swept under the carpet is astonishing. To this very day, there are Palestinians who live in the hope that one day they will be able to return to the land they call home. Many hope that the displaced people will forget about Palestine, but as one man whose family was forced to flee in 1967 observes, “They say the third generation will forget about Palestine, but we have told our children the stories of Palestine and they will not forget”.

Israel has been called upon by the UN to ensure the safety, welfare and security of the inhabitants where military operations take place; repeated resolutions on Israel to comply with international law have been vetoed by the US more than 50 times. With the exception of Israel occupying the Sinai Peninsula, the conflict remains, for all intents and purposes, at the point it was left in 1967, to this very day.

Most recently, events like the Annapolis conference show that the two sides, Palestine and Israel, remain split over the issues of borders, the status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees’ right of return. These people have been denationalized and dispossessed.

Last year marked, during events to mark the 40th anniversary of the War of 1967, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gave a televised speech in which he said “the establishment of an independent Palestinian state can help to ease the memory of the bitterness of the defeat that the Arabs suffered at the hands on Israel in 1967.” He went on to say that Palestinians are “still paying a high price for a major defeat”. Of course this speech came at a time when there was a lot of internal fighting between Fateh and Hamas, giving Israel an excuse to try and achieve the gains it sought and still seeks. A year on, the best way forward is for Palestinians to unite and for continued pressure to be applied on the international community to end the longest running occupation in the world and to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians once and for all.

On Saturday 10th May, a press conference was held in Beit Sahour, just outside of Bethlehem, to draw attention to the plight of child prisoner, Ziad Mahfuth. One issue that has been afforded the least coverage in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is that of child prisoners. Along with checkpoints and roadblocks, prison is yet another of the central features of Palestinian life. There are hundreds of Palestinian children from within the Occupied Palestinian Territories who have been arrested, interrogated and detained in severe violation of international law. According to Defence for Children International, at the end of April 2008, 327 children were held in Israeli detention facilities. Of this figure, four are girls and 12 are being held without charge or in administrative detention. Administrative detention is a procedure whereby a person is detained without charge or trial and which is permitted under international law in limited circumstances.

The press conference was to highlight the issue of child prisoners generally, with a focus on the case of Ziad Mahfuth, aged 17. In the early hours of the 2nd May 2007, Ziad was arrested from his home, the fifth time he has been arrested since he was 13 years old. On each occasion, he has been charged with throwing stones. When he was arrested for the third time however, he was also charged with throwing a Molotov cocktail. Not only was he kept in solitary confinement for a week, but he was also presented with papers written completely in Hebrew (a language he does not understand) and told he had to sign them. Out of fear and fatigue, he agreed to sign them. It later transpired that he had signed a confession and that he would have to go back to prison until the trial, at which he was sentenced to seven months in prison.

Upon his latest arrest (2nd May), he was taken to the Hagai Investigation Center in Kiryat Arba and then to Etzion Detention Center, where for five days he was questioned twice a day for half an hour. He was told by the investigators that they knew he had been throwing stones on specified dates. Nonetheless, Ziad refuted these allegations and refused to sign any papers, so he was released without a confession. It is extremely important to obtain a confession from the arrested children otherwise it is difficult to make a case. It is clear that the majority of the time, the children are intimidated to such a degree that they will willingly sign any paper placed in front of them regardless of the language in which it is written or the consequences of it being signed. These confessions serve as the primary evidence against the child, gravely inhibiting their chance of receiving a fair trial. It should be noted that stone-throwing carries a maximum sentence of 20 years; just five years less than the average murder sentence in Israel. The reason behind this hefty sentencing is politics. In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, stone-throwing is considered an act of war.

Faced with the possibility of such a lengthy sentence, many defense lawyers have entered into deals offered by the military prosecution, whereby the accused pleads guilty in return for a negotiated reduced sentence. However, a groundbreaking decision by lawyers representing Palestinians before the Military Courts was made on April 17th 2008(Palestinian Prisoners’ Day) to no longer accept plea bargains on behalf of their clients. The motive behind this move is the hope that the adoption of legal defense procedures will lead to fairer trials as well as signaling to the Military Court that the imprisonment of Palestinians (particularly children) as such a rapid rate needs to be addressed. The effectiveness of this move is yet to be seen, but one thing is certain; for such an ambitious move to be productive, lawyers and NGO’s will have to remain unified in their aims. The Military Court may seek to impose harsher sentences as a result of this action and it is up to these groups to bring this to the attention of the international community.

ARREST

Most children are arrested in one of the following three ways: at home, on the street or at a checkpoint. So, taking each one in turn, let’s examine the reality of how these children’s nightmares begin.

At Home

Many children are arrested at home. However, these arrests do not occur with a quiet visit to detain the child; instead, large numbers of Israeli soldiers break into the house, sometimes in the early hours of the morning and conduct a violent raid in which the child is arrested. These children are then taken for interrogation without the chance for any rest. Note that the soldiers often do not have a warrant for the arrest or searches. The entire house is often ransacked causing destruction to the property, as well as extreme humiliation to the rest of the family.

On the Street

Alternatively, sometimes the child is arrested while walking down the street. This arrest usually occurs when a soldier claims to “remember” a face from a demonstration or such activity as to lead to an arrest.

At Checkpoints

At checkpoints, a child who is “wanted” will have their name on a list checked by Israeli soldiers manning these crossings. When they go to cross the checkpoint, they will be arrested with no prior warning. The child is often made to wait for hours at the checkpoint, with their hands cuffed, before they are transferred to detention and interrogation centers.

In all three scenarios, the child is not informed of the reason for their arrest. They are then transferred to an Israeli Civil Administration center in a military jeep, which for most adults would be enough to impair self-control and rationality, so it is bound to be a terrifying experience for a child, often as young as 12 years old.

Given this lengthy and inordinate process, one would assume that these children were guilty of the most heinous crimes. However, more often than not, they are apprehended on the suspicion of stone-throwing. It is hard to see how a child can be considered a threat to Israeli security when up against the might of the Israeli army.

INTERROGATION

Once the child has been transferred to one of the Israeli Civil Administration Centers, the child is then interrogated. There are three bodies that may carry out the interrogation:

Police

The vast majority of child detainees are dealt with by the police. However, Shabak (General Security Service) agents are usually present supervising the process.

Military Intelligence

If during interrogation by the military intelligence, a confession is extracted from a child, the child will then be sent to the police to make the same confession in order to afford the whole process a hint of legality as only confessions signed in the presence of police officers are allowed before the court.

General Security Services

Otherwise known as the Shabak, the GSS is an independent body within the Israeli state. They usually carry out interrogation of more serious offences, although again, when a child is interrogated by them and subsequently confesses, the child will be sent to the police to repeat the confession.

HELD PENDING TRIAL

Following their interrogation, a child will be sent to prison and held there whilst awaiting their trial. This period of time is undetermined and the Israeli court system certainly shows no signs of expediency. Palestinian children are often held in extremely inhumane conditions, made to live in overcrowded and dirty cells. Often, children are placed in solitary confinement in tiny cells with no natural light. Prisoners do not receive sufficient food to maintain a healthy level of nutrition and are often prevented from going to the toilet. Children can often be held in sections with criminal prisoners, deprived of education, medical treatment and not allowed family visits. Take the example of 8 Palestinian girls who were arrested in 2004 and transferred to Telmond Prison. The girls say that the conditions in their section of the prison were particularly bad. There was insufficient space in the cells and some girls were forced to sleep on the floor. They were sharing the room with rats. The toilets were blocked and there was no hot water. This is not an isolated incident; this is indeed an everyday occurrence in Israeli prisons.

SENTENCING

When the child is eventually presented in court, there are three main sentences that may be imposed by the judge:

1. IMPRISONMENT; the length of any sentence is affected by the political occurrences at any given time. Most children are currently sentenced from periods starting at six months extending to any given number of years.
2. SUSPENDED SENTENCE; in contrast to Israeli children, who are often given suspended sentences in line with the principle of the “best interests of the child”, Palestinian children are often given a suspended sentence in addition to serving time in prison.
3. MONETARY FINE; the range of monetary fines starts at around $145 up to thousands of dollars in some instances. This punishment is extremely crippling, as it is the family of the accused who must pay it. This can often leave the family in extremely dire circumstances. Fines are often imposed in addition to a period of imprisonment, particularly where there is a reduction in the time served due to a plea bargain being established.

CHILD PRISONERS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted by the United Nations in 1989 and to which Israel is a signatory, spells out the basic human rights to which children everywhere are entitled. Both the CRC and Israeli law define a child as someone under 18, although Israeli military law treats children as 16 or over as adults. The Military Orders churned out by the army allow for the arrest of children as young as 12 years of age.

Let us not forget that the CRC expressly states that “no child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention 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”. Unlike Israeli children who come into conflict of the law and are afforded the flexibility of a juvenile justice system, arrests made on Palestinian children by the Israelis (police or military) are governed by Israeli military orders –a series of orders issued by successive Israeli military commanders “in the interests of security and public order”. The guiding principle of the “the welfare of the child” passes by, unrecognized by the Israelis, resulting in the detention and abuse of these children.

In accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, it is prohibited for individuals to be transported from the occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power. Israel is in flagrant breach of this, child prisoners are transferred to prisons located within Israel.

Palestinian children in the Israeli prison system are not given any legal advocacy and are denied most of their rights. One Swedish lawyer, Arne Malmgren, observes that “small children are brought into the courtroom in handcuffs and full chains”. Is this how Israel exhibits the democracy it claims to possess?

The UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty offers clear standards for the conditions of detention that children may be held in. Just by way of example, one of the rules states that “every detention facility shall ensure that every juvenile receives food that is suitable prepared and presented at normal meal times”. How does Israel justify accounts by children that they were given a glass of water and one slice of bread over a period of two days? It is glaringly obvious that Israel’s treatment of these children falls way below the standard.

The case of Ziad and the above examples is just one look into the policy of the Israeli state of institutionalizing abuse of child prisoners. The policy is maintained because many branches of the Israeli state contribute to it, each playing a key level within the overall system. Unfortunately, this is also due to the weakness and ambiguity of the structure of the international human rights framework. Time and time again, Israel employs its use of the tried and tested ‘security’ discourse to justify its actions, against children, women and men alike. As long as governments around the world continue to ignore the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, these abuses will continue.

A recent report by DCI made several recommendations with a view to putting an end to Israel’s policy of mass arbitrary arrest and detention of Palestinian children, mainly that Israel should raise the age of adulthood in Military Order 132 from 16 to 18 years of age, ensure that all confessions obtained from children under duress should be rejected as evidence in proceedings in the Military Courts and end the practice of detaining persons under the age of 18 in administrative detention and either promptly charge all child detainees with a recognizable offense or immediately release them.

The issue here is not really about the throwing of stones; this system is just another way of favoring the occupation of the West Bank. The cruelty being dosed out to Palestinian children is yet another example of Israel flexing its muscles and making a clear statement about who the real ruler is in the West Bank.

Resources

- Al Jazeera English http://www.engligh.aljazeera.net
- Al-Ayyam Newspaper http://www.al-ayyam.ps/znews/site/default.aspx
- Defence Children International, Palestine http://www.dci-pal.org/english
- Inter Press Service http://ipsnews.net
- The Palestine Monitor http://www.palestinemonitor.org