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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
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href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190807-israels-war-on-innocence-palestinian-children-in-israeli-military-courts/">https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190807-israels-war-on-innocence-palestinian-children-in-israeli-military-courts/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Israel’s war on innocence: Palestinian
children in Israeli military courts</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">Ramzy Baroud - August 7,
2019<br>
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<p>On 29 July, 4-year-old Muhammad Rabi’ Elayyan was
reportedly <a
href="http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=8syrm9a111106693467a8syrm9"
target="_blank">summoned</a> for interrogation by the
Israeli police in occupied Jerusalem. The news,
originally reported by the official Palestinian news
agency, <em>WAFA</em>, was later <a
href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-deny-palestinian-reports-they-summoned-a-boy-4-for-throwing-rocks/"
target="_blank">denied</a> by the Israeli police, more
than likely in an attempt to lessen the impact of the PR
disaster that followed.</p>
<p>The Israelis are not denying the story in its entirety,
but are rather arguing that it was not the boy,
Muhammad, who was summoned, but his father. It was Rabi’
Elayyan, they claim, who was called into the Israeli
police station in Salah Eddin Street in Jerusalem to be
questioned regarding his son’s actions.</p>
<p>The child was accused of hurling a stone at Israeli
occupation soldiers in the Issawiyeh neighbourhood,
which is a constant target for Israeli violence. The
neighbourhood has also been the tragic location of <a
href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/high-numbers-demolitions-ongoing-threats-demolition-palestinian-residents-east-jerusalem"
target="_blank">house demolitions</a> under the
pretext that Palestinians there are building without
permits. Of course, the vast majority of Palestinian
applications for such permits to build in Issawiyeh, or
anywhere else in Jerusalem, are <a
href="https://imemc.org/article/twenty-palestinian-building-permits-denied-in-east-jerusalem/"
target="_blank">denied</a> routinely, while Jewish
settlers are allowed to build on stolen Palestinian land
unhindered.</p>
<p><strong>READ: <a
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190801-israel-summons-8-year-old-palestinian-girl-for-interrogation/">Israel
summons 8-year-old Palestinian girl for
interrogation </a></strong></p>
<p>As such, Issawiyeh is no stranger to the ridiculous and
unlawful behaviour of the Israeli army. On 6 July, for
example, a mother from the beleaguered neighbourhood was
arrested in order to put pressure on her teenage son,
Mahmoud Ebeid, to turn himself in. The mother “was taken
by Israeli police as a bargaining chip,” <em>Mondoweiss</em>
<a
href="https://mondoweiss.net/2019/07/occupied-issawiya-palestinian/"
target="_blank">reported</a>, quoting the
Jerusalem-based Wadi Hileh Information Centre.</p>
<p>The Israeli authorities are justified in feeling
embarrassed by the whole episode concerning the
4-year-old boy, thus the attempt to poke holes in the
story. The fact is, though, that <em>WAFA’s</em>
correspondent in Jerusalem had, indeed, verified that
the warrant was in Muhammad’s, not Rabi’s, name.</p>
<p>While some news sources bought into the Israeli
propaganda, and readily <a
href="https://dailycaller.com/2019/07/31/al-jazeera-falsely-claims-a-palestinian-four-year-old-was-questioned-by-israeli-authorities/"
target="_blank">conveyed</a> the cries of “fake news”,
one must bear in mind that this was hardly a one-off
incident. For Palestinians, such news about the
detention, beating and killing of their children has
been one of the most consistent features of the Israeli
occupation since 1967.</p>
<p>Just one day after Muhammad was summoned, the Israeli
authorities also <a
href="https://imemc.org/article/second-child-in-less-than-24-hours-summoned-for-interrogation/"
target="_blank">interrogated</a> the father of a
6-year-old child, Qais Firas Obaid, from the same
neighbourhood of Issawiyeh. This particular boy was
accused of throwing a juice carton at Israeli soldiers.</p>
<p>“According to local sources in Issawiyeh the [Israeli]
military sent Qais’s family an official summons to come
to the interrogation centre in Jerusalem on Wednesday
[31 July] at 8 am,” reported the <em>International
Middle East Media Centre</em> (<em>IMEMC</em>). In one
<a
href="https://twitter.com/manuelferdiez/status/1156832640663805953"
target="_blank">photo</a>, the little boy is holding
the Israeli military order written in Hebrew up to the
camera.</p>
<p>The stories of Muhammad and Qais are the norm, not the
exception. According to the prisoners’ advocacy group,
Addameer, there are currently 250 Palestinian children
being held in Israel’s prisons. Approximately 700
Palestinian children are taken through the Israeli
military court system every single year. “The most
common charge levied against children is throwing
stones,” reports Addameer, “a crime that is punishable
under military law by up to 20 years in prison.”</p>
<p>That is why Israel has every right to be embarrassed.
Since the start of the Second Intifada in 2000, some
12,000 Palestinian children have been detained and
interrogated by the Israeli army.</p>
<p><strong>READ: <a
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190731-israel-summons-father-of-6-year-old-palestinian-child-who-threw-carton-at-soldiers/">Israel
summons father of 6-year-old Palestinian child who
‘threw carton’ at soldiers </a></strong></p>
<p>Moreover, it is not only children and their families
who are targeted by the Israeli military, but also those
who advocate on their behalf. Just last week, on 30
July, Palestinian lawyer Tariq Barghouth was <a
href="http://www.arabnews.com/node/1533246/middle-east"
target="_blank">sentenced</a> to 13 years in prison by
an Israeli military court for “firing at Israeli buses
and at security forces on a number of occasions.”</p>
<p>As unlikely as the accusation of a well-known lawyer
firing at “buses” may sound, it is important to note
that Barghouth is well-regarded for his defence of
Palestinian children in court. He has also been a
headache for the Israeli military court system for his
strong defence of Ahmad Manasra. The then 13-year-old
boy was tried and indicted in Israeli military court for
allegedly stabbing and wounding two Israelis near the
illegal Jewish settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev in Occupied
Jerusalem in 2015. Manasra’s cousin, Hassan, 15 was
killed on the spot, while the wounded Ahmad was tried in
court as an adult. It was Barghouth who challenged and
denounced the Israeli court for the <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrOLafEiPto"
target="_blank">harsh interrogation</a> and for
secretly <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNPQC6qpLes"
target="_blank">filming</a> the wounded child as he
was tied to his hospital bed.</p>
<div id="attachment_209016" class="wp-caption">
<p class="wp-caption-text">Palestinians take part in a
protest to show solidarity with Palestinian children
who have been arrested and held by Israeli forces
[Mahfouz Abu Turk/Apaimages]</p>
</div>
<p>On 2 August 2016, Israel passed a law that <a
href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2014_2019/documents/dpal/dv/4d_dci-p_new_israeli/4d_dci-p_new_israelien.pdf"
target="_blank">allows</a> the authorities to
“imprison a minor convicted of serious crimes such as
murder, attempted murder or manslaughter even if he or
she is under the age of 14.” The law was crafted
conveniently to deal with cases like that of Ahmad
Manasra, who was sentenced on 7 November the same year,
three months after the law was approved, to 12 years in
prison.</p>
<p>Manasra’s case, the leaked videos of his abuse by
Israeli interrogators and his harsh sentence placed more
international focus on the plight of Palestinian
children in the Israeli military court system. “Israeli
interrogators are seen relying on verbal abuse,
intimidation and threats to apparently inflict mental
suffering for the purpose of obtaining a confession,”
attorney and international advocacy officer at Defence
for Children — Palestine, Brad Parker, <a
href="https://mondoweiss.net/2015/11/interrogation-palestinian-torture/"
target="_blank">said</a> at the time.</p>
<p><strong><a
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190724-killing-tariq-why-we-must-rethink-the-roots-of-jewish-settlers-violence/">Killing
Tariq: Why We Must Rethink the Roots of Jewish
Settlers Violence </a></strong></p>
<p>The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which
Israel has been a signatory since 1991, “prohibits
torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment.” Yet, explains Parker, “Ill treatment and
torture of Palestinian children arrested by Israeli
military and police is widespread and systematic.”</p>
<p>So systematic, in fact, that videos and reports of
arresting very young Palestinian children are almost a
staple on social media platforms concerned with
Palestine and Palestinian rights.</p>
<p>The sad reality is that Muhammad Elayyan, 4, and Qais
Obaid, 6, and many children like them, have become a
target of Israeli soldiers and <a
href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/07/24/killing-tariq-why-we-must-rethink-roots-jewish-settlers-violence"
target="_blank">Jewish settlers</a> throughout the
Occupied Palestinian Territories. This horrendous
reality must not be tolerated by the international
community.</p>
<p>Israeli crimes against Palestinian children must be
confronted effectively for the simple reason that
Israel, its inhumane laws and iniquitous military courts
must not be allowed to continue their uncontested
brutalisation of those who are, at the end of the day,
children. Israel’s war on their innocence must be
stopped.</p>
<p>The views expressed in this article belong to the
author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial
policy of Middle East Monitor.</p>
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