Detained: Testimonies From Palestinian Children Imprisoned By Israel

[Purveyor]

Detainee 9: U.D., 10 years old

Over the past 11 years, according to Defence for Children International, some 7,500 children have been detained in Israeli prisons and detention facilities. Muhammad Daoud Dirbas, at the age of six, was the youngest child to have been detained by Israeli soldiers. Such practices are considered illegal under international law, as are other policies that children are subjected to, such as solitary confinement.

I started working on “Detained” about one year ago, because of the lack of visual documentation on the subject. I contacted some human rights organizations, which put me in contact with a few children. Unfortunately, those children refused to be interviewed; having been contacted several times by journalists, they were afraid of repercussions. I then decided to contact people I knew from Palestinian cities like Nablus and Hebron where child detention is most prevalent. Through these friends, I was able to find and contact additional children. Sadly, it was quite easy to find them since it is such a common phenomenon.

In most cases, I found children who suffer from various traumas. Some were not able to talk about what had happened in prison; others burst into tears, and it was sometimes hard for me to hold my own tears back as I was conducting the interviews. Many children agreed to talk to me “off the record”; I thus know their stories but was not able to officially interview them or take their pictures. In some cases, I was able to talk to the parents once the child left the room, and thus obtained more detailed information about how the children were dealing with what had happened to them.

In many cases, the children suffer from insomnia, involuntary urination, nightmares, depression, and fear of going out and facing people. “It is a very humiliating experience for my son. I pray everyday that he forgets about what had happened to him. We avoid talking about it at home because I want him to forget and this is why we prefer not to have journalists in the house,” one mother told me.

MORE...

http://972mag.com/detained-testimonies-from-palestinian-children-imprisoned-by-israel/69526/

[oberliner]

1. According to B'tselem there are zero Palestinians under 14 detained by Israel this year

The vast majority of the "children" in question are not actually children, they are 16-18 year olds.

As another poster alluded to, this is a typical marriage age in that community.

[azurnoir]

2. are you thinking of a different B'tselem? because according to their website

http://www.btselem.org/statistics/minors_in_custody

also note figures for March and April are not present and we KNOW that minors as young as * years old were detained

Interesting though how you do not consider Palestinians children after they're 14 works well with Israeli standards in the Occupied Territories though

[Jefferson23]

3. Fact checking:

Mass arrest of Palestinian children on their way to school in Hebron – at least 5 under the age of criminal responsibility
Published:
20 Mar 2013

Update: On the day of the incident B’Tselem wrote to the Legal Advisor in Judea and Samaria, the Legal Advisor of the Israel Police and to the spokesperson for the Judea and Samaria Division regarding this issue. The officials confirmed that, further to a stone-throwing incident earlier that morning, the military apprehended 27 minors, including at least 14 under the age of 12. Later, the military released 20 of the minors to the custody of the Palestinian Authority. The other seven minors were questioned by the police. B’Tselem stressed the following: minors should not be questioned without their parents’ knowledge and the presence of an adult representative on their behalf; the police is duty-bound to inform parents immediately upon the detention of their children; it is unlawful to detain or transport minors under the age of 12.

B'Tselem this morning urgently contacted the Army's Legal Advisor for Judea and Samaria, Col. Doron Ben Barak, demanding his emergency intervention regarding the detention of numerous children, including some as young as 8 to 10 years old, by the Israeli military this morning in Hebron.

http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20130320_minors_detained_in_hebron

Background:


Minors in detention | B'Tselem

29 Apr 2012 ... Soldiers detain Palestinian youth in Hebron. Photo: Manal al-J'abri, B'Tselem, 1 January 2012.) As of March 2012, there are approximately 200 ...
Statistics on Palestinian minors in the custody of the Israeli security ...

Statistics on Palestinian minors in the custody of the Israeli security forces. For further information ... Detainees. Detained until end of legal process. Sentence ...
Mass arrest of Palestinian children on their way to school in Hebron ...

20 Mar 2013 ... As is known to B'Tselem at this point, among the children detained by the military are at least five children 8 to 10 years old, with possibly others ...
Israeli military shortens maximum detention period for Palestinian ...

23 Dec 2012 ... In addition, Palestinian minors are often detained in the middle of the night and interrogated without the presence of either a parent or another ...
TORTURE OF PALESTINIAN MINORS IN THE ETZION DETENTION ...

9 Jul 2001 ... In some of the cases, the security forces made grave threats and acted violently against the minors detained and their relatives. The security ...
Caution: Children Ahead, Dec. 2010 | B'Tselem

The police detained for questioning four minors under age 12, which is the age of criminal responsibility, meaning they are not subject to criminal proceedings.
7 Sept. 2008: 13 minors, two of them girls, being held in ... - B'Tselem

7 Sep 2008 ... Over the years, Israel has detained Palestinians for long periods of time ... a significant increase in administrative detention of minors in Israel, ...
B'Tselem report: Violence against Minors in Police Detention ...

In January of this year, I applied to the then Minister of Police, Mr. Haim Bar-Lev, after receiving complaints that minors were detained at the Russian Compound ...
Detainees and Prisoners | B'Tselem

Statistics on Palestinian minors in IPS detention, 2001-2007 Year 2007. ... Detainees. Detained until end of legal process. Sentence. Admin. detainees. Total ...
Israel holding 42 Palestinians in administrative detention for over ...

5 Feb 2009 ... Six of the detainees in December were minors. For the first time, Israel held two female minors in administrative detention; both had their ...
http://www.btselem.org/search/google_cse_adv/minors%20detained

[azurnoir]

4. Thank you n/t