The Zionist War on Palestinian Children

By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer The release of 14-year-old Malak al Khatib, one of the youngest Palestinian detainees and one of only a handful of girls, from an Israeli prison on February 13, has provoked widespread criticism amongst human rights groups.

Date: 21 February 2015 - 20:58

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Details of what happened to the Palestinian minor were made public only after a gag order on the case was lifted on appeal after a global campaign for her release - but only after being incarcerated for two months on alleged security offenses.

Khatib is not the first young Palestinian detainee and certainly she won’t be the last. The Zionist regime systematically detains and imprisons Palestinian youths to preserve the occupation and the status quo. Almost all children are in prison charged with stone-throwing and their confessions are coerced under duress during interrogation.

According to volunteer organization Military Court Watch, over 150 Palestinian children are currently being held in Israeli prisons under similar circumstances and in contravention of the Geneva Convention - with no ability for family and legal representatives to visit them.

Also according to Defence for Children International Palestine (DCIP), last December, 10 Palestinian children aged between 10 and 15 were incarcerated. Children as young as 8 have also been arrested. According to DCIP, the occupying regime forces arrest about 1,000 children every year.

Although the large numbers of Palestinian children arrested is of concern to human rights organizations, they have done nothing to stop the systematic practice, let alone stop their harsh treatment during incarceration that includes intimidation, threats and physical violence.

It is true that the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has released numerous reports on Palestinian children in Israeli military detention, but that’s all really. They are reports on Palestinian children in Israeli military detention and not enough reason for the UN Human Rights Council to act on it.

Regrettably, Palestinian children are still being killed or threatened with death, physical violence, solitary confinement and sexual assault against themselves and their family members. In many cases, the "law” applying to these traumatized minors is stricter and even more severe than the one applied to the illegal settlers and activists. It’s stark reminder that there is no justice and equality after all.

The UN Human Rights Council, under international law, is obliged to condemn this illegal practice and do something about it. There will of course be those who do not accept that there is a double standard, or seek to justify it on the basis of self-defense. Incarceration of minors as young as 8, however, cannot be justified.

It is precisely this failure to condemn that allows the criminal regime of Israel to continue to legitimize its atrocities and act with such impunity. Without global condemnation and UN action, the Zionist regime’s policy of systematic incarceration of Palestinian minors will never change.