20 June 2013 (14:22 UTC-07 Tango)/11 Sha’ban 1434/30 Khordad 1391/13 Wu-Wu (5th month) 4711
“Palestinian children being shot by the State party’s [Israeli] military near the Gaza border whilst collecting building material to support their families in the reconstruction of their homes, 30 such cases having been reported over the reporting period…”
In Israel, a child who throws a stone can spend 20 years in prison, under Israeli law!
The following excerpts are from the results of a ten year United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child investigation:
“The Committee is also concerned that the average spending per child in the Arab localities is estimated to be more than a third lower than in Jewish localities and that the State party [Israel] fails to take into account the unequal level of resources provided to the two health systems to explain the persistent disparities in relation to health indicators between the Arab and Jewish children.”
“The Committee also expresses concern that Palestinian non-governmental organizations and international human rights organizations working in the OPT [Occupied Palestinian Territories] are increasingly perceived as a threat to national security and are subject to, among others, harassment, arrest and denial of work permits.”
“The Committee also expresses concern about the adoption of numerous discriminatory laws……which affect primarily Palestinian children in all aspects of their life but also Arab Israeli, Bedouins, and Ethiopian children as well as children of migrant workers and asylum seekers…..the implementation of two separate legal systems and institutions amount to de facto segregation….”
“The Committee expresses serious concerns that hundreds of Palestinian children have been killed and thousands injured over the reporting period as a result of the State party military operations, especially in Gaza where the State party proceeded to air and naval strikes on densely populated areas with a significant presence of children….”
“The rise in the number of children from the OPT being subjected to attacks by settlers in the West Bank……in most of the cases Israeli military forces not only fail to intervene to prevent violence and to protect children, but also bring support to those committing violence. The Committee further notes with concern that, in most of the cases, perpetrators are not brought to justice and enjoy full impunity for their crimes….”
“The devastating impact on….children living in the OPT….a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law.”
“[Israeli] courts are not obliged to hear the opinions of the child…in adoption proceedings…children are not aware of being adopted.”
“The ban on the granting of Israeli citizenship to children born of an Israeli parent and a parent from the OPT, the decision of the State party to stop processing for residency applications for Palestinian children since 2000 as well as the arbitrary revocation of residency and identity of those living in East Jerusalem have resulted in thousands of unregistered Palestinian children excluded from access to health services, education and any other type of social benefits as well as in thousands of children being prevented from living with their parents…”
“Children of migrants born in the State party often do not receive an official birth certificate but a hand-written official notification without the father’s name being indicated. The Committee is also concerned about information that migrant families who are unable to cover the cost of hospitalisation might be denied birth notification, and about reported cases of migrant families who have to pay exorbitant costs for a DNA test….reported cases of families forced to sign voluntary return declarations to be able to obtain official birth certificates.”
“…the [Israeli] Adoption of Children Law which allows hiding from a child the fact that he or she has been adopted……..result in the child being labelled as a ‘bastard’ according to Jewish Halasha.”
“….reported practice of torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian children arrested, prosecuted and detained by the military and the police….”
“Routinely arrested in the middle of the night by soldiers shouting instructions at the family and taken hand-tied and blindfolded to unknown destination without having the possibility to say good bye to their parents who rarely know where their children are taken;…Systematically subject to physical and verbal violence, humiliation, painful restraints, hooding of the head and face in a sack, threatened with death, physical violence, and sexual assault against themselves or members of their family, restricted access to toilet, food and water. These crimes are perpetrated from the time of arrest, during transfer and interrogation, to obtain a confession but also on an arbitrary basis as testified by several Israeli soldiers as well as during pre-trial detention; and…Held in solitary confinement, sometimes for months.”
“….high proportion of students reporting that they have experienced physical and emotional maltreatment, and that corporal punishment continues to be inflicted on children in detention.”
“….psychological violence inflicted on Palestinian children who witness their parents being beaten or humiliated and the demolition of their homes….”
“…..in 2008, the Israeli Defence Forces closed down two institutions for children in Hebron without any written instructions and proper alternative plans, evicting 3,192 children and confiscating all clothing, food, stationary and other supplies….”
“…deteriorated situation of health and health services for children in the OPT….due to [Israeli] attacks on hospitals and clinics….and the denial of and delays in…transfer…to medical facilities outside the OPT which have caused the death of many children and pregnant women….”
“…high level of mortality of Bedouin children living in so-called ‘unrecognized’ villages in the Negev who are deprived of basic health services….”
“Children in the Gaza Strip suffering from blood disorders and sanitation related diseases such as watery diarrhoea and typhoid due to daily exposure to highly contaminated water….”
“The Committee is concerned about the high rate of suicide and attempts at suicide among adolescents in the State party, especially among girls.”
“The Committee is concerned….about the privatization of social services…construction of the Wall…Land confiscation, large-scale demolition of Palestinian houses, expulsion of Palestinian and Bedouin families….constant fear of eviction and demolition….critical water shortage….due to prohibitions of access to natural resources….children living in so-called ‘unrecognized villages’….Children in the OPT increasingly suffering from chronic malnutrition….severe restrictions on access to agricultural land and the sea….by Israeli settlers and the State authorities.”
“Jewish and Arab children continue to be educated in segregated school systems…..with lower investment in the education system for Arab children which results in a severe shortage of classrooms, in substandard conditions and quality of teaching, low academic results and high school drop-out.”
“300 educational facilities have been damaged during the operation ‘Pillar of defence’….Palestinian schools were attacked by the State party military or settlers and in some cases used as military outposts or detention centres. Furthermore, children continue to be subject to harassment, threats and violence by the State party’s military and security forces as well as by settlers on their way to and from school….”
“The [Israeli] Anti-Infiltration Law enacted in January 2012 which allows for the prolonged detention of children, including child victims of exploitation, torture and trafficking…..rise in arrests since August 2011 of children of migrant workers, including children born in the State party, in extremely stressful conditions such as those conducted at night…..In 2011, 19 boys attempted suicide in the Matan detention facility of Harera and in the Givon detention facility, girls have been detained together with adults…..”
“…..continuous use of Palestinian children as human shields and informants….[Israeli] soldiers have used Palestinian children to enter potentially dangerous buildings ahead of them and to stand in front of military vehicles in order to stop the throwing of stones…..Almost all those using children as human shield and informants have remained unpunished and that the soldiers convicted for having forced at gunpoint a nine-year old child to search bags suspected of containing explosives only received a suspended sentence of three months and were demoted.”
“…..an estimated 7000 Palestinian children aged from 12 to 17 years, but sometimes as young as nine years, have been arrested, interrogated and detained….this number having increased by 73% since September 2011….Most of the Palestinian children arrested often on an arbitrary basis….236 children are currently detained for alleged security reasons, dozens of them are between the ages of 12 and 15….systematically subject to degrading treatment, and often to acts of torture, are interrogated in Hebrew, a language they do not understand, and sign confessions in Hebrew in order to be released;…Children are brought in leg chains and shackles wearing prison uniforms before military courts where confessions obtained from them under duress….transferred out of the OPT and serve their detention and sentences inside Israel in breach of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention….detained in overcrowded cells together with adults…”
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Yigal Palmor, admitted to their evil by simply saying the investigation was “….simply recycling old stuff, there is no importance in that.”