This conflict in the Holy Land must end – for the children’s sake
The enduring fact of the failure of peace in the so-called Holy Land is a royal spring of misery from which bitter tensions flow, with mournful consequences for the entire restive middle-east region, already strained by wars and rumours of wars. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, those who are innocent, small, defenceless or vulnerable are common, even inevitable, victims of the promiscuously-brutalising nature of this clash between the claimed descendants of Abraham. On the redemptive patch of earth sought by Moses, the Prophet of Exodus, the sins of past generations are cruelly visited upon the young.
Examples of this present themselves readily. Sans peace, the occupation of the West Bank continues, with its attendant injustices. Recently, the suffering of Palestinian children there at the hands of Israeli security forces was highlighted by the publication of a report authored by a group of eminent lawyers, backed by the UK Foreign Office. The document,“Children in Military Custody” concluded that, in the face of certain “undisputed facts”, Israel is in breach of several articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)], a treaty which the state ratified in 1991. A number of articles in the convention are believed to have been contravened given that Palestinian children have been placed in leg irons, denied prompt access to lawyers and parents, in addition to being placed in premature detention, according to the report.
It also identifies two areas in which Israel is in breach of the fourth Geneva convention and addresses credible allegations of serious mistreatment of minors (underage prisoner testimonies contain allegations of the use of solitary confinement) that, if proven, could constitute violations of the prohibition on cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as set out in the UNCRC. “To hold children routinely and for substantial periods in solitary confinement would, if it occurred, be capable of amounting to torture” the report states in its conclusion.
What’s particularly disturbing about claims of Israel placing children in solitary confinement is that allegations of such practices are, sadly, nothing new. Earlier this year, The Guardian ran a report that included the testimonies of minors who claimed that they had been subjected to it in Al Jalame jail, near Haifa- mentioning the infamous Cell 36, a room that appears repeatedly in former prisoners’ statements. Reportedly, one child was placed in solitary confinement for 65 days.
Hundreds of testimonies have been collected by the NGO, Defence for Children International (DCI) that contain reports of the mistreatment of children in military or police custody. According to a paper published by DCI earlier this year, 12% percent of those interviewedreported being subjected to solitary confinement, and three-quarters reported physical abuse, among other serious offences...\
