Ahed Tamimi - After my imprisonment, my little brother has been jailed in Israel. Who will speak up for Palestinian kids like us?
A year ago I was in an
Israeli prison, denied my basic rights and stripped of my childhood. The crime
that led to eight months of incarceration was not mine, but that of Israel’s continued
occupation of Palestine. As with so many child
prisoners who are subjected to the horrors of Israeli military detention, one
of the toughest daily struggles was being separated from my family. Last week,
my family was torn apart once again: this time, Israeli forces came and took
away my 15-year-old brother Mohammed.
This is the price we
pay for Israel’s occupation. Every mother and father is forced to live in fear
of their children being the next target. Palestinians in the West Bank are
subjected to military law, which is used as a tool to repress, silence, and
prevent our resistance to occupation. We do not have equal
rights to the Israeli settlers who live on stolen land in our neighbourhoods.
This prevents us from living normal lives and threatens our existence, but it
is protected by Israel's legal system. Across the West Bank
exists a framework of dual legal systems: Jewish settlers are afforded rights
under Israeli civilian law, while we Palestinians have ours taken away by
military law – two very different processes and outcomes implemented on grounds
of ethnicity. Experts say this meets the definition
of apartheid, and children are not immune from this suffering.
There are currently more
than 200 Palestinian children, including my brother, in Israeli jails. Each
year, Israel arrests and prosecutes around 700 children, some as young as 12.
They are usually accused of throwing stones. After being separated from their
families, exposed to physical, psychological, and emotional abuse, a number
of children are coerced into signing confessions put in front of them by
Israeli interrogators – often in a language they do not understand. Very few
children are granted access to a lawyer or allowed a family member present
during interrogation. With 99 per cent of court cases against Palestinians
resulting in conviction, signing a confession and making a plea bargain is
often presented as the fastest way of being released and reunited with family.
read more:
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/israel-ahed-tamimi-palestine-brother-mohammed-prison-netanyahu-a8872771.html