The Alternative Information Center - Palestine, then, follows with great
concern the arrests taking place throughout the Palestinian territories, and
looks with concern at what human rights organizations and institutions
interested in the issue of detainees document during this year, especially in
recent months, in which arrests against Palestinians intensified, especially
the arrests and abuse of detained children grave violation for children's
rights.
In 2022, it was observed that the frequency of arrests increased in the West
Bank and Jerusalem, and it was noted that it included a large percentage of
children, as well as both male and female sexes. Hardly a night passes
without arrests in various areas of the West Bank and Jerusalem, and these
arrests are accompanied by physical assault on detainees, especially
children. Also, the contents of the homes of the detainees' families are
tampered with and destroyed. The detainees are also transferred in most
cases, especially in the West Bank, to military centers, where they are
subjected to physical beatings, psychological humiliation, intimidation,
deprivation of sleep for long periods, lack of food, and poor and poor
quality, especially during periods of interrogation with the detainees by
investigators from the Israeli security and intelligence services to obtain on
confessions by detainees.
Occupation forces deliberately storm homes after midnight and early dawn
hours. - Not allowing parents to attend the investigation of children's arrest
cases. Not allowing the detainee to consult a lawyer.- Forcing detainees,
especially children, to sign written statements in the Hebrew language that
Palestinian children do not master, without certain knowledge of the content
of the statement.- Blackmail and bargaining with children: the intelligence
and police deceive children by saying that they will release them if they
accept the charges, addressed to them. And in the event that they refuse to
convict themselves, it will arrest their families.- Beating children during 
arrest and during interrogation.- Restraining children with plastic shackles.-
Insults, insults, and contempt.- Threats of death and sexual violence.
A few days ago, the Palestinian Prisoners Society indicated that 750 children
have been arrested since the beginning of this year, and some of them were
arrested while they were injured as a result of shooting by the Israeli forces,
and some of them sustained bruises and wounds due to being beaten after
and during arrest. The Society indicated that among the detainees are three
minor girls who are languishing in "Damon" prison, and they are Nodhout
Hammad (16 years old) from Jerusalem, Zamzam Al-Qawasmeh (17 years
old), and Jannat Zaidat (16 years old) from Hebron.
The Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs documented
testimonies of two young men who were beaten and abused during their
arrest by the Israeli occupation forces. The lawyer for the commission, Heba
Masalha, stated that a large force of the occupation intelligence and police
arrested the boy, Muhammad Samer Abu Al-Hawa (16 years), from the town
of Al-Tur, east of occupied Jerusalem, after raiding his house at five in the
morning, searching his house and turning its contents upside down, and then
taking him to detention rooms. "Al-Maskoubiya", which remained inside it
for 19 days. This is just an example of hundreds cases
In the same context, the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Education
issued a statement on the 20th of November on the occasion of International
Children's Day. The report included the arrest of 770 child students since the
beginning of the year, 160 of which are still in detention. According to the
report based on documentation and follow-up by the teaching staff, the
detained children were subjected to physical pressure. Physical and
psychological insults and insults by the soldiers the moment after their
arrest. Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association-Addameer reported
last May “The Israeli occupation authorities place children in inhuman
conditions of detention and lack the minimum international guarantee of
children’s rights. The nature of the rooms in which they are held are rooms
that lack proper lighting and ventilation, and this is of course in addition to
the medical negligence practiced by the occupation authorities against the
cubs and the lack of clothes and food. The children were subjected to
beatings, isolation, abuse, and heavy financial fines were imposed on them,
especially the children in O’fer prison, where the fines imposed on them
during the months of March and April amounted to 78,000 Israeli shekels,
and during the month of May, they reached more than 60,000 Israeli
shekels”.
The occupation authorities, by defining the legal age of the child as sixteen
years, which violates the international standard for the age of the child,
which is eighteen years, and by this they are violating the international rules
and conventions on the age of childhood to evade the legal violation in
violating the rights of children "Military Order No. 132, issued in September
24, 1967, which defines a Palestinian “child” as a person under the age of
sixteen, in contradiction with the text of Article No. 1 of the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, which defines a child as every human being under
the age of eighteen, and with the Israeli penal code which defines an Israeli
"child" as a person under the age of eighteen.
At a time when cases of arrests of children are escalating in the West Bank
and Jerusalem, the Alternative Information Center - Palestine appeals to the
international community, international bodies and governments in the world
stand up to their duties in protecting children in Palestine, and to put
pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to respect and implement
international conventions on the protection of children. In this context, the
Alternative Information Center - Palestine appeals to these international
organizations to:
-Condemning and denouncing the Israeli detention policy against
children in Palestine
-Call on international organizations, especially those concerned with
children's rights, to put pressure on the Israeli occupation authorities to
stop the arrest of children and the violations against them.
-Call on the United Nations to oblige the Israeli occupation authorities
to respect international laws and conventions for the protection of
children and to stop arrests for them.