Israel treats children
like adults. Only two countries impose life without parole (LWOP) sentences
on minors - America and Israel.
Israel is a signatory to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC). It's explicit and binding provisions state:
"every human being" below 18 is a child;
their economic, social and cultural rights, safety and welfare must
be protected "without discrimination of any kind" with regard to "race,
colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national,
ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status,"
including their "right to life....survival (and) development;"
all measures shall be taken to protect children from physical and mental
violence, exploitation or ill treatment; and
children deprived of liberty shall be treated with humanity and not
subjected to torture or other abusive or degrading treatment.
International human rights and humanitarian law demand it.
Israel spurns CRC and other international law with impunity. Studies
document it. A new one conducted by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (FCO) titled "Children in Military Custody" discussed horrendous
abuses.
From September 10 - 17, a delegation comprised of nine lawyers visited
Israel and the West Bank. They included a former attorney general, a
former appeals court judge, and several lawyers known as QCs. They evaluated
how Palestinian children are treated under Israeli military law.
On July 29, 2009, Israeli General Gadi Shamni signed Military Order
No. 1644. It established the "first-instance military court for youth,
presided over by a single juvenile-court judge or by a panel led by
a juvenile-court judge."
It states:
"The head of the military Court of Appeal must appoint judges from the
first instance court in the military court."
"The judges must be prepared to be competent for the post of juvenile
judges after the approval of the head of the Court of Appeal to be appointed
as juvenile judges for a certain period, which has been identified."
It also requested court sessions be "as separate as possible" from regular
ones for adults. In addition, a Civil Administration welfare report
on the defendant's family should be issued "if the court believes this
necessary to determine the minor's verdict."
Under Military Order No. 132, minors are categorized as follows:
children are under age 12;
youths are from 12 - 14;
young adults are between 14 and 16; and
at age 16, minors become adults.
According to CRC, adulthood begins at age 18.
In practice, children are treated like adults. According to Defence
for Children International (DCI) representative Khaled Quzmar:
"After reading the order I can say that there is nothing new."
"They are just playing with words and trying to make useless cosmetic
changes to hide the realities of the military system itself."
"This military order also gives incredible authority to the military
prosecutor who can give permission to override a series of clauses in
the order itself."
"Military Order 1644 exempts all hearings to determine whether a child
should be kept in pre-trial detention until the end of the legal proceedings
from the requirement of having to be heard before a ‘juvenile judge."
In September 2011, Israel issued Military Order 1676. It raised the
age for children to 18. It states parents should be told and legal counsel
provided.
Language lacked specifics. The order circulated only in Hebrew. Doing
so violates international law. Moreover, youths of any age are denied
basic rights.
They're abusively treated. They're prosecuted in military courts. In
practice, they don't differentiate defendants by age.
Children 12 and under may be imprisoned. Parents and legal counsel aren't
permitted with them during interrogations. Offenses most often allege
stone throwing. Many youths are falsely charged.
They can be held for weeks without access to lawyers. They can be imprisoned
up to two years. Complaints filed are ignored. FCO said:
"a significant number of allegations of physical and emotional abuse
of child detainees by the military which neither the complaints system
nor the justice system is addressing satisfactorily."
Prosecuted Israeli and Palestinian children for similar alleged offenses
face vastly different treatment.
Israel doesn't dispute that "major differentials (exist) between the
(military) law governing the treatment of Palestinian children and"
how civil law treats Israeli youths.
Separate and unequal defines Israeli policy. It stems from the belief
that "every Palestinian child is a potential terrorist."
FCO determined "undisputed facts." At least six CRC provisions were
violated.
Most Palestinian minors are arrested pre-dawn at home. Heavily armed
soldiers accost them. They're painfully tied or shackled. They're brutalized
and intimidated during arrest, transfer and interrogation procedures.
Offenses amount to torture. Legal rights are entirely denied. So is
bail most often. Nearly all charged receive custodial sentences inside
Israel. From arrest until release, treatment is brutal.
FCO's report documents grievous international law breaches. Cruel, inhuman
and degrading treatment is policy. So is institutionalized racism.
Council for Arab-British Understanding Director Chris Doyle called Palestinian
youth and adult prosecutions "nothing less than a kangaroo court that
does nothing to improve Israel's security while criminalizing an entire
generation of Palestinian children."
Occupation harshness continues. Rogue state oppression inflicts enormous
harm. Palestinians suffer grievously. Children feel it most. Many are
severely traumatized.
Israel gets away with appalling crimes because world leaders don't intervene.
Public outrage has the best chance of pressuring them. Studies alone
change nothing.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized
Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News
Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time
and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
Likud, Kadima, Labor, or new centrist party leadership hardly matters.
Israel remains hardline, belligerent, and repressive. Arab citizens
have no rights.
They and most Jews chafe under neoliberal harshness. Instead of improving
conditions, they're worsening.
Malcolm X once said "I see America through the eyes of the victim. I
don't see any American dream - I see an American nightmare."
Israelis face similar harshness. Remaining rights are eroding en route
to being lost altogether. Populist change demands sustained public rage.
Nothing else can work.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized
Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News
Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time
and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
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