More than a Stone’s Throw Away, No Justice for Palestinian Child Prisoners

Date posted: May 20, 2008
By Yasmin Abou-Amer for MIFTAH Send Article




On Saturday 10th May, a press conference was held in Beit Sahour, just outside of Bethlehem, to draw attention to the plight of child prisoner, Ziad Mahfuth. One issue that has been afforded the least coverage in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is that of child prisoners. Along with checkpoints and roadblocks, prison is yet another of the central features of Palestinian life. There are hundreds of Palestinian children from within the Occupied Palestinian Territories who have been arrested, interrogated and detained in severe violation of international law. According to Defence for Children International, at the end of April 2008, 327 children were held in Israeli detention facilities. Of this figure, four are girls and 12 are being held without charge or in administrative detention. Administrative detention is a procedure whereby a person is detained without charge or trial and which is permitted under international law in limited circumstances.

The press conference was to highlight the issue of child prisoners generally, with a focus on the case of Ziad Mahfuth, aged 17. In the early hours of the 2nd May 2007, Ziad was arrested from his home, the fifth time he has been arrested since he was 13 years old. On each occasion, he has been charged with throwing stones. When he was arrested for the third time however, he was also charged with throwing a Molotov cocktail. Not only was he kept in solitary confinement for a week, but he was also presented with papers written completely in Hebrew (a language he does not understand) and told he had to sign them. Out of fear and fatigue, he agreed to sign them. It later transpired that he had signed a confession and that he would have to go back to prison until the trial, at which he was sentenced to seven months in prison.

Upon his latest arrest (2nd May), he was taken to the Hagai Investigation Center in Kiryat Arba and then to Etzion Detention Center, where for five days he was questioned twice a day for half an hour. He was told by the investigators that they knew he had been throwing stones on specified dates. Nonetheless, Ziad refuted these allegations and refused to sign any papers, so he was released without a confession. It is extremely important to obtain a confession from the arrested children otherwise it is difficult to make a case. It is clear that the majority of the time, the children are intimidated to such a degree that they will willingly sign any paper placed in front of them regardless of the language in which it is written or the consequences of it being signed. These confessions serve as the primary evidence against the child, gravely inhibiting their chance of receiving a fair trial. It should be noted that stone-throwing carries a maximum sentence of 20 years; just five years less than the average murder sentence in Israel. The reason behind this hefty sentencing is politics. In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, stone-throwing is considered an act of war.

Faced with the possibility of such a lengthy sentence, many defense lawyers have entered into deals offered by the military prosecution, whereby the accused pleads guilty in return for a negotiated reduced sentence. However, a groundbreaking decision by lawyers representing Palestinians before the Military Courts was made on April 17th 2008(Palestinian Prisoners’ Day) to no longer accept plea bargains on behalf of their clients. The motive behind this move is the hope that the adoption of legal defense procedures will lead to fairer trials as well as signaling to the Military Court that the imprisonment of Palestinians (particularly children) as such a rapid rate needs to be addressed. The effectiveness of this move is yet to be seen, but one thing is certain; for such an ambitious move to be productive, lawyers and NGO’s will have to remain unified in their aims. The Military Court may seek to impose harsher sentences as a result of this action and it is up to these groups to bring this to the attention of the international community.

read on..
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=16964&CategoryId=21

I'm wondering, does this same sentence apply if the child is Israeli?

A THREAT TO THE STATE

Unfortunately, Israeli officials respond, Palestinian children are increasingly a grave threat to the Jewish state.

In 2002, a 13-year-old boy from Tulkarm in the West Bank was stopped by Israeli authorities after allegedly being recruited by Islamic Jihad to be a suicide bomber. The same year, a 17-year-old suicide bomber in Jerusalem killed seven Israelis at a hitchhiking stop. And in 2004, a 16-year-old boy blew himself up at a crowded fruit and vegetable market in Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis and injuring dozens more.

Nearly every week, the Israeli military issues reports of Palestinian teens caught with explosives and weapons at checkpoints throughout the West Bank.

Putting teens behind bars is "regrettable," Israeli officials say, but necessary to protect their citizens.

"Ultimately, that is part of the reality that has been forced upon us because of the deliberate strategy by extremist jihadist groups to exploit young people and to manipulate them in a terrorist war against us," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry.

to lock a 13 year old for life?

I did not see that anywhere in the linked article.

it was about children throwing stones,the question I asked was for your opinion, what was your purpose in bringing up suicide bombers in responce to an OP about kids throwing stones?
BTW most of the would be child suicide bombers fall under classification of "child soldier"

Some child soldiers are known to have committed human rights atrocities. Shouldn't they be punished for such crimes?

The Coalition primarily sees child soldiers as victims of armed conflict. However, where there is genuine evidence to suggest that a child has committed a serious human rights violation, there may be a case for prosecution. The trial of any person under the age of 18 must fully adhere to international standards for juvenile justice. In particular, any criminal proceedings must take into account the child's age and vulnerability and the desirability of promoting his or her reintegration into society.

http://www.child-soldiers.org/childsoldiers/questions-and-answers

I did not see where a 13 year old was jailed for life for throwing stones.

Children are children and should be treated as such.

I do not consider a 17 year old to be a child however, he is old enough to know better and to know what the consequences of his behavior will be.

I blame their parents for the indoctrination of hatred towards Israelis, glorifying martyrdom. The throwing of stones is just a stepping stone to bombs etc.

I blame Israel for not getting the youngsters psychological help they need to perhaps undo the brainwashing, if that is at all possible, or else some type of juvenile or educational facility but certainly not prison.

War is hell and the children of conflict always suffer the most.

Your comments

I do not consider a 17 year old to be a child however, he is old enough to know better and to know what the consequences of his behavior will be.

I must assume that either 17 is so far in the distant past or so close to the present that you do not remember or haven't yet grown past it. However I do remember even at 52 and 17 year olds as the old saying goes "know everything and understand nothing" also at that age issues are urgent and action is imperative actions that in 5 or 10 years time would very likely to be a more thought out before under taken or more likely not taken at all.

I blame their parents for the indoctrination of hatred towards Israelis, glorifying martyrdom. The throwing of stones is just a stepping stone to bombs etc.

Problem is "indoctrination" does not usually work without living breathing examples in front of you every day, family or friends becoming "collateral", your or relatives homes being demolished or invaded as temporary shelter for IDF, being humiliated at checkpoints, being detained, being harassed and spit on by settlers, the list goes on and on.

I blame Israel for not getting the youngsters psychological help they need to perhaps undo the brainwashing, if that is at all possible, or else some type of juvenile or educational facility but certainly not prison.

help them what learn to become happy to be second class, help them love having their home destroyed?

that in the USA a "child" as young as 16 yrs old is eligible for the death penalty?

Texas for example, does that somehow make it OK? The US is also committing crimess against humanity both at home and abroad.

are only about 10 or 12 states that DO NOT have the death penalty and the US Supreme Court set the minimum age at 16.

The SCOTUS did not set the minimum age at 16 the states do that, what SCOTUS said was that people could not be sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were under 18 (second link). There are 27 states at present that allow the death penalty, but 3 of them have no prisoners on death row nor have they had any executions. (First link)

http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/dpusa.htm

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=203&scid=

In addition, many states differ in their minimum age death penalty statute. Five states, including Texas, minimum age is 17 compared to 19 states, including the Federal Government, whose minimum age is 16.
http://www.msccsp.org/publications/death.html

36 states allow the death penalty (not 27) plus the US govt and the military.
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=121&scid=11

Anyway we seem to have gotten off topic here.

Roper v Simmons was 2005 the case about death penalty for crimes committed under 18, your link was from 2001
but your right this is OT

it's a damn shame though, where do we draw the line when it comes to kids?

snip..........

Orit Stelser, a spokeswoman for Israel’s prison service, denied that the conditions Palestinian child prisoners are held in, contravened international law. "Of course they don't break the law. There are lots of organisations, such as the Red Cross, who come to visit them and who check their conditions," she said.

She added that all Palestinian children and youths were now being held in separate blocks from their adult counterparts.

"About a month ago we took over Ofer Prison near Ramallah in the West Bank from the IDF . So we have changed all the rules there and the children are separated from the adults, and the boys from the girls,” Stelser said.

"These young Palestinian terrorists get visited by their families twice a month - they have that right. Of course, we Israelis don't get to visit our prisoners, like Gilad Shalit in Gaza, but we still guarantee the Palestinians their rights," she said.

much more on the accusations here,
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=62351

Of course, if Israel denies it, it must be so.

I posted the link but the OP provided the gist of the rest of it.

What a moron....

This policy by Israel is indefensible.

But they also should not be dragged into military or paramilitary activities. So either their families or local organizations are to be blamed for involving them in the violence in the first place.

Believe me. Lots of kids get picked up and held, and semi-tortured in an attempt to create collaborators, for nothing. NOTHING.

It should be against every civilized principle to hold CHILDREN under administrative detention. Period. No excuses, no prevarication.

and suicide bombers.

Their families are paid handsome sums, and banners and celebrations of their martyrdom occur.

Children are taught that killing Israelis is the national goal.

Babies walk around with Hamas headbands and guns (even if they are toys, and for young boys, they are all too often real).

If a society teaches its young that murder is more important than life, it is a culture of sickness.

Children who murder need to be locked up, no question about it.

Regardless of what these children have been taught fair is fair. These skirmishes between Israel and Palestine have been going on for centuries and will never end. What makes the underdog the underdog is the media and the relationship between Israel and the United States. If we had sided with Palestine years ago instead of Israel the shoe would be on the other foot eh? There needs to be more prayer and tolerance between these two nations though I doubt I see an end to their wars in my time. As to your thoughts of Palestine teaching its young that murder is more important than life..perhaps we should trying living in a such a desperate place. Personally, I find it hard to believe that Israel is afraid of a few stone throwers when they obviously have all the fire power.

I read a book written back before Barghouti was arrested, and he was totally against his teenage son throwing stones at demonstrations, but short of locking the kid up, couldn't stop him from doing it as the kid wasn't listening to him or anyone else who was telling him to stay away. So I don't think it's a case of parents sending their kids out to throw rocks the same way parents would send their kids out to play after dinner. I think it's more a case of children who are living in a very violent environment reacting to the violence they see around them...

I think it's often violent groups, organized or less organized, who recruit kids.

And as you say, sometimes it's more a case of the kids imitating the violence around them.

that mothers encourage their sons to become suicide bombers.

They are very proud of their dead sons, who have killed Israelis.

There were a number of articles posted on the topic.

This is a systemic issue, and it starts with the Palestinian leadership but is indoctrinated in families.

that is against the rules of this forum but for me I would rather let it stand, it shows the bigotry of certain people that claim to be proIsrael, but who are really more pro Armageddon, sort of like Hagees bunch who believe in and work towards the "prophecy" of Armageddon, maybe you've heard of them?