Children Behind Bars
source: dci-pal.org, 12-10-2005.
The Wall and Arrests
summary: In 2002, "Israel" started to construct its so-called West Bank Barrier - in parts a concrete wall in parts a metal fence - purportedly to prevent Palestinians from the West Bank carrying out attacks inside "Israel". In reality however the wall belies any security justifications; it encroaches deep into the West Bank, annexing vast swathes of Palestinian lands. The route the wall has taken has resulted in severe infringements on the right to freedom of movement of Palestinians, alongside violations of basic rights such as the right to education and the right to health. For Palestinians, the wall that towers in front of their homes is essentially a prison wall and a continuous reminder of the control the military regime has over their lives.
The "Israeli" government is determined to ignore national and international criticism and legislation and finish the wall as soon as possible. Thus anyone involved in any form of protest against the wall, or delaying its construction in any way, is considered by the "Israeli" authorities to have committed a serious offence, not least against the "security" of "Israel" and thus "Israeli" authorities appear determined to quash any form of resistance to the wall.
Children in Protest against the Wall
Over the past three years, thousands of Palestinian children have watched as the wall has grown to form an impassable barrier blocking their way to school and to other basic services, preventing them from visiting friends and relatives, cutting them off from their lands, from their families` livelihoods, and dividing and isolating their villages. Unsurprisingly, many children have taken to the streets of their villages in protest against the Wall.
When "Israeli" bulldozers first moved in to clear a path for the Wall, demonstrations and protests by Palestinians were all but impossible because of the myriad incursions and curfews that formed the backdrop to normal life in 2002. However in 2003, as construction of the Wall moved further south to the villages west of Ramallah, regular demonstrations began. As popular frustration and disgust grows, these demonstrations have become increasingly more frequent and spread to villages all along the route of the wall.
In the early days of the protests, demonstrators sought to reach the site of the wall or the construction area. However, the "Israeli" military commander declared this a closed military zone, ensuring any protestors who entered were liable to arrest. The military zone has since been extended to a 500-metre area around the construction sites. Recently, particularly in villages engaged in frequent demonstrations, "Israeli" soldiers have begun to confront crowds of protesters before they even reach the area, claiming this is being done to prevent any delay in construction. On other occasions, a curfew is declared both to prevent non-local protestors from entering the village and as a form of collective punishment on residents. Budrus, for example, in west Ramallah, was put under curfew for a whole week in the beginning of 2004, after villagers engaged in a protest against the Wall.
The "Israeli" military response to such demonstrations has become increasingly aggressive. The rallies usually begin peacefully; however the crowds of unarmed protestors, many of them women and children, walking towards the wall or construction site, are routinely confronted with tear gas, sound grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets. Once such violent methods of crowd dispersal are employed by the army, the children and youth in the crowd frequently respond by throwing stones. Then the army reprisals begin in earnest. Since the anti-wall protests started in 2003, a total of 12 Palestinians have been killed at the demonstrations, including five children.
There have been several reports of undercover "Israeli" special forces and intelligence agents either initiating or encouraging stone throwing and aggressive acts among the ‘shebab` or young men and boys in the crowd. It is enough for these agents to throw one stone, to instigate further stone throwing, and this then becomes a justification for "Israeli" strong-arm tactics against the entire crowd. Just before turning on and arresting Palestinian demonstrators close by, these undercover agents pull out hidden weapons and put on an identifying cap so that they will not be targeted by their own troops positioned further away. Such incidents have been recorded at Bil`in and at Budrus.
Palestinian children are routinely arrested - even targeted - by "Israeli" forces during these civil protests. They are often at the very forefront of the marchers; sometimes running ahead to see what`s happening - and thus entering military zones before the body of the demonstrators. Moreover, they can easily be tricked into throwing stones by undercover agents keen to implicate them in violent activities. Upon arrest, Palestinian children and other demonstrators are bundled into the back of waiting military jeeps - though in at least one infamous incident at Biddu last April, a 13-year old Palestinian child was tied to the hood of a border police jeep to effectively act as a human shield against stone throwing.
Children are not only arrested at the time of the demonstration, but also later. For frequently, once the foreign protestors and camera crews have packed up and left, "Israeli" police and soldiers re-enter the villages to detain locals who they claim have been participating in the demonstrations. The children are taken together with the adults first to the nearest police station for interrogation, and then on to detention centres where they are held pending trial.
In 2003, it was reported that an order from an "Israel" Defense (Occupation) Force commander was issued to prosecutors of the military courts to be stricter and give longer sentences to children arrested for their involvement in protests against the wall - even if their alleged offence is as harmless as throwing rocks at an eight-metre high concrete wall. The head of prosecutors has purportedly also issued recommendations for children involved in activities against the wall to be given longer sentences than those arraigned for other offences ensuring the prosecutors are under pressure from all levels above them.
