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Summary: This report aimed at documenting
violations of Palestinian children's
rights by Israeli occupation
authorities during 1997 and 1998. It
highlights human rights violations
against children including killings,
injuries, detention, including
administrative detention without trial
or respect for due process rights, and
raids and other forms of collective
punishment. A Report on Israeli Violations of Palestinian Children's Rights 1997
- 1998
Introduction and contents
Introduction
This report is an effort by Defense for Children lntemational/
Palestine Section (001/PS) aimed at documenting violations of
Palestinian children's rights by Israeli occupation authorities
during 1997 and 1998. This report, largely based on reported cases
and eyewitness acoounts, highlights some of the most serious Israeli
human rights violations against Palestinian children including
killings, injuries, detention, including administrative detention
without trial or respect for due process rights, and raids and other
forms of collective punishment. The two main chapters of this report
deal with the above referred to human rights violations during 1997
and 1998 respectively. This is done through inclusion of tables with
details of various types of violations, and by analysis of these
violations, and any trends that may be found, anc(by comparison of
the occurrence of violations during the two years covered by this
report.
By preparing and publishing this report, DCI/PS aims at raising
awareness of the many severe and subhuman conditions Palestinian
children are forced to live in. Tables and charts of human rights
violations are incorporated in addition to first hand eye-witness
accounts of particular cases. 001/PS hopes this report will enhance
local and international efforts to end Israeli violations of the
rights of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories (hereinafter OPTs). Although a signatory, Israel
systematically violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child
(CRC) vis-a-vis Palestinian children. DCI/PS urges the international
community to establish the necessary conditions for Palestinian
children's healthy growth and development to enable them to aspire to
a life free from violence and fear. International action has become a
matter .of urgency as the years 1997 and 1998 marked a retreat in the
Palestinian-Israeli negotiations process which began five years ago.
The stalemate in the negotiations process comes in the wake of
another year that witnessed continuation of Israeli illegal policies
of land confiscation, expansion of settlements and building of new
ones, occupation of strategic hilltops in and about the West Bank as
encouraged by Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon and Prime
Minister Netanyahu, and the building of by-pass roads. House
demolition also increased while the Israeli closure of the West Bank
continued to deny residents access to Jerusalem and areas within the
Green Line. Similarly, tens of thousands of Palestinian workers were
prevented from reaching their places of work in Israel. This
coincides with occasional strict and complete closure of the West
Bank and Gaza that continued at times for several months for what
Israel described as "security reasons".
This report also comes in the wake of the world's commemoration of
the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Ironically, this dovetailed with Palestinian community solidarity
with the issue of prisoner release, the prisoners hunger strike and
the clashes that occurred between Israeli forces and Palestinian
protesters as a result. The anniversary of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights formed an opportunity for Palestinian to protest
Israeli violations as exemplified by this report.
Israeli human rights violations against Palestinian children
continued in 1997 and 1998. Though the number of Palestinian children
killed by Israeli forces, settlers, and Iandmines decreased in both
1997 and 1998 compared with previous years, the number of children
injured tripled. A quick comparison between 1997 and 1998 reveals a
'decrease in the amount of children who were killed from 17 to 14
children. No children were killed as a result of mines in 1998 after
2 children were killed in 1997. There is also a slight decrease in
the number of children injured in 1998, which totaled 350 after 374
were injured in the previous year. It is beneficial to note that the
concentration of injuries of both years took place during select
intervals of political strife, namely 126 children injured in June
1997,and 127 children injured in May 1998.
Throughout the two years, Palestinian prisoners and detainees in
Israeli jails and military detention centers went on hunger strikes
in order to protest deteriorating prison conditions, including the
holding of children in solitary confinement. Israeli forces continued
the infamous policy of demolishing Palestinian homes, and forcibly
evicting Palestinians from their homes, rendering hundreds of
families and children homeless.
Additionally, Israeli soldiers and settlers continued their raids on
Palestinian schools and institutions throughout the two yed~rs
covered by this report. During the previous two years, Israel
continued its imposition of tlosure of the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip, and their separation from each other and from occupied
Jerusalem and Israel proper.
Marking the eleventh anniversary of the Intifada in December 1998,
many incidents took place that invoked the return of the Intifada,
with its unique features of both mass mobilization and Israeli
brutality. Clashes between the Israeli Army and Palestinian youths
were reported from virtually all districts as the result of a hunger
strike that started on 5 December 1998 by Palestinian prisoners held
in Israeli jails and military detention centers.
On the political level, Israeli forces were redeployed in Hebron
early in 1997. However, the peace process froze after the Israeli
right-wing government decided to build a new settlement in Jerusalem
on Jabal Abu Ghneim. Further, 1998 witnessed the signing of the Wye
River Plantation Memorandum between the Israeli government and the
Palestinian National Authority (hereinafter the PNA) with presence,
participation and guarantees of United States President WIliam J.
Clinton. However, the implementation of the agreement was delayed for
a long period, and finally brought to a halt after the Israeli Prime
Minister's announcement of the holding of early elections on 17 May
1999, called in the wake of the collapse of Netenyahu's government.
With the signing of the Wye River Memorandum, the region entered a
new stage whereby American Intelligence services (the Central
Intelligence Agency) coordinated with its PNA and Israeli partners in
ensuring that the security measures of the agreement are carried out.
Furthermore, the PNA decreed the prohibition of "incitement against
Israel" as well as other restrictive measures which have grave
implications as far as human and civil rights of Palestinians are
concerned. This was most noticeable in Israel's repeated insistence
that the PNA increase its arrests of Palestinians members of
opposition groups.
In signing the Wye River Memorandum, lsrael committed itself to
releasing 750 prisoners from Israeli jails and military detention
centers. There was hope on the part of DCI/PS, and the Palestinian
community at large, that among those to be released would be
Palestinian children. Unfortunately, in the first stage of the
agreement's implementation, Israel released 250 prisoners, of whom 96
were political prisoners, while the remainders were criminal
offenders. The Israeli behavior caused disappointed amongst
Palestinian prisoners and their families who anticipated the release
of their beloved ones. Human rights organizations repeatedly called
for the release of all Palestinian prisoners, especially minors, the
elderly, the sick and those who had spent great spans of time in
Israeli prisons.
While developments related to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations
process were briefly addressed above, Israeli human rights violations
committed against Palestinian children in 1997 and 1998 took place
against the following backdrop:
· Settlement expansion: Throughout the 1997 and 1998, the Israeli
government unconditionally continued its settlement construction and
expansion in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. This took place even though the Wye Memorandum stipulated a
freeze on the building of new settlements, though it gave a green
light to the expansion of pre-existing ones. Israeli Authorities
continued to confiscate Palestinian land sparking new protests on
each occasion. Palestinian children continued to be victims in
subsequent confrontations with Israeli forces.
· By-Pass Roads: For the benefit of Israeli settlers, the Oslo
agreements stipulated the building of bypass roads around the
perimeters of Palestinian population centers such that Israeli
settlers would not have to pass through Palestinian controlled areas.
With every subsequent agreement, more land was confiscated for the
purpose of building more bypass roads accompanied with the demolition
of houses, and'the uprooting of trees and orchards. This increased
with the signing of the Wye Plantation Nenorandum near the end of
1998, with the proclamation of the establishment of 11 new by-pass
roads and the confiscation of thousands of dunums of Palestinian land.
· House demolition: The Israeli Authorities continued its campaign of
forced eviction and demolition of Palestinian homes in East
Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of Palestinian
families and children were left without homes in 1997 and 1998.
· Closure: The Israeli closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip from
East Jerusalem and Israel proper entered its seventh year. Several
people died at Israeli roadblocks after being denied access to
medical care. The closure has persistently caused deterioration in
the Palestinian economy and has raised unemployment to 70% at times.
This form of collective punishment has resulted in widespread child
labor in Palestine.
· Prisoners: The various political agreements reached between Israel
and the PNA have not brought about the release of Palestinian
political prisoners from Israeli jails as had been expected. Israel
has continued to detain more than 3000 Palestinians, a quantity that
has increased and decreased with respect to the situation on the
ground in the Palestinian controlled areas. The number of detainees
(amongst them children) increases every time the region witnesses
renewed political conflict and strife. In particular, the use of
administrative detention (imprisonment without charge or trial for
indefinite periods of time) has increased. This practice is often
used in renewable 6 months intervals based upon secret information
not made available to either the detainee or his/her attorney. Some
detainees have remained in this state for up to 6 years in Israeli
prisons. This category has also included children. The sensitivity of
the prisoner issue was demonstrated in an open hunger strike declared
on December 5,1998 and which lasted for 10 days. Prisoners were
demanding their release as stipulated in the Wye Memorandum and the
improvement of their living conditions within the prisons. Despite
this, prisoners do not expect any drastic changes in their conditions
within the upcoming year.
In sum, it appears that violations of Palestinians' human rights,
especially those directed against children, seem likely to persist in
the next year with intensity similar to that described in this
report. The region seems particularly susceptible to tension and
explosion due to the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming Israeli
general elections, the subsequent activity of Israel's future
government, and any Israeli reaction to President Arafat's possible
announcement of an independent state at the time the interim period
expires on 4 May 1999, or shortly thereafter. Only the future will
tell what the international community can do for Palestinians' rights.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Note on Methodology
Chapter I: Israeli Human Rights Violations Against Palestinian
Children During 1997
Martyrs
Injuries
Land-Mine Casualties
Conditions Affecting Detainee Children
Raids: Israeli Soldiers and Jewish Settlers' Attacks on Houses, Land,
Schools etc
Collective Punishments
Conclusions
Chapter II: Israeli Human Rights Violations Against Palestinian
Children During 1998
Martyrs
Injuries
Land-Mine Casualties
Conditions Affecting Detainee Children
Raids: Israeli Soldiers and Jewish Settlers' Attacks on Houses, Land,
Schools etc
Collective Punishments
Conclusions
Final Conclusions and Obseivations