Israeli arrests of Palestinian children increase by 80%

Israeli arrests of Palestinian children have increased by 80 per cent over the past two months compared with the average monthly number detained by the occupation authorities over the past two years.

The Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights said in a report released on Monday that Israeli forces arrested 740 Palestinian children in January and February. Of these, 465 were detained for at least one week.

The Geneva-based watchdog said the average number of Palestinian children detained in 2013 was 200 per month, according to statistics released by the Israeli Prisons Service. The figure for 2012 was 197 arrests of children per month.

The report pointed out that most of the children were arrested for throwing stones at the Israeli soldiers who roam Palestinian cities. In other cases, they were taking part in peaceful protests against Israel’s apartheid wall, or creating graffiti in protest at the Israeli occupation.

The international organisation said that the Israelis carried out most of the arrests at night. The tactics, it alleges, are “repressive” and intended to “intimidate” the child and his family for no real security or other justification. The arresting officers usually refuse to allow the child’s guardian to accompany him during the arrest, or tell his a parents where he is being taken.

Several children allege that they were subjected to great stress during interrogation by the Israelis, including verbal abuse and sleep deprivation; they were also, they claim, prevented from going to the toilet, and were beaten. All are procedures amounting to torture and causing damage, abuse and violence to the child as defined by article 19/1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which also stipulates that not only should such practices end but also the perpetrators should be prosecuted.