West Bank – Palestinian Girl, 14, In Israel Prison For Throwing Rocks

    7

    Protesters hold banners to show solidarity with prisoners in Israeli jails and highlight Malek's case. They are pictured in Nablus, West Bank, Jan. 27, 2015. APWest Bank – The fate of a 14-year-old Palestinian girl, tried before an Israeli military court for hurling rocks at passing cars in the West Bank and sentenced to two months in prison, has gripped Palestinians who say her treatment demonstrates Israel’s excessive measures against stone-throwing youth.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Malak al-Khatib, arrested last month, is one of only a rare few female Palestinian minors who have ever faced arrest and sentencing by Israeli authorities.

    “A 14-year-old girl won’t pose any threat to soldiers’ lives,” said her father, Ali al-Khatib. “They are well equipped and well trained so what kind of threat could she have posed to them?”

    The Israeli military said al-Khatib was charged with stone-throwing, attempted stone-throwing and possession of a knife and that under a plea bargain, she was sentenced to two months in prison and a $1,500 fine.

    Having spent four weeks in detention, al-Khatib has another four left weeks left at a central Israeli prison for women.

    Out of a total of more than 5,500 Palestinians held by Israel, about 150 are minors, the vast majority of them male, according to official figures from November, provided by Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.

    Malak al-Khatib is among a handful of female minors ever held by Israel. Palestinian officials say she is the youngest girl ever detained and sentenced by Israel – a claim Israeli officials and rights groups said they were not able to confirm.

    Palestinians and rights groups criticize Israel for its response to rock-throwing, either directed at its forces or civilians. Israel views rock-throwing as a dangerous tactic and at times a life-threatening attack, and claims it can be the first step toward militancy. Palestinians see it as a legitimate way to resist Israel’s occupation.

    Israel was hit by a wave of riots by Palestinians in east Jerusalem last year, following the killing of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy by Jewish extremists in revenge for the abduction and murder of three Israeli teens.

    Up to 1,000 protesters were arrested, many of them for stone-throwing. Israeli police said many of those arrested were minors. Some of them, schoolbags strapped to their backs, hurled stones at security forces on their way to or from school.

    Protests in the West Bank since then have been more subdued, but still occur frequently, with Palestinian protesters clashing with Israeli troops – incidents that often end in arrests.

    Stones and small rocks have become an iconic weapon in the West Bank. In the past six years, more than half of all arrests of Palestinian youth have been over stone-throwing.

    On Dec. 31, al-Khatib walked to a West Bank road used by both Israelis and Palestinians, and began throwing stones at passing cars, Palestinian officials told her parents.

    Israeli security forces later arrested her and said they found a knife in her possession.

    “These kids grow up with news about clashes, about oppression of Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and they go to express themselves,” Ali al-Khatib said.

    The girl’s parents, who appeared with her in court, said her feet were shackled and she was handcuffed.

    Since her arrest, the case has received constant media attention in the West Bank and spawned countless memes and caricatures, some showing al-Khatib, full-cheeked and pouty-lipped, behind bars and holding a teddy bear. One drawing shows a cherubic al-Khatib – whose first name means angel in Arabic – tied to shackles held by an Israeli soldier.

    At her home, al-Khatib’s bedroom shows the interests of a 14-year-old girl steeped in the realities of day-to-day life in the West Bank.

    Bracelets and necklaces bearing the colors of the Palestinian flag and a poster of a Palestinian man from her village killed in clashes with Israeli forces lie near a picture of Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

    Sarit Michaeli from B’Tselem said that under Israel’s military justice system, al-Khatib will not be afforded the same rights and protections as Israeli minors under Israel’s legal system.

    “An Israeli child will not be held in detention for three weeks, even a boy, let alone a girl, because of these protections provided to children by the Israeli youth law,” she said.

    Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians claim for their hoped-for state. Palestinians living in the West Bank are subject to Israel’s military justice system, whereas Jewish settlers and Israelis fall under a separate legal system.

    Issa Karake, head of the Palestinian government’s Prisoner Affairs Department, said al-Khatib’s case is just another in a policy meant to break the spirits of young people resisting the Israeli occupation.

    “The Israelis show no tolerance with the Palestinian children,” Karake said. “The Israelis are crushing a whole generation.”


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    7 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    Boochie
    Boochie
    9 years ago

    Are we really starting to justify rock throwing? Is this what it comes to? They say the army is equipped to deal with it, it called a gun, what would this dumb father, a dead daughter?

    9 years ago

    Let her out of prison; she’s just a silly child; but do demolish the house that she and her father live in, and then lock up her father in her place..

    pinny
    pinny
    9 years ago

    perhaps the new WALDORF HOTEL is where the ap would prefer for this future terrorist.no comparison to israeli children ,they dont throw stones with intent to kill or cause accidents

    9 years ago

    This is despicable. Arab children are taught from youth to terrorize. This must be nipped in the bud! Allowing them to get away with it only ensures they will grow into older terrorists! Throw the book at them and their parents who’ve trained them this way!

    HankM
    HankM
    9 years ago

    Great hinuch. Teach your children to hate so you can breed yet another generation of non productive misfits

    9 years ago

    only throwing stones and carrying a knife. Shoot to kill and let her father cry on her dead body for raising such a kid. Her aim was to severely injure or kill; we must do the same

    marcia
    marcia
    9 years ago

    Perhaps you can show the parents of their sweet 14 year old, the numerous pictures of similar YOUNGER rock-throwers being taught how to decapitate people with a jagged edged knife?! The graphic photos and videos should serve as a lesson for these “concerned parents” where their child is heading.