Jerusalem – Over the past five years, Israel’s military has detained more than 800 Palestinian youths and children for pelting rocks at Israelis soldiers, and has interrogated and jailed many of them, a rights group said in a report released Monday.
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Drawing on military statistics and interviews for its 70-page report, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem counted 835 minors who were taken into custody from 2005 through early 2011, including 34 children who were 13 or younger.
In the worst case, B’Tselem cited an 8-year-old who was seized in the West Bank in February.
Soldiers released the boy after realizing he wasn’t the child they were after: they wanted his 9-year-old brother. Troops then handcuffed the 9-year-old, blindfolded him and took him to a detention center where he was interrogated and held for five hours, according to the report. Israeli forces released the boy after it was determined he was a minor.
A military spokeswoman said around 160 civilians and soldiers were wounded in violent attacks by minors. Some 10 were wounded when Palestinian youths threw projectiles, but the spokeswoman, speaking of condition of anonymity, said she did not know the extent of their injuries.
B’Tselem acknowledged that while Israeli authorities needed to enforce the law, they said night raids, handcuffing, blindfolds, interrogations and the denial of access to lawyers for children for hours at a time were frequently disproportionate to the crime.
“The authorities need to enforce the law, but they should do it in lawful ways that is appropriate for the crime and the people committing the crime,” said the report’s author, Naama Baumgarten-Sharon.
Military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich said that in general the military handled children with sensitivity and that their arrest was a justified response to violence.
The B’Tselem report noted the situation for child detainees improved after the military built special juvenile courts, but said Palestinian minors were denied rights afforded to Israeli children.
Israel has complained for decades about Palestinian children taking part in often violent demonstrations, charging that they are being exploited. Many Palestinian parents see their children as young fighters resisting Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
Rock throwing, specifically, is seen as symbolic of their struggle.
The issue has flared in the past few years as Palestinians hold weekly demonstrations in West Bank villages in which young men and boys pelt rocks and chunks of concrete at Israeli soldiers. Israeli soldiers have used tear gas, rubber bullets and sometimes live fire in response, killing some demonstrators and badly wounding others.
Of the more than 800 minors charged with hurling rocks over the past five years, only one youth was found guilty in a court trial. The other 93 percent were given jail terms in plea bargains, agreeing mostly because they feared being detained while they waited for their cases to reach trial, said Baumgarten-Sharon.
More than 500 of the youths were around 16 years old, the report said. Another 255 were 14 and 15, and 34 were 13 or younger. The older the youths, the more likely they were given longer sentences, sometimes of months in jail.
Military spokeswoman Leibovich said the children’s fate lay with their families and Palestinian groups, whom she accused of sending out children to confront Israelis.
“We are talking about minors that actually use rocks and explosive devices to target Israeli civilians and soldiers,” she said.
I wonder how much resource it take to hold up such an amount of people…
in most countrys throwing a rock or chunk of concrete at someone is considered assault with a deadly weapon, or attempted murder if you actually connect. i have no idea what this “rights group” is complaining about these kids are lucky they werent killed in response.
I hope they collected their DNA too.
to bad they do not deal with the heradeim the same way this last week
So B’Tselem is saying that there should be no consequences to pelting soldiers and citizens with rocks and slabs of concrete as long as the pelter is under 12?
Imagine if an american kid was throwing chunks of concrete at moving vehicles…. I don’t know much about law but I’m going to guess assault and a fine or juvy…. Wake the hell up- it is a violent crime and indicative of the road they are headed down…. Prison is the least of what they deserve..
Israel should have a scared straight program,maybe it will scare some of these “kids” straight.
rights group, shmites group! what about israeli rights to not be killed by minors sent by their parents? they only care about palestinian hooligans! I just hope the guilty “shmites group” feels it rather than the innocent israeli who never gave support and cover to any terrorists!
To all B’tselem-minded liberal people out there who are reading this article and thinking Israel is being too heavy-handed with these “Palestinian” “youth”–let me remind you all the the murdered of the Fogel family H”yd (the father,mother, and three children-including a 5 month old baby) were “Palestinian” “youths”-
“disproportionate to their crime”??? Please allow members of this unbalanced group to have them, their wives, their children, their aged grandparents be the recipient (Chas v’shalom) of a several rock-throwing attacks and then give them a chance to reevaluate their position. Additionally, arrest the parents: who is taking responsibility for these criminal acts? Someone must. Feral, rock- throwing children become (chas v’shalom) emboldened to further acts of violent, anti-social behavior.
Great–B’tzelem is a “left wing” group who publicized this matter to the Goyim.
800 minors over 5 years–let’s see, that’s 160 per year minors arrested. No one asked why the Arabs send kids to do men’s work.
Israel should take these statistics and show how cowardly Arab men and their leadership is–sending children and women and then Israel gets the poor publicity?
Show the Arabs–not just in Israel–for the cowardly fighters they are. and shame them.
they use the same tactics in Afgharnistan with IEDs.
Cowards! The whole bunch of them.
for every kid they catch there are a thousand that don’t get caught
Oh come on, people look at that cute boy with the rock in his hand. Never mind that it can kill you. Give him a cupcake and a slushy. Send him home with a slingshot to play with. That’ll promote peace.
I know someone who was partially paralyzed by a rock thrown by a Palestinian. They should adopt the Singaporean punishment of lashes. I think it would serve as an effective deterrent.
I think a few representatives from the Mets should be allowed to watch these lowlifes throw, and if they’re any good, sign them to minor league deals. The Mets need all the pitching help they can get and believe me, once these guys get a taste of the good life in America, their rock-throwing days will be long over.
my wife and I were attacked by these rock throwing youths as we drove through the cemetery at Har HaZeitim a few weeks ago.
It first started as a few kids just chasing our car up the hill, but when a rock went through the back windscreen and they kept coming for many minutes, it was very disturbing to say the least.
Our rental car was totally wrecked.
When we filled out the police report, we were told that this happens about 5 times per day.
The authorities have to come down hard on these mamzers.
As someone said above, if this attack would happen in the US or UK or Australia, the perps would be rounded up and charged – and hopefully locked up.
….I can only start to imagine what could have happened if i had left the car or the car had broken down there
The Israeli government should require every B’tzelem bleeding heart to move in with their oppressed terrorist friends in Gaza or Ramallah. They should stay there indefinitely and enjoy the neighborhood.
Don’t judge maybe they were hearing voices