Military Detention for Palestinian Minors, Juvenile Courts for Israelis

Imagine you are a child surviving in what should be your own land, suddenly shot and forcibly detained, then made to sign papers under military custody – papers written in a language you know little to nothing of. This is the brutal reality of Palestinian children as young as 12 in Israeli military prisons. Their only fault being, if any: stone throwing. Nonetheless, reports of 3-year-olds being detained are not unfamiliar, either.

Convicted without hearing, and locked in prisons for years, Save the Children reports that all children under military confinement are forced to plead guilty, as only doing such would give them any inkling of hope for a shorter sentence, because waiting for a ruling in an Israeli jail is no less akin to being in hell. Often, they are bound, tortured and threatened to give confessions; methods that are physically and psychologically violent. Health risks and infectious diseases like scabies arise in the facilities, as children share confinement and bedding with ten or more other prisoners with no sanitisation items provided.

The Court System

In the West Bank, Palestinian children and adults are equally arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned under an Israeli military detention system while being denied basic rights, and while Israeli settlers have two legal systems, namely the civilian and criminal legal systems, Palestinians have no other option.

Research states that Israeli children never encounter an adult court, while Palestinian children have civilian criminal law applied to them by Israel. Often, solitary confinement is faced by Palestinian children following their arrest and transfer – and while in isolation, the children are given minimal human contact, with no prospect of visitations by family.

Administrative detention in these military facilities defines captivity without indictment or trial: a predicament that Palestinian children have been facing since 2015, following a suspension of the practice that only lasted three years. Charges are never presented to these children who are detained on undisclosed evidence hidden from them and their attorneys. Such unfair and inhumane actions are condemned by UN experts who are ‘disturbed’ by this ‘abusive system.’

In East Jerusalem, children are subjected to the law for Israeli youths, which in theory applies to both Palestinian and Israeli children, yet evidence from DCI Palestine shows that Palestinian children are stripped of their rights from the point of arrest to the conclusion of legal proceedings – a show of blatant, rampant discrimination.

Stone-Throwing

They bear no weapons, arms or defence equipment, yet are shot, injured and jailed for the simple act of protest: stone throwing. According to ABC News, for decades, stone throwing at Israeli military has remained a deep symbolic gesture of resistance from Palestinians. In altercations with the Israeli military, Palestinians of differing ages, armed with nothing but slingshots and rocks, don keffiyehs covering their faces to go head on with the settler military.

Just like the keffiyeh (a traditional Arab headdress) – used to protect one from tear gas canisters and keep identities hidden – stone throwing is no less symbolic for Palestinians. The contrast of heavily armed military forces against a child or man throwing a stone at them signifies defiance in the face of inevitable defeat and characterises the Palestinian spirit.

In 2015, the Israeli parliament passed a law imposing a minimum statutory penalty of four years up to 20 years for the act of stone throwing. Since 2021, the Israeli military has been instructed to allow shooting at Palestinians throwing rocks at cars, irrespective of any immediate threat.

To Conclude

Almost every adult in the West Bank has been detained at least once in their life. Since the October 7 attacks, arrests and detainment of children have risen to almost double the statistics of the years prior, and the abuse has only multiplied. Young minds and talents are deprived of reaching their potential by being disallowed from attending educational institutions. Minors under the age of 12 are put on house arrest for the ‘crime’ of stone throwing, only to later be detained when they reach the age of 13. As reported in Time, for children like 14-year-old Ahmad, one of the detainees released in the Israel-Hamas prisoner swap deal, the immediate goal was to go back to school.

What We Can Do

In 2015, DCI Palestine created a campaign titled, ‘No Way to Treat a Child.’ The campaign, in conjunction with AFSC, strives to end the persistent military occupation of Palestine by arranging and advocating groups of people demanding an end to military confinements and prosecution of Palestinian children in military courts.

Since 1991, DCI Palestine’s lawyers have been representing prosecuted Palestinian children in military courts.

The website for No Way to Treat a Child allows people to keep up with updates on the situation and act through petitions and letters being sent to lawmakers. Donations can be made to aid the group in protection of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank.