I wondered which child I could leave out and then decided it would not be fair to leave out any of them from the presentation.
I fell in love in the West Bank which is surprising at my age. I fell in love with the wonderful children I met there. I want to tell members about the children and their lives under the Israeli occupation. When I met the children in the morning at 7 a.m. to accompany them on their school run they were sleepy, dreamy and quiet but by collection time at 1 p.m. they were much more lively. Everywhere we went they came to us in the street with little outstretched hands saying, "Hello, welcome to Hebron. Who are you? What is your name? Where do you come from?" They were wonderful.
I wish to take members from Leinster House on a quick journey to Hebron. I am sure members are familiar with the map I am showing. It was in The Phoenix magazine recently. It shows the fragmentation of Palestinian land since the end of the British mandate in 1946 through the wars that took place up until 2010 when one will see on the fourth graphic map a huge amount of fragmentation with the West Bank completely separated from Gaza. The occupation is in breach of international law.
I now show a photograph of the barrier wall in Bethlehem where Mr. O'Brien was based. It shows two of my colleagues, one from Norway and one from Scotland. The wall runs from the West Bank and on the Palestinian side it reflects what was the armistice line, known as the green line.
The map I am displaying now shows the level of settlement by Israeli settlers within the West Bank. The blue parts are the settlements and the pink parts are the rest of the land. That is against the Fourth Geneva Convention. Article 49 states an occupational power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territory that it occupies.
The next map shows the location of Hebron. It is in the south of the West Bank. It has a population of between 180,000 and 220,000. It is unique in that outside of east Jerusalem it is the only place where Jewish settlers are living right in the heart of the city. I am aware that some members have visited Hebron. A total of 500 to 600 settlers live in the city. They are protected by 1,500 Israeli soldiers. There are three soldiers to every settler. That fact causes great difficulties for children and the general populace of Hebron.
I would like committee members to meet Akram. He is 15 years old and Palestinian. On 24 February he was sent to the shop by his mother, Leila, with 15 shekels to buy bread. A few minutes later he was arrested. He is 15 years old and wearing a yellow hoodie in the photograph on screen, in between the soldiers. Leila is also shown in this photograph, as she came rushing out within a few minutes because she heard he had been arrested. She is pleading with the soldiers, explaining to them that she has just given him 15 shekels to buy bread and asking them please to release him. He was alleged to have thrown a stone at the military. During the period when he left his mother's shop and the time he was picked up by the military a few yards away, he was in view of members of the TIPH organisation, or the Temporary International Presence in Hebron. They told Leila that they saw Akram during that period and that he did not throw a stone.
Leila is still pleading in the next photo. She is told that if she does not go away, they will arrest her instead. She went to Kiryat Arba police station after her son was taken away. He was handcuffed and blindfolded, which is what happens to 97% of the children who are arrested. She went to the police station and rang on the bell, but she got no answer, even though she could see people inside. She was distressed the morning I met her. She still did not know where her son was. She was hoping he may have been released from wherever he had been taken and would turn up at home, but he did not. As he still had not turned up by 9 a.m. the next day, I took her through Hebron to visit various organisations to try to find out where he was. Eventually, we discovered he had been taken to Kiryat Arba police station.
Three days later I accompanied Leila to Ofer military court, where a military trial was taking place involving Akram. She said he was brought into the court room and that he was handcuffed and shackled at the feet. She tried to speak to him, but the Israeli soldiers held her back. One is not allowed to speak to one's children in court. It is now three days since she has seen her 13 year old child. On the way into the court, she was strip searched and had a metal detector put inside her panties. We had heard at that stage that Akram was in a tent at Ofer military prison, where prisoners are kept ten to a tent, and that he was with adults. During this period of arrest, his parents had to lodge money into the post office account to feed him, or else he would have had no food. At the beginning, the other Palestinian prisoners helped him.
I would like members to meet Mahmoud who is 13 years old, lives in the same city and was released at the same time as Akram. This photograph shows Akram outside his house after his release, but I will come to that story. His bail was set at the equivalent of €400. As his mother could not afford to pay the money, she needed to leave him behind in prison the day that I accompanied both Leila and Fatiah who is Mahmoud's mother. In the end, it was a friend of the International Solidarity Movement that provided the €400 for Mahmoud to be released because the Israelis refused to release him until his parents paid the fine. Mahmoud spent over two weeks in prison without speaking to his family.
Akram was imprisoned for two months. This is a picture of him in the middle of April following his release, with one of his nieces. He was able to tell his story at this stage. He and the other boys were taken to Kiryat Arba police station. They were handcuffed and blindfolded for six hours. They were individually interrogated many times. The police threatened Akram. If he admitted to throwing stones, they said he would be released but, if not, they would continue to beat him, which they did. They brought out a form which was an official confession and tried to make him sign it. He refused.
On the night of the arrest Akram and Mahmoud were taken to the military camp where they spent the night handcuffed on the floor of a military jeep. On the second day they were taken to a detention centre, kept in an outside prison cell and exposed to the same form of interrogation. On the third day they were taken to the first hearing in Ofer military prison. At this point the two boys had not slept, nor had they been offered any food. They got water once because Akram had pleaded for it.
After the court case, Akram was taken to Ramon prison in Israel. He spent the first three weeks in solitary confinement despite being aged 15 years. For two to three hours on the days the International Red Cross came to visit the detention centre, he was allowed out but, other than that, he was in solitary confinement. He said one high ranking officer had told him that this officer could kill any three prisoners he chose in the detention centre and nothing would happen. Akram finally confessed to having thrown a stone on 22 April, six trials later. He had gone for five trials and at each one of these he had refused to confess that he had thrown a stone and he maintained his innocence.
Akram is now home. For four years he cannot leave his home without being accompanied by an adult. In the coming four years, if he is arrested again, he can be detained in prison for eight months without a trial and this detention can be extended without a trial for another eight months.
The Irish representative in Ramallah, Mr. James Carroll, arranged to have an observer at the sixth trial of Akram's case. Defence for Children International, Hebron states it is very unusual for someone like Akram at 15 years of age to refuse to sign a confession. Over 80% of children sign confessions during the interrogation phase.
I will tell the committee about another two or three children before moving on to some statistics. The committee members can see the photograph of brothers Hassan, aged 12 years, and Ameer, aged eight years, who were also arrested for allegedly throwing stones. There is a photograph of Ameer being taken to the military jeep. As can be seen, he is crying. The next photograph is of Hassan being taken to a military detention centre. He was imprisoned in Ofer military prison for two weeks at the age of 12 years. He was not indicted but was kept in jail until his last trial date, which was on a Sunday. He was forced to sign a document written in Hebrew and does not know what he signed as he does not speak or understand Hebrew. He was fined the equivalent of €800 in order for him to be released.
Since Hassan has left prison, he has had a sleeping disorder and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. I have the copies of the medical reports with me. He has nightmares, feels guilty and is afraid all the time. He has difficulty concentrating. He has changed the way he engages with his family and others. He has a tremor in his right leg, has socially isolated himself and has dropped out of school.
I also got to know Ameer quite well. On the same day Ameer could not be arrested because he was deemed to be a minor as he is under 12 years. He was detained from approximately 3.30 p.m. until 11 p.m. that day. He says the soldiers bit him and shouted at him. For all of Ameer's detention time he was blindfolded and left sitting on a chair. He could hear the guard dog panting beside him for all of this period. He was jeered at by some settlers who also live in the Beit Ramona military camp. He had no food or water and was not allowed to go to the bathroom. He was so scared he wet himself. He spent seven and a half hours in this condition.
When I met Ameer on the day after his release he was ashen faced. I had not met him before, but even I could see he was like a piece of white paper. He was unable to speak and since he has had nightmares, where he wakes screaming in his sleep, and has lost control of his bladder. He is nervous, has a poor relationship with his family and is the opposite of his brother, Hassan, in that he avoids being alone at all times. He is very affected by the presence of dogs. The medical report I have provided to the committee indicates he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
I wish to speak now about certain discriminatory laws, as outlined in the supplementary document I have provided. There is a difference in the way Palestinian children, on the one hand, and Israeli and settler children, on the other, are treated. We should bear in mind when discussing this issue that the presence of settler children and of their families in the West Bank is contrary to international law. A Palestinian child comes under Israeli military law, while an Israeli or settler child comes under Israeli civil law. This means that Palestinians are considered to be minors from the age of 12 years to 16 years and an adult thereafter. However, Israeli and settler children are still considered minors at age 16 years and 17 years and do not attain adult status until the age of 18 years. Palestinian minors can be detained for eight days without a court appearance while Israeli and settler minors can only be detained for 12 hours before a court appearance is required. While the families of Palestinian child detainees are not allowed to visit them, Israeli or settler children in detention may be visited by their families. Palestinians are interrogated by the military or the police but an Israeli or settler child is interrogated by a child investigator who usually comes from a social work background. The families of Palestinian children are not allowed to be present during interrogation whereas an Israeli or settler child cannot be interrogated unless his or her parents are present.
There are serious concerns about what happens after arrest. Defence for Children International, DCI, has described how Palestinian children, once they are alone in a military jeep with Israeli soldiers, are invariably subjected to "cruel and humiliating treatment" at the hands of their captors. They are usually made to sit on the floor of the jeep at the soldiers' feet and are often kicked and beaten. Many are cursed at, threatened and subjected to a torrent of verbal abuse for the duration of the journey. That journey can last for anything from 20 minutes to two hours. DCI describes this type of abuse and humiliation as the norm, pointing out that it is systemic and well documented. DCI lawyers represent between 30% and 40% of children imprisoned in the West Bank.
In 2009, 97% of children who were arrested had their hands tied, and 92% were blindfolded. Some 81% confessed during interrogation, 69% were beaten or kicked, and 65% were arrested from their homes between midnight and 4 a.m. when they and their families had been asleep. Some 14% are placed in solitary confinement and 4% experience sexual assault, although DCI has indicated that it suspects the incidence of sexual assault is higher.
I wish to tell the committee about a boy aged 15 years who I will refer to as A. I have not met him but a report on his case was sent to me by DCI in Palestine some weeks ago. He was arrested on 26 May on a charge of stone throwing. He was taken from his home at 1.30 a.m. while his parents watched. Again, his hands were tied behind his back with plastic ties and he was blindfolded before being placed face downwards on the floor of the military vehicle. First, he was taken to the nearby Israeli settlement of Karmi Zur, taken inside and made to sit in a chair tied and blindfolded until approximately 9 a.m. the following day. He was not allowed to go to the bathroom, despite persistently asking to so do, until after 11 a.m. I will quote from the statement made by the child called A. He states "at around 10 a.m. or 10:30 a.m., I was taken to the interrogation room ... the plastic ties were replaced with handcuffs." He was told to sit on the floor while still blindfolded. The interrogator asked him, "don't you want to tell me who threw stones with you?" He replied, "I didn't throw any stones and I don't know who threw stones either." The interrogator called him a liar and kicked him hard in the back. The interrogator then left the room and returned five minutes later with what A believes were car battery jump leads. Child A then states:
He placed one end on my handcuffs and the other end on my penis and I felt great pain and started screaming. He [the interrogator] said "I want you to confess or otherwise I will plug in the cable and you will never have children".
According to the Defence for Children International report, "Initially, A refused to confess but the interrogator kicked him in the back several times and placed his foot on the handcuffs". He then confessed to throwing stones a few weeks ago, as well as two years ago. He stated, "I confessed because I did not want to be tortured all over again." On 1 June 2010, after two appearances in Ofer military court and one appeal, A was released on bail with the equivalent of €100 and two guarantees of €5,000 from his father and his uncle. A still has not been charged with an offence.
I refer to the ill-treatment techniques, again using data from DCI, which gets its information from the lawyers who work for it. Such techniques include commonly excessive use of blindfolds, handcuffs, slapping, kicking, sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, denial of food and water for extended periods, denial of access to toilets, showers or changing of clothing, exposure to extreme heat and cold, position abuse, yelling and exposure to loud noises, insults and cursing, arresting family members or alleging that family members have been arrested and, occasionally, sexual abuse. Members have just heard one such example. The common threats include being beaten or threatening to have family members harmed, being imprisoned for an indefinite period or having other family members imprisoned, having work or study permits revoked, being sexually abused, being attacked by dogs, being subject to some sort of physical abuse and the threat of having one's family home demolished.
According to DCI's statistics for 2008 which are contained in the document circulated to members, an average of 324 Palestinian children were detained each month in 2008. In most cases, the lawyer does not get to see the child until a few minutes before the court case. A total of 91% of children are kept in pretrial detention, 99.7% of children arrested are found to be guilty and 1.24% of cases have full evidentiary trial. I will provide some more statistics. In 2008, 26.7% of the children detained were detained for the charge of stone-throwing. The maximum penalty for children throwing a stone at a moving military vehicle is 20 years under military order 378 and the equivalent penalty for a stationary vehicle is ten years. There have been 600 complaints about the arrest and detention of children between 2000 and 2008. No complaint has been investigated to date.
Four out of five of the prisons for children are in Israel and most parents cannot get a permit to go into Israel. As such, the norm is if a child is imprisoned for two months, his or her parent will not have received a permit to visit during that period. Imprisoning children from an occupied country in the country of the occupier breaches Article 46 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
What does international law state regarding the arrest of children? According to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, ONCHR, the arrest and detention of children must only be used as a last resort and for an appropriate period and that the juvenile detainees must be separated from adults, allowed contact with their families and receive appropriate assistance, including access to education, recreation and rehabilitation. None of the following — Akram, aged 15 years, Mahmoud, aged 13 years, Emir, aged eight years, Hassan, aged 12 years or the child known as A, aged 15 years — received any of this.
International laws were breached in these cases. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified by the State of Israel in 1991. Articles 3, 37, 38 and 40 have been breached. Articles 3, 27, 31, 31, 37, 42, 66, 71, 72 and 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, ratified by the State of Israel in 1951, have been breached. In the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by the State of Israel in 1992, Articles 7, 9 and 14 have been breached. Under the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, ratified by the State of Israel in 1991, Articles 1, 2, 4, 12, 13, 15 and 16 have been breached. These details come from my cursory examination and I have not cited an article unless the instance was so stark as to be undeniable. If lawyers were to examine these cases, they would probably find that many more articles had been breached.
The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel, EAPPI, was the programme with which Mr. O'Brien and I worked on the West Bank. Our role was protection by presence, the monitoring of human rights, support for Palestinian and Israeli peace activists and advocacy. Part of our advocacy work is what I am doing at this meeting. The EAPPI was initiated by the World Council of Churches, WCC, at the request of churches in Jerusalem in 2003. The EAPPI's members come from 18 countries and Irish and UK EAs, including Mr. O'Brien and me, are supported and trained by the Quaker Peace and Social Witness, QPSW, in the United Kingdom. My colleagues in Hebron included Ms Sofie Hammarström, who is on the left and from Sweden, and Alex, who is on the right and from Switzerland. It was with these two women that I worked and lived 24-seven during my period in Hebron.
An end to the occupation, adherence to international law, implementation of the UN resolutions, an immediate end to the building of settlements and the lifting of restrictions on movement and access will bring justice. What are Palestinians asking of the committee? A question I asked many times was what question did they want me to bring back to Ireland. Atah Jaber stated: "What about our humanity? We want it from you internationals. We will never get it from the Israelis." Atah's house was demolished twice and occupied once by settlers and once by the military. This was his original family home. When I asked how long his family had been living in Baqa, he replied 600 years. This image shows the cave in which his family lived. A settlement is being built at the top of the quarry about his cave. In the image, he is showing the Irish ambassador to Israel, His Excellency Breifne O'Reilly, and Mr. Jim Carroll, the Irish representative to the Palestinian Authority, where his family had lived in the West Bank for 600 years.
This is Adel Karim who says we need those with a conscience to help us live and work safely because we want to live in peace and not to make war. He can be seen in the presentation with his wife, Zebedeh. Their house has been demolished once and they have now built a very small house with one window and one door because they are petrified it will happen again. The message from Leyla is that she wants members to do something about the children who have been arrested. She has promised the children and their parents that she will do everything she can to get the stories of the children out to the committee members who have power and influence. She wants to present the stories of the children to those in Dáil Éireann.
