Israel Arrests 100 Palestinian Children From Jerusalem Last Month
- Palestine News Network – PNN Jerusalem 01.11.10
- Photo: Wolf Bonpiedbonoeil Palestinian youth in Beit Djibril refugee camp.
Human rights groups issued a report saying that the Israeli military police, better known as the border police, arrested 100 Palestinian children from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan in October.
In contrast, the Israeli police announced that they arrested only 40 children after Israeli settlers in Silwan claimed that the children were throwing stones at them, adding that they could be lethal. The police said that all those arrested were under the age of 13 years old.
However, an investigation conducted by the American newspaper Christian Science Monitor, in coordination with human rights groups in Jerusalem, found that the Israeli police arrested 100 children under the age of 13 during a campaign of early-morning raids.
Parents of arrested children explained that many of them were taken from their homes or on their way back home from school or as they were playing in front of their homes. The arresting troops often worked undercover in unmarked cars.
Human rights groups added in its report that the children were abused and tortured during their arrest and their interrogation by police officers. Liberal Israeli Jerusalem municipality members told the American newspaper that the demolition of Palestinian homes and arrests of Silwan children could spark a new intifada, the Arabic word for uprising.
Thank you.
Comment by Helene Lyne — November 7th, 2010 @ 9:49 AMBut not enough Americans see pictures like these,
or they would rather not think about Palestinians.