— Published on 21 June 2017¶

This report, submitted to the UN Committee against Torture last May, is based on a reliable piece of documentary field work backed up by testimonies collected by the Platform for Palestine on its visits to the West Bank in 2014 and 2015. The report on the violation of rights inflicted on Palestinian minors in detention is corroborated by reports from other Palestinian, Israeli and international NGOs, as well as by the UN.

More than 8,500 Palestinian children have passed through the hands of the Israeli security forces since 2000. Arrested, sexually assaulted and sometimes tortured, these minors, more often are not more than just victims of an iniquitous trial, come out of the Israeli military detention system completely broken.

Those who do not have direct experience of prison are still affected by it through the imprisonment of their father, brother or cousin – or even their mother or sister. Since 1967, more than 850,000 Palestinians (20% of the total population and 40% of the male population) have been held prisoner by the Israeli authorities. Each new episode of tension between Israelis and Palestinians causes an upsurge in arrests. Between the beginning of October and the end of December 2015 2,663 Palestinians were arrested, 479 of which were children aged between 12 and 18.

The army, police and military justice system are the protagonists in a system that has been devised as a collective punishment tool against a Palestinian society that disputes the occupation. Nobody escapes it, not even children who in fact feature among the first victims of repression.

The number of arrests of minors increased by 15% on average in 2015 and by 179% between October and December. At the end of March 2016 there were 438 minors in detention, of which 98 were less than 16 years old.

According to information collected on the ground by Palestinian, Israeli and international associations working with these minors, the Israeli authorities deliberately target Palestinian young people. The arrests, interrogations and convictions are aimed at punishing the children as much dissuading them and their families from fighting the occupation. Detention hangs over the population like the Sword of Damocles and there are huge and devastating consequences of detaining children: dropping out of school, depression, fear of re-arrest, fear of torture, breakdown of family and social ties, and feelings of injustice. The violations of human rights that accompany the arrests, interrogations and proceedings are carried out with complete impunity regardless of international treaties that have actually been ratified by the state of Israel, such as the Fourth Geneva Convention, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention against Torture.

I opened the door. There was a soldier in front of me. He asked me “Are you Tayeb?” I told him yes I was and he grabbed me, twisted my hands and beat me up. We headed for the door that looks out on to the street. My neighbour threw something at the soldier, which put him in a bad mood, and he began to hit me. He hit my face, very hard.
Tayeb, arrested aged 14, al- Fawar refugee camp

When they are arrested, usually in the middle of the night, minors are blindfolded and have their hands tied tightly with plastic rope that cuts into their flesh. Three out of four suffer physical violence when they are arrested. Then they are taken to an interrogation centre without, most of the time, either them or their parents being informed of either the motive for the arrest or the place they are being held. During the journey to the interrogation centre, which can last several hours, they are insulted and humiliated and sometimes threatened and hit.

Most of the children that are imprisoned are charged with throwing stones. Once their sentence has been passed, 60% of them are transferred from the occupied territories to Israeli prisons, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

A soldier wearing a mask came and told me that they wanted to take me with them. He tied my hands very tightly behind my back with three pieces of plastic rope. He also blindfolded me using a piece of cloth. He didn’t let me get dressed before going out in the cold, nor did he let me say goodbye to my family before leaving. They didn’t tell me where they were going or the reason for my arrest.
Hani, arrested aged 17, Naplouse

Interrogations take place without a lawyer. They can last a few hours or several weeks during which, in most cases, minors remain handcuffed and, on occasions, tied to a chair. They are subjected to naked body searches that are designed to humiliate and frighten them. More than three quarters of them also endure physical violence between arrest and interrogation, in the form of kicks, slaps, and in some cases, electric shocks from a Taser. 20% of minors are subject to a solitary confinement during this time.

He said: “I have photos of you throwing stones.” I said: “No, I don’t throw stones and I don’t know the people in the photos.” (…) He overturned the chair that I was sitting on and beat me up. He said to me: “You must confess right now. Otherwise we will kill your friend Mohammad”. He hit me around the head and I said again: “I cannot confess because I haven’t done anything. I cannot confess to something that I haven’t committed.” Salah, arrested aged 15, Beit Umar

Since October 2015, the Israeli authorities have placed nine Palestinian minors under administrative detention. This form of detention allows the Israeli authorities to hold a person for a maximum period of six months, renewable indefinitely. As a result, an administrative detainee is imprisoned without being charged and without trial, usually on the grounds of ‘secret’ information to which neither his lawyer nor he have access, in violation of international law.

I spent around eight years in administrative detention, not all in one go. When they arrest you they tell you nothing, you don’t know why. They simply give you a piece of paper telling you that you are now in administrative detention for six months or three months, signed by the military commander. There are some words that could apply to everyone saying that you pose a threat to public order or the region or whatever – that’s all they give you.
Ala Abou Maria, arrested aged 15