Jerusalem Center for Social & Economic Rights
The Suffering of Children Under Occupation
Click here to Go Back to part I.
Child Labor
The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) attention was drawn to the phenomenon of child labor at the beginning of the nineties, along with its negative impact on the physical, spiritual and mental development of those children involved. This is especially true of labor that carries the connotations of coercion, involuntary servitude and exploitation.
The ILO is interested in guaranteeing child and juvenile laborer’s rights, believing it is necessary to ensure a stable and dignified life for children given their need for guardianship and protection, as well as education. Child labor is currently used in more than 200 countries.
Some of the main reasons for the spread of child labor are a lack of means to implement compulsory education, rising living costs coupled with poverty and unemployment, a lack of opportunities, poor education amongst laborers, and little possibility of advanced vocational training.
Children in the labor market are exploited for a variety of inappropriate purposes: they are employed for very low pay and long working hours, and are often deprived of the most basic safety conditions and the right to live as children. The first recommendations sent to the ILO included defining the minimum age at which children should be allowed to work.
The first agreement on this subject issued by the ILO came in 1919 and defined the age at which children are allowed to work in factories. Laborers in manufacturing institutions included miners, stone quarry workers, mineral quarry workers, and those who worked in factories to transform or refine them. It also included workers at building sites, and in the railway, ports or other forms of transport. Each state was allowed to define the industrial and productive lines that separate industry from agriculture and commerce. Children under 14 years of age were prevented from working in industry whether public or private sector. That did not include vocational training under supervision. Then in 1921 a second international convention was signed to protect children who worked within the agricultural sector; with children 14 and over allowed to work in this sector out of school hours.
As for non-industrial work, in 1932 an agreement defined the legal age for child labor in these fields as 14 and above, unless, as in all other agreements, the national law for compulsory education was in contradiction with this. As this kind of work was thought safe and non-strenuous, children of 12 were also allowed to work in this sector after school.
Children are allowed to engage in light work, which does not conflict with learning or physical development, for two hours per day, so that their activity does not exceed seven hours between work and study. Child labor should not be used at weekends, on official holidays or at night, i.e. from eight o’clock in the evening till eight o’clock in the morning.
Countries are given the freedom, when enacting their legislation, to define the type of light work that children are allowed to do. They can also set the length of working hours for children over 14, so long as this does not exceed four and a half hours a day under any circumstances. As for defining which kind of work is dangerous, each state has to delineate such work within its legislation. It can also specify which age is above that mentioned with the agreement if it finds it relevant. In addition, each state has to legislate on any other kind of work it allows children to do.
The most important part of this agreement is its inclusion of articles that stipulate the monitoring of states’ commitment to the implementation of the agreement. Thus states have to pass legislation, regulations, and by-laws in relation to monitoring and inspection, and the imposition of penalties upon those who breach these laws.
In 1937, an amendment was made to the minimum age agreement, raising it from 14 to 15. Other amendments were also made, with new professions added to the prohibited list in synch with industrial and technological development. In 1965, international agreement 123 was passed, prohibiting the employment of children under the age of 16 in mines.
The most modern and comprehensive agreement limiting child labor and defining the minimum age for child employment came in 1973. As this issue is closely connected to compulsory education, each country may define the age for compulsory education (as long as it is not less than 15 years of age), with some exceptions concerning developing countries. In that case, the minimum age is 14 as long as there are convincing reasons for employment.
The agreement aimed at eradicating the use of child labor, which remains wide spread. Children are being increasingly exploited, especially in the Third World, as a result of poverty and the dismal economic conditions on the one hand, and governments’ negligence in their efforts to limit this phenomenon on the other.
Finally, governments request the cooperation of the ILO in reviewing current labor laws in order to enable states to develop socially, economically and technically, and responding to changes in political, economic and regional conditions. Countries that have child labor should specify and adopt sound labor strategies that take external and internal factors into consideration. They should also intensify worker education programmes and concentrate on vocational training in order to reach the goal of comprehensive employment.
Since the Palestinian territories were occupied after the 1967 War, the Israeli occupying forces have worked to achieve their expansionist, aggressive goals. There is no doubt that the Israelis have targeted both Palestinian land and people, and one of their aims is to spread ignorance amongst the Palestinians, to alienate them from their ancient heritage and culture, to implant Zionist values in their psyche, and to transform them into ‘hewers of wood and bearers of water’ within the Israeli labor market. The educational system within official schools in Occupied Arab Jerusalem has been very keen to achieve these aims in order to persuade a substantial number of children to leave school before completing compulsory education. The problem has been exacerbated due to the lack of an official body to solve this problem.
Children who quit school to join the labor market in Israel are exposed to various types of oppression. One of the most important reasons for leaving school is the educational system itself, which fails to motivate children to stay in school. The proximity of the Israeli labor market provides children with easy access to work and encourages them to leave school. In addition, thousands of graduates have been unable to find jobs in their own sector and this has forced them to work on the black market to earn money. Thus parents, and especially uneducated ones, have neglected their children’s education or removed them from school because of the lack of opportunities for graduates. Another important point is the inability of official and private schools to absorb the increasing number of secondary students. They also attempt to choose outstanding students, thus pushing students with medium or low grades out of school. As the Israeli Ministry of the Interior requests school certificates for those who wish to obtain an identity card at the age of sixteen as stipulated by the law, students avoid going to Palestinian schools situated outside the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, to avoid problems proving that their ‘center of life’ is within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem.
The Israeli occupying forces have succeeded in destroying the Palestinian economy in the Occupied Territories, and Occupied Jerusalem has suffered most in this respect. Poverty has spread and affected various sectors of the population and mostly children , who are forced to leave school to help support their families. In addition, the fact that the breadwinner of the family may be have been killed, imprisoned or deported, drives children to leave school in order to support their families.
Palestinian children are exposed, within the Israeli labor market, to various forms of exploitation. They receive wages incompatible with their efforts and are forced to work above their physical capability, which retards their physical growth. In addition, joining the labor market at an early age leads some of them astray and are lured into drug abuse. Joining the labor market at such a young age deprives them of their childhood and innocence, in violation of their most basic rights, under the terms of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), ratified by the UN General Assembly in November 1989.
Children Living Below the Poverty Line
Estimates indicate that 23.3% of the Palestinian population lived under the poverty line in 1998, of which 4.4% were children.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) conducted a survey assessing the effects of Israeli procedures on the economic situation of Palestinian families since the beginning of the Aqsa Intifada in September 2000. From a sample of 2,394 families, 10.7% have completely lost their source of income. Of these, 10.3% are from the West Bank and 11.5% are from the Gaza Strip. Results also indicated that 49.2% of families had lost more than half the monthly income they were able to obtain before the Intifada.
In order to adapt to the current economic situation, 81% of families decreased their expenditures and 35.9% of families had to borrow money. The results also indicated that 30.8% had asked for help without receiving any (37.6% in the West Bank and 18.9% in Gaza). Results also showed that 48.1% of families received social welfare. As for the type of additional aid they received, foodstuffs occupied the highest percentage -78.7% followed by cash- 20.5% and the rest (0.8%) was in the form of health insurance, clothing, and medicine.
Data collected in the survey also indicated, using the 2000 definition of poverty (estimated at 1,622 shekels monthly for a family of two adults and four children), 64.2% of Palestinian families are now living below that line, 55.7% of which are in the West Bank and 81.4% in Gaza.
The results of the survey conducted by the PCBS indicated that 38.3% of children within the workforce have left school, and consider work a suitable alternative. This has deprived them of one of their basic rights, the right to education. This will eventually lead to a generation of which lacks the awareness and basic life skills necessary for raising children in a correct manner.
Results of the 2001 annual report within the series on child statistics indicate a decrease in the percentage of children between 10 and 17 who have had an elementary education (1st –6th grade) from 35.4% in 1999 to 29% in 2000, while the percentage of those who have had 7-9 years of schooling has risen from 49.5% to 52.5% within the same period.
It was also observed that 57.9% of 10-17 year old working children in the Palestinian territories in 1999 were employed in exchange for a wage, which highlighted the dire economic conditions that families are suffering from and their need for additional sources of income. Results for the same year also indicate that 60.9% of males in 1999 worked for a wage, whereas 33.6% worked for their families.
Child labor in the Palestinian territories is mainly concentrated in commerce, restaurants, exports, industry and agriculture. The percentage of child labor has risen quite substantially, to 30.4%, whereas work in commerce and restaurants has gone down to 24% and percentages in industry and mining have also decreased to 20% and in construction to 18%.
There is a strong and direct relationship between the parents’ profession and that of their children, all of which are low-income professions. Some 60% of children work for wages, whereas 33.6% work for their families. The percentage of children working for wages decreased in 2000 to reach 53.8%, whereas the percentage of children working for their families without wages rose to 40.5 %. Surveys have also indicated that the percentage of females working for their families reached 74.4% in 2000.
Wages and Working Hours
There is a noticeable difference between wages according to a child laborers’ age, as the older the child is, the higher the wage is. In addition, there is a discrepancy in wages according to area. It is noticeable that the average daily wage for child laborers in the Gaza Strip is lower than that of those in the West Bank and those who work in Israeli settlements. However, the weekly working hours in Gaza are higher than those in the West Bank, Israel and the settlements. In 2000, the daily wage reached approximately 15 shekels for workers in Gaza and 59.5 shekels for workers in Israel, whereas the rate reached 30.6 shekels in the West Bank.
Both international and local laws concerning child labor stipulate that children are prevented from working for more than six hours daily. Long working hours are illegal as they have negative effects on children’s psychological and physical health. Results have indicated an increase in the number of working hours for a number of reasons, one of which is that employers prefer to employ children who are not aware of their legal rights. In addition, they receive meager pay for long working hours, while their employer does not need to take responsibility for them.
Statistics indicate that the percentage of children who work more than 35 hours per week in the Palestinian territories remained at 73.2% in 1999 and 2000, which shows the extent of the exploitation, and the failure to abide by the labor laws pertaining to the working hours allowed by the child labor law.
Child Labor Phenomenon
The percentage of participation in the workforce by the 10-17 age group was 5.9% in the Palestinian territories in 1999. This percentage fell to 5.5% within the same age group in the year 2000. In the West Bank, it fell from 7.3% in 1999 to 6.5% in 2000, whereas the percentage rose from 3.6% to 3.8% in Gaza Strip.
The number of children in the labor force in the 10-14 age group was estimated at 8,035 in 1999, constituting 2.1% of the total number of children in the same age group. This dropped to 1.8% in 2000. In the West Bank, it fell from 2.7% in 1999 to 2.3% in 2000. The percentage of children in the workforce in the 15-17 age group dropped from 13.5% in 1999 to 12.3% in 2000 in the Palestinian territories.
The percentage of children between 10 and 17 years within the labor force in the governorate of Jerusalem fell from 4.7% in 1999 to 3.1% in 2000. It is important, here, to distinguish between the age groups 10-14 and 15-17 for a number of reasons. The 10-14 year old age group is employed regularly in violation of labor laws. In addition, the degree to which they are deprived of their rights is much higher than in the 15-17 year old age group. The percentage of 10-14 year old participating in the labor force rose from 89.9% in 1999 to 93.6% in 2000.
The number of children in the 10-17 age group in mid-1999 in the Palestinian territories was estimated at 577,305 i.e. 19.1% of the population in comparison with 605,409 children in mid-2000 i.e. 19.2% of the population. There were 382,666 children in the 10-14 age group in mid-1999 compared with 402,417 children in mid-2000, constituting 66.5% of individuals 10-17 years old.
Lack of Centers and Facilities for Children
A study prepared by Najwa Rizqallah and Sami Khader entitled, ‘The Old City of Jerusalem: Present Reality and Developmental Prospects’ indicated the lack of facilities and centers for children, such as gardens, playgrounds, and creativity centers that contribute to developing a child’s personality, abilities, horizons and skills, and can prevent them from becoming delinquent.
The deteriorating economic conditions and lack of facilities and centers for children in the Old City have driven tens or even hundreds of children to the world of theft and pick-pocketing. They have also been transformed into street vendors in the Old City, at its various gates, in the Musrara neighborhood or within the streets of West Jerusalem between the cars and at the traffic lights, trying to convince pedestrians and drivers to buy newspapers, cigarettes, biscuits, pens or cakes etc, while some sit on the sidewalks with their wares in front of them.
This study mentions that ‘these children are between 5-10 years of age and they have been deprived of their natural right to education and to living within a healthy family environment. They have been forced into breadwinning in an attempt to help their families financially, and many fall prey to drug dealers and distributors or to pick-pocketing gangs who use them either to distribute, transport or sell drugs, or to pick pockets and steal from pedestrians in the Old City, especially tourists or visitors. This has had a negative impact on tourism and on the impression of Palestinians, which the Israelis seek to distort among tourists.
The study was carried out on 80 children from the Ar-ram and Sawahreh neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. It indicated that economic problems were the main reasons these children left school. The study also showed that 69% of these children worked after their school hours, due to the dire economic situation their families were suffering from. Over 30% of them work, due to lack of anything better to do during their free time.
Facing this phenomenon requires that the poverty issues be tackled, and that special rehabilitation programs be prepared for these children.
The Martyrs, Injured and Prisoners
Palestinians throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Jerusalem have been exposed to bombardment, torture, killing, siege, arrest, and other practices by the Israeli occupying forces since they came under occupation in June 1967. Children in the Palestinian territories have suffered a great deal from these violations, which have increased during Ariel Sharon’s term of government. Sharon caused the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada on 28 September 2000. All this has limited Jerusalemite children’s prospects for development, as they have been deprived of their basic needs and rights recognized in international conventions issued by the UN.
It is pertinent to mention here, that the Israeli occupying forces have been targeting children through killing, injury, and arrest, in addition to a number of practices that have been escalated since the outbreak of the Intifada in September 2000, when Ariel Sharon, then Likud opposition leader at the time, made a provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque with thousands of security forces. The visit resulted in the injury of a large number of Palestinians, including women and children, for example 15-year-old Omar Fawzi Muheisen who was shot in the left eye with a rubber bullet.
Since the beginning of the Intifada and until the end of March 2002, as reported by statistics from St. John’s Ophthalmic Hospital in Jerusalem, 72 injured children were treated, some of whom lost their sight completely, while others lost the sight in one eye. Ten-year-old Khalil Sabarneh’s left eye was removed after he was shot by Israeli soldiers. Attacks affecting children’s eyes continued and 16-year-old Isam Al-Haj was injured by a live bullet shot by the Israeli police on 10 March 2001. His eye then had to be removed.
Some children from Jerusalem have lost their vision completely, such as the nine-year-old Akram Nasim ‘Anati, who was injured on 28 June 2001. Settlers also attacked Palestinian children like 16-year-old Ibrahim Zbeidat whose left eye was injured and who had an operation at St. John’s Ophthalmic Hospital in Jerusalem on 5 March 2000.
Losing an eye deeply affects these children’s futures, including their academic achievement, and psychological condition. Head injuries, especially eye injuries, highlight the fact that occupation forces disregard whether the victims are children, teenagers, women or the elderly.
The Martyrs
The occupation forces do not need any excuse or reason to take Palestinian lives whether they are children, teenagers, women, or the elderly, as the killing is perpetrated on an ethnic basis. The mere fact of being a Palestinian makes you a target for the Israeli snipers. There is no better example than the killing of four-month-old Iman Hajo in her mother’s lap, and the killing of 18-month-old Sarah Abdel Haq in her parents’ car. By chance a press photographer happened to be at the scene where Mohammed Al-Durra was killed while trying to take shelter behind his father, and these images were shown around the world. Many other children under 10 were also killed in cold blood and for no reason whatsoever. However, the media was not on hand to document these crimes.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club in the Palestinian territories and the National Union for Martyr’s Families emphasized that there have been 25 martyrs from the Jerusalem area since the beginning of the Intifada until the end of March 2002, seven of whom were children. The last child victim of Israeli bullets was 14-year-old Samer Ziad Sulaiman Abu Mayyaleh from Ath-Thori neighborhood in southern Jerusalem. A report on the death of 14-year-old Samer Ziad Abu Mayyaleh was issued by the Jerusalem Center for Social & Economic Rights on 9 February 2002, entitled ‘The other side of the story’.
On Friday 8 February 2002, the Israeli police killed the 14-year-old Samer Ziad Abu Mayyaleh, injured Ahmad Abed Al-Rahman Shweiki, and arrested Muhannad Jwehan and Amjad Abu Rmeileh from Ath-Thori neighborhood in East Jerusalem. According to eyewitnesses, Israeli forces opened fire on Samer and Ahmad in the neighborhood of Jabal Al-Mukabber, and arrested Amjad at his home three hours later. The incident took place after a Jewish woman was stabbed to death in a nearby park.
Eyewitness Nidal Abu Sal’oum said he heard soldiers following children in the area. ‘I saw Israeli police and soldiers running after three children, asking them to stop, but they continued to run away. One was able to escape, while the rest were shot by the Israeli soldiers. One (Ahmad Shweiki) was injured in his arm and a second one was shot but continued to run away. He was shot another time which prevented him from running. He fell to the ground. The Israeli soldiers asked him to stop. He raised his hand, but he could not stand. I heard him saying that I cannot. But one of the soldiers went to him and raised his hand,’ he said.
Samer Abu Mayyaleh was left on the ground for an hour. ‘I saw blood on his back. The Israeli soldiers surrounded him in such a way that we could not see him. We heard shooting. The soldiers diffused and the boy was lying naked on the ground. One of the soldiers raised his leg and let it fall. I concluded that the boy was dead. I saw four soldiers dragging the body. The other injured boy was taken into a military jeep,’ Abu Sal’oum told JCSER’s field researcher.
Another eyewitness, Abed, 14 years old, saw Samer and Ahmad going to the mountain to play. ‘They were carrying a football and told me that they are going to play as always. They go to play and grill potatoes in the mountain.’
Samer’s mother said, ‘Samer asked me for 20 shekels to go with his friends to the mountain as usual. Every Friday he goes there with his friends to play.’
In reply to Israeli claims that Samer died of a heart attack, Samer’s mother said, ‘Samer was in a very good health.
Regarding the stabbing of a Jewish woman, she said, ‘Can children at the age of 14 stab a woman? Even if proven, does this not give any justifications for the crime committed by the Israeli police.’
Samer’s father said, ‘The Israeli soldiers came to our house yesterday and took my brother and I to the police station. I heard that something happened to my son. I heard my brother shouting and cursing Israeli policy. I took my brother outside and he told me about the death of my son.’
‘Ahmad and Samer were in the same school. They used to go to the park regularly. What Israel claims is completely baseless and today’s incident had nothing to do with our children,’ Salah Abed Al-Rahman Shweiki, Ahmad’s father said.
Ahmad’s father headed for JCSER to ask assistance for obtaining permission to see his son. Israeli policy had been preventing the family from seeing their son in hospital on Friday. He wondered, ‘How could children of 14 carry knives as Israel claims? They went to the mountain with a football and food to eat.’
Amjad Abu Rmeileh was arrested at his house in Ath-Thori neighborhood three hours after the incident. However, he was not with the children at the time of the incident according to people in the neighborhood. He was playing in the St. George’s School’s playground. ‘I was playing with Amjad in the playground. When we returned the Israel forces were standing in front of our house. We were in the playground and Ahmad scored a goal,‘ Ahmad’s friend said.
The children in the Ath-Thori neighborhood went to their school the next morning but couldn’t find Samer. The neighborhood’s schools declared a day of mourning in memory of Ahmad and his three friends. What happened on that hill shows that there are planned, systematic crimes perpetuated daily against the Palestinians, and what happened in the Ath-Thori neighborhood on that day considered to be one of the ugliest crimes committed against innocent children. What Israel did yesterday should make every Palestinian mother think twice before she allows her child to play outside the house or in a park. It also emphasizes the fact the Israelis aim to destroy the Palestinians, especially the children who constitute our hope for the future.
It is evident from the high number of injuries and killings of Palestinian children during this Intifada that
In a report prepared by the LAW Society, entitled ‘Other Stories from the Death Series’ under the chapter, entitled ‘Israel Implants Hatred and Harvests Children’s Lives without Mercy’, it was noted, ‘On the tenth day of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which was erupted as a result of the state of pressure and frustration Palestinians have been undergoing due to Israel’s denial of their legitimate rights and its use of excess force in a systematic and organized manner, and not as they claim due to the exposure of their soldiers to danger, 21 Palestinian children have been martyred. The Israeli bullets have deprived them of their right to live without having committed any sin other than shouting slogans in aid of Al-Aqsa and Palestine.’
Twenty-one children have been killed by the Israeli occupiers, some as young as ten. Some were killed by settlers, some were hit by bullets, another by a missile in his face, and others were surrounded and killed while in their parents’ arms, trying to escape Israeli bullets, such as Mohammad Dura, who was killed while hiding behind his father.
In its recent study, the LAW Society stated that up to 29 March 2002, a total of 11,985 people have been injured in the Palestinian territories, 39.7% of whom were children. The percentage of children martyred was 21.9%.
The statistical study conducted by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club revealed that the number of Jerusalemites injured during the above-mentioned period was 1,400, 25% of whom were children. The ratio of injured children from Jerusalem to those injured from the West Bank and Gaza was 5%. This statistical analysis includes those injured by rubber bullets and tear gas.
The number of injured in Jerusalem who were treated at Al-Maqassed Hospital since the beginning of the Intifada and until the end of March 2002 amounted to 367 cases. The number of children injured amounted to 72, 20% of the total. Among the children killed in Jerusalem, some were martyred at the hands of the Israeli settlers, such as the 10-year-old Mohammad Ismail Nassar, killed on 17 March 2001 in the Nevi Ya’coub area, north of Jerusalem.
Investigations carried out by human rights organizations in Palestine have proved that most of the injuries suffered by children were at the hands of professional Israeli snipers who targeted the eyes, chests and extremities of these defenseless children, in order to create a generation of maimed and disabled children. This is a reminiscent of the worst crimes committed by human beings. The LAW Society noted that Israeli soldiers are depriving our children of their childhood, and are creating an army of disabled Palestinians. One of these stories was documented by the LAW Society, and entitled ‘Other Stories from the Series of Death.
On 1 October 2000, the martyr Iyad Al-Khashashi, 17, from Nablus was at the military checkpoint set-up by the Palestinian National Security Leadership, south of Nablus. His father Ahmad Al-Khashashi said that his son Iyad didn’t come back one evening, so he asked his relatives and friends but they had no idea where he was. He added, ‘Before my son left home, he asked me for some money, so I asked him to come back quickly, but he said goodbye saying ‘I am going to be martyred.’ I searched for him throughout the night, asking everyone about him. Then I reported him missing to the police. The next day, 2 October 2000, I kept looking for him. I went to the Liaison Office and at 11.00 in the morning they told me that some children had found his body near the checkpoint. When I went to the hospital I found that his teeth had been broken, so it seems he was beaten-up and I saw the effect of two bullets on his body, one in the chest and the other in the head, front to back penetration.’
Fifteen-year-old Khaled Bazyan from Nablus was martyred on 30 March 2000. His father, Omar Nasouh Bazyan, 45, said, ‘At exactly 11 o’clock on that morning, my son was participating in a peaceful demonstration in Nablus, when suddenly, random gunfire shot from an Israeli armored car’s 500 millimeter machine gun at the demonstrators. The demonstrators dispersed, but Khaled was hit in his left side and killed instantly. We didn’t know until two hours later that he had been hit. When his uncle Bashar ‘Atili, 26, was inspecting his body, he was surprised to find bruises on his face and many bullets in his body.’ Khaled was the eldest of his brothers and he studied at the industrial school in the city.
Samir Sidqi Tabanjah, 13, was killed by helicopter gunfire. His father said, ‘On 1 October 2000, at approximately three o’clock, Samir was playing in the yard near his house. The rest of the family was also there observing a helicopter flying over St. Joseph’s graveyard. The helicopter was firing sporadically as it hovered over the area. We noticed that the helicopter hovered three or four times above our house, then it fired a few shots from a 500 mm machine gun and stayed above the house. It intended to kill our 13-year-old son who was playing near the house like the other children. My brother and I carried my son to the hospital as he was bleeding profusely, but he died immediately after being shot.’ The bullet we found in his body was a 500 mm machine gun bullet.
Wa’el Tayseer Qattawi, 16, a schoolboy, from Balata Camp near Nablus. His cousin said, ‘On 2 October 2000 at exactly
On Tuesday morning 4 October 2000, 9-year-old Mohammad Abu ‘Asi went to the Shuhada’ (Martyrs’ Junction) near the Nitzarim settlement in Gaza where he may have thrown a few stones. Maybe the Israeli soldiers thought he would hit their apache helicopter and threaten the lives of its crew, so they shot him in the chest with a 500 mm bullet, killing him instantly.
Mohammad had no papers to identify himself when he entered Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, so the hospital administration showed his picture on Palestinian TV, requesting his family identify him, while in the morgue a choking voice was crying ‘My brother, my brother Mohammad has died!’
Israel does not Recognize Palestinian Children’s Childhood
It is impossible for any sane person or objective observer to understand the reason for this extremely high number of injuries and killings among Palestinian children. However, the Palestinians realize that this has been an Israeli policy since the occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967. Israel does not abide by the definition of childhood and has always killed and tortured Palestinian children. It has also presented them to military courts and thrown them into prison for many years and even for life in many cases, with the excuse it is protecting its security.
Arrests
A study on the reality of Palestinian children, entitled ‘The Israeli Violations of Palestinian Children’s Rights’, prepared by Mohammad Ismail Saleh, in charge of the training department at the Palestinian Youth Association, has revealed that the number of children under the age of 18, who have been arrested since the beginning of the Intifada up to the beginning of 2002 was estimated at 1,000. Some were released on bail or freed, but over 170 are still prisoners. They were arbitrarily arrested from their homes in a manner that psychologically impacts on these children for a long time. They have also been thrown into jail with Israeli criminals at ‘Telmond’ prison. These children suffer from extremely bad health conditions and have been psychologically damaged, due to the cramped conditions and horrifying environment. There are also tens of child prisoners in ‘Megiddo’ prison, which consists of a number of tents and barracks filled with rats, poisonous insects, and dangerous diseases.
The Israeli authorities are still launching large-scale arrest campaigns targeting Palestinian youth and children. No doubt Jerusalemite children have been affected by this campaign.
Survey results released by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) revealed that until the end of 2001, the number of children under the age of 18 who have been arrested was 250, constituting 35.7% of the total number of Palestinian detainees. The number of children arrested from
Child arrest is a blatant violation of children’s rights, especially when no clear charges are pressed against the child, apart from the fact that their arrest is not subjected to normal procedure whereby a subpoena and official charge are presented at the time of arrest. The arrests are made on the basis of charges supported by military laws.
These arrests are sometimes carried out by Special Forces who beat children when carrying out the arrest, normally at night.
Numerous international conventions forbid torture and stipulate the limitation of maltreatment within prisons or detention camps, as clearly mentioned in the fourth article of the UN Convention against Torture. ‘Each State Party shall regard all forms of torture as crimes within its laws, and any person involved in or who is an accomplice to any form of torture is considered a criminal.’ This issue has also been covered in article (55) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ‘it is not allowed to submit anyone to torture or any other cruel treatment or inhuman penalty or degradation.’
One of the press releases issued by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, ‘Israel Practices Dangerous Violations against Palestinian Child Prisoners’ alleges that ‘The Israeli government is still holding thousands of Palestinians within its jails. These people were arrested during the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the invasion of the Palestinian territories and a high percentage of them are children.’
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club has also found out that detainees at Telmond and Al-Ramleh prisons have been exposed to physical and sexual abuse. They have also been exposed to attempts to transform them into collaborators, during which they are thrown into cells with dangerous criminals.’
The lawyer at the Palestinian Prisoner’s club gave us the following information: ‘A number of minors are being beaten and tortured during their arrest, in addition to their exposure to many other human rights violations, such as hanging them from their hands or placing them in barrels of cold water or exposing them to freezing showers.’
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club also mentioned the sentence carried out against the female child prisoner Su’ad Ghazal,16, who was sentenced to six and a half years imprisonment on 20 January 2001, which is a clear indication of the fact that Israel does not comply with any international conventions and that the Israeli judicial authorities only implement decisions taken by intelligence bodies. The girl was arrested on
Another statement issued by the Prisoner’s Club mentions that ‘even minor children have not been spared the kidnapping operations carried out by the Israeli occupying forces.’
It is also clear that the Israeli courts take drastic measures and impose cruel penalties against child prisoners, to the extent that Palestinian lawyers have filed numerous complaints.
The statement also mentions that ‘the 80 child prisoners at ‘Telmond’ prison are living in terror, due to continual threats and attacks by inmates who steal the children’s possessions, prevent them from sleeping or playing, in addition to stealing their food and money.’
Despite the fact that international law prohibits child arrest, 200 children were arrested in the few months following the outbreak of the Intifada. Some of them have been exposed to severe torture and humiliation in detention camps during interrogations by Israeli intelligence forces.
Fourteen year-old Osama Abu Sneineh from
The Israeli authorities have also placed children under house arrest, including Mohammed ‘Ayed Al-Qar’a, 14, in his house in Shu’fat on
Appendix
A recent study by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) revealed that the number of Palestinian martyrs during the period
The percentage of children injured is around 35.8% of the total injuries during the period 29/9/2000 to 25/4/2002, and 16 schoolchildren have been killed during the period 29/9/2000 to 16/3/2002.
The findings of the study were released on
Click here To View: List of Jerusalemite Martyrs during the Al-Aqsa Intifada
Psychological and Behavioral Impact
of the Intifada on Children
Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have been exposed to staggering forms of genocide and attack by the Israeli occupying forces, especially during the current war, which erupted on 28 September 2000 when Likud opposition leader Ariel Sharon made a provocative visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque. This incident soon sparked a widespread uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli occupying forces have attacked a number of children in the Occupied Territories without provocation. A mother and her four children were killed in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and another mother and five of her children were killed in Gaza. As well as such random killings, the army has heavily bombed residential areas with helicopters and tanks, and carried out targeted assassinations, closed off Palestinian areas, reoccupied Palestinian cities and villages and demolished houses. These actions have resulted in the death or injury of tens of thousands of Palestinians, 30% of whom are under 18 years of age. Many thousands of children have been injured, mostly in the upper part of the body, and many have suffered permanent disability. The number of Palestinians who have been killed in Jerusalem at the time of writing this report is 25. A quarter of these were children.
These difficult conditions have had a negative psychological, educational, social, economic, and political impact on Palestinian society. Children have been affected the most by the Intifada. The 2001 annual report issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) revealed that over half of the Palestinian population is under 18 years old. The percentage of children below 18 years of age in mid-2000 was estimated at 53.3% of the total population in the Palestinian Territories, a total of 1,678 million children
The current situation has had enormous psychological impact on children, due to their lack of psychosocial, cognitive and social abilities, in addition to their direct exposure of Israeli violence. Children in crisis show different levels of psychological trauma according to the child’s life experience, the extent of his exposure to violence, and the treatment he receives from others. According to mental health professionals, around 90% of Palestinian children have experienced a traumatic event, usually caused by the ongoing occupation and its impact on the family social structure.
As a result of the direct and indirect use of violence, children are suffering a number of emotional and behavioral disorders, including poor concentration, forgetfulness, depression, hyperactivity, violence, insecurity, insomnia or prolonged sleeping, nightmares, changes in play patterns and drawings that reflect Israeli violence practiced against them.
According to the preliminary findings of a survey conducted by PCBS, 55.4% of children within the 5-17 age group are afraid of the dark, 53.1% are scared of being alone, 43.6% have crying spells, and 27.6% manifest preoccupation with death. There is no doubt that recent events and the reoccupation of the Palestinian cities and towns, killing, destruction, house demolition, bombing, siege, curfew…etc have increased these percentages, especially as the media has broadcast events live on television. Dr. Mustafa Mujahed, a psychiatrist and director of the Palestinian Center for Medical and Psychological Rehabilitation, commented on the psychological condition of children in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, saying, ‘Last year, the number of patients referred to outpatient clinics doubled. In the Palestinian Center for Medical and Psychological Rehabilitation, there has been a decrease in the number of patients suffering mental illness, and an increase in the number of patients suffering from anxiety. Mothers have increasing complaints about worrying changes in their children’s behavior, such as enuresis, which motivated the Center to conduct a simple medical survey in Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Beit Sahour schools. We composed a questionnaire consisting of 28 points covering post-trauma symptoms, such as enuresis, nightmares, disorderedly behavior, poor concentration, loss of appetite, loss of ability to play or participate in activities, violence and aggression toward others, insomnia, sleeping with parents, persistent anxiety, regression to previous patterns of behavior, loss of weight, not attending school, indifference… etc.’
He added, ‘Seven social workers from the Center were given 50 questionnaires, which were distributed to schools and residential areas in Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Beit Sahour that have been exposed to the Israeli bombing. The study, which aimed to identify the extent of children’s suffering and the need for psychological intervention, has revealed that 80% of children within the 3-16 age group suffer post-traumatic stress and 60% need immediate intervention. The study revealed that most children whose houses have been shelled suffer post-trauma symptoms. These symptoms include:
Children in the 3-8 age group suffer from loss of appetite, enuresis, sleeping with parents, poor appetite and aggressive behavior;
Children in the 8-12 age group suffer from excessive fear, disobedience or lack of motivation and initiative, lack of constructive thinking, and poor projection into the future;
Children in the 13-17 age group suffer from loss of motivation for education and future planning, anger and aggression, revenge and destructiveness.’
‘In the Jerusalem area, there has been an increase in the number of cases of both sexes suffering from physical symptoms that laboratory tests show are not caused by an organic diseases. These cases were referred to a psychologist.’
‘The percentage of children being referred to private clinics was relatively small, as families have national insurance. Children were referred to Israeli physicians or to the Israeli Patients’ Funds ‘Kopat Holim’. The 18-32 age group was unwilling to go to a psychologist because of the stigma attached, or they refused to use the national insurance patients’ funds. The most important remarks and symptoms taken were as follows:
Noticeable increase in the percentage of referrals suffering from anxiety or similar symptoms to those suffering mental illness. The ratio was 1:16, (an average of one patient suffering from mental disease as opposed to 16 patients suffering from anxiety or similar illness). These cases were directly related to what they watch on the TV or what they see inside or outside work;
Lack of self-confidence, inability to go to work, poor concentration or future planning, insomnia, low self-esteem, loss of sense of belonging, loss of hope, and obsession with mortality.’
Rihab Al-Issawi, Doctor of Education, provided a comprehensive analysis of the situation of Palestinian children since the start of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in a recent report. ‘Palestinian children constitute over half of the population. A Palestinian child dreams of a happy and quiet childhood, remaining innocent of the evils of the world and being allowed to play. However, the Palestinian child has been denied this right through fear of being harmed by Israeli soldiers. Humanity should provide the Palestinian child with the best opportunities to allow for his physical, mental, congenital, and social development in an atmosphere of freedom and dignity.’
‘The reality of Palestinian children under Israeli occupation differs from that of other children throughout the world. Israel has violated all rights and resolutions ratified by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, and the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which guaranteed high levels of protection for children under all circumstances. Palestinian children are exposed to closures, oppression, destruction, curfews, shelling and killing by Israeli occupying forces, and have become direct targets of Israeli snipers. In a statement issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Information on 9 April 2002, and published in the Arabic daily Al-Quds, it was stated that over 200 students have been killed either in school or on their way to school, while around 180 schools have been shelled, and 2,500 students suffered permanent disabilities. Many children wait for hours at Israeli military checkpoints and witness the repressive Israeli practices, which affects their behaviors. This was clearly manifested in children’s drawings that reflect Israeli violence practiced against them, showing helicopters, house demolition, tanks… etc,’ she added.
A statement issued by UNICEF pointed out that 230 Palestinian children below the age of 18 were killed between the outbreak of the Intifada and 31 March 2002. In a statement, UNSCO warned that the injury of a family member, house-to-house inspections, arrest, or the arrest of family members have a severe psychological impact on children’s behavior, their ability to trust adults, their tendency to use violence to solve problems, and the weakening of their hopes for the future. In a special interview with UNICEF’s Special Envoy in Palestine on 15 April 2002, he pointed out that over 640 Palestinian children are being held in their homes, and are unable to go to school.
The Defense for Children International – Palestine Section (DCI/PS) pointed out that 244 Palestinian children had been killed by 9 April 2002, and over 7,000 children injured. It took its figures from Palestinian Red Crescent Society statistics on 12 April 2002. These figures are believed to be lower than the actual total, as it is difficult to reach all Palestinian areas.
Psychological Impact
Children are affected the most by the Intifada, which has been reflected on their behavior, their language, and their relationship with relatives. New words have entered their vocabulary, such as military checkpoint, tear gas, and rubber bullet, and children are playing new games, such as soldiers and children.
The psychological impact is divided into positive and negative.
A. Positive Impact:
Ability to confront and actualize oneself;
Ability to escape occupation and oppression, independence, and feelings of pride;
Early maturation caused by ongoing suffering;
The Intifada has helped to strengthen children’s personalities and increase their creativity;
Increased self-reliance and the appearance of the martyr model.
B. Negative Impact:
a. Main factors:
Difficult situation;
Direct injury of friends or a family member;
Soldiers breaking into and searching homes or families leaving homes temporarily or permanently;
Soldiers insulting family members or arresting a family member;
Excess force used by Israeli occupying forces, including heavy weapons,
Watching violent events on TV;
Listening to the sound of shelling and firing;
Soldiers demolishing houses and properties.
b. Negative Impact:
Feelings of hatred and revenge toward oppressive occupation;
Endangering children’s lives;
Aggressive behavior;
Insomnia and nightmares,
Enuresis;
Lack of security;
Disobedience, lack of discipline, and disrespect of parents’ orders;
Tension and nervousness;
Feeling sick;
Withdrawal;
Lack of concentration;
Regressive tendencies, such as sucking thumb;
Ego inflation and constant disobedience.
Every child in Palestine has been through various stages of suffering, as a result of the ongoing occupation. Most studies proved that the intensity of psychological trauma differs from one child to another, especially children within the 4-14 and 14-18 age groups.
Jerusalemite children suffer in the same way as their compatriots in the rest of Occupied Palestinian Territories. A number of towns and neighborhoods in East Jerusalem have been invaded, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex where they used live ammunition and rubber bullets, killing and injuring a number of worshippers. In April 2002, a curfew was imposed on the neighborhoods of Silwan, Al-Izzariyya, Jabal Al-Mukabber, Al-Issawiyya, Beit Hanina, and Ar-Ram, and houses there have been raided by Israeli authorities. Children have been enormously affected by this.
When talking about children’s behavior, it is important to study a sample group. We will look at studies conducted in other areas in order to support this research.
Previous Studies
A study prepared by Mohammed Ismail Saleh, head of the training unit at the Palestinian Youth Association, entitled ‘Israeli Violations of Palestinian Children’s Rights’, revealed that 66% of children have suffered psychological disorders, and 13% behavioral disorders;
A study by Yasser Qara’in entitled, ‘The Impact of the Intifada on Palestinian Children’ indicated that the Intifada has seen children manifest various psychological disorders, such as feelings of insecurity, anxiety, sorrow, anger, and loss of hope following the loss of their parents and brothers. The Intifada has occupied children’s thinking to a large extent;
A study conducted by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs showed that children have been exposed to many Israeli attacks. Results indicated that 28.5% of children have been affected by bullets and sound bombs, 57% by missile shelling on residential areas, 24% by house attacks, 75% by missile shelling and bullets, 47% by watching painful scenes on the TV, and 27% by seeing violence. As a result, 94% of children suffer from disturbed sleep, 87% suffer from anxiety and fear, 58% suffer from tension and nervousness, and 43% suffer from poor concentration, distractibility, and poor school performance.
The Palestinian public opinion poll conducted by the Development Studies Program at Bir Zeit University on the impact of the Israeli siege imposed on the Palestinian territories, whose outcomes were released on 19 February 2001, indicated that 77% of Palestinians feel insecure as a result of Israeli aggression, 75% suffer from psychological disorders, 69% in the 4-14 age group suffer psychological disorders, and 87% of women suffer from psychological disorders caused by constant fear of their children being harmed.
The preliminary outcomes of a survey conducted by PCBS on the impact of Israeli practices on children and women during the period between 1/4/ 2001 – 15/5/2001 indicate that 55.4% of children within the age group of 5-17 years fear darkness.
Our Children Pay the Price
In this section, I’ll be writing my own remarks on the impact of the current situation on Bashir and Mohammed’s behaviors.
A. Bashir: Four-year-old Bashir lives with his parents. He was raised in a healthy, educated family. But his behavior has deteriorated as a result of waiting for long hours at the Qalandia military checkpoint, inhaling tear gas and hearing bullets and sound bombs. As a result, he refused to go to kindergarten. When his parents try to convince him to go, he becomes tense, nervous and begins crying. A study conducted by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs indicated that 72% of children suffer from these symptoms, as a result of being exposed to shocking events. Another study on a sample of 120 children showed that 87.4% had been exposed to tear gas inhalation. If Bashir agrees to leave the house, he asks if he is going to cross the checkpoint (Al-Mahsoum). He refuses to sleep alone, and insists on sleeping with his parents. He wakes up, looks around and begins crying for no reason. Furthermore, he always speaks about death and martyrhood and what they mean. He also feels sad for the children who are killed, and always speaks about Mohammed Dura and why the Israelis killed him.
Other behavioral symptoms include hyperactivity and aggressiveness. Bashir’s parents used to tell him to defend himself when someone attacks him. There has been a change in the types of games he plays. He begins to play pistols, tanks, and he is attracted to listening to the news and seeing live scenes of explosions, killing, injury, and hearing national songs. While trying to change the channel, he becomes nervous and insists on watching pictures of destruction and killing. Children’s games no longer mean anything to him. He always carries a Palestinian flag and goes out in front of other children to demonstrate, recite verses of anthems, such as God is great.
Bashir used to play with animals but is now becoming very aggressive towards them. Once he tried to kill a kitten to see how its mother would cry when she dies, as mothers cry when their children are killed. Such behavior indicates the extent to which children have been affected by violence. Another regressive behavior suffered by Bashir was going back to sucking.
B. Mohammed: Sixteen-year-old Mohammed, the eldest of six children, still in preparatory school, was attacked by Israeli soldiers when they raided his school. Since the incident, he has become a different person. His school performance has deteriorated, he is easily distracted, has poor concentration, and does not attend school. He participates in group activities and prefers to stay with children of his age or older. He prefers to stay away from home, due to feelings of fear, anxiety, and insecurity. He expects to be arrested any moment. During sleep, he utters incomprehensible words and wakes up terrified. He has constant headaches. He has developed aggressive behavior toward others, especially his brothers, he lies, disrespects parents’ orders, has sleeping disorders, and feelings of fear and anxiety. His psychological development has been stunted. He refuses to have an ID card, for fear of being searched and arrested by Israeli soldiers. The percentage of minor detainees stands at 50% of the total number of detainees in Israeli jails. Over the past 19 months, over 1,000 children below the age of 18 have been arrested.
Dr. Cairo Arafat, the director of the secretariat of the national plan for Palestinian children, confirmed, in a special interview with the Arabic daily Al-Quds on 23 March 2002, that throwing children in prisons and exposing them to physical torture has a bad psychological impact on them. They become isolated from society and their moral code breaks down. They suffer depression and fail to attend school. They resort to strange behavior to let their anger out, such as hitting their head against the wall, and becoming cruel with others. Beating and psychological torture are methods used against detainees to obtain information from them.
Children must be given more attention, care and support. Families must provide children with protection and help, given that it is the natural environment for child development. International agreements pertaining to children’s rights must be implemented. The role of the family, school, and concerned parties must also be emphasized in order to provide children with self-confidence and sense of responsibility in the midst of this difficult situation.
Israel Violates the UN Conventionon the Rights of the Child (CRC)
Jurists say that laws are laid down to achieve justice among individuals and groups, and should not be violated. Israel, through its polices and practices, breaches international laws and conventions when it comes to Palestinians, as it refuses to implement international resolutions issued by the UN Security Council UN General Assembly, and other UN institutions. A quick look at the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) reveals Israel’s systematic violations of Palestinian children’s rights in the following areas:
Article (2): Israel as an occupied state practices a clear discriminatory policy against Palestinian children in general, and Palestinian Jerusalemites in particular, to whom Israeli laws are applicable. Israeli security forces practice all forms of oppression and discrimination against Jerusalemite children, instead of providing them with protection and security. Thousands of Palestinian children have been killed and injured. They are searched and humiliated by the Israeli soldiers at military checkpoints and on the roads, inside their houses and schools, and are placed under curfew and their freedom of movement is restricted;
Article (3) is violated through a discriminatory policy towards Jerusalemite children by social care institutions compared to Jewish children in West Jerusalem, as well as Israeli courts that impose cruel and exaggerated verdicts on Jerusalemite children. There is a clear shortage of health care services and staff working in Occupied East Jerusalem compared to West Jerusalem;
Article (4) is violated by Israel as it seeks to deny the social and economic rights of Palestinian Jerusalemites, first and foremost child benefits paid by the National Insurance Institute (NII). Allowances and benefits paid to Jewish children are higher than those paid to Palestinian children.
Article (6) is violated through Israel’s failure to admit the right of Palestinian children to life. Since the beginning of the Intifada on 28 September 2000 until 31 March 2002, some 25 Palestinian Jerusalemites have been killed, seven of whom were children;
Article (7) Hundreds of Jerusalemite children are born in Jerusalem’s hospitals without being given a birth certificate under the pretext that one or both parents do not have a Jerusalem ID card, or are suspected of living outside the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem;
Article (8) is violated through Israel’s denial of the national identity and national belonging of Jerusalemite children;
Article (9) Thousands of Palestinian children, especially in East Jerusalem, are separated from one of their parents. A number of Palestinian Jerusalemites are married to non-Jerusalemites, for instance from Jordan. The wife lives in Jordan and the husband lives in Jerusalem or the other way around. Family reunification is a time-consuming process. Until family reunification is approved, the father is deprived of seeing his children because they are in the custody of the mother. Palestinian non-Jerusalemites [from the West Bank who do not have Jerusalem ID cards] are not allowed to live with their wives/husbands in Jerusalem. In cases of security detention, hundreds of Palestinian husbands left their pregnant wives and have been unable to see their children;
Article (10) Family reunification is one of the most complicated, expensive, and time-consuming processes. The approval of a family reunification by the Interior Ministry takes many years, and sometimes, it turns down the application. Applicants are forced to resort to the Israeli Supreme Court to obtain the Ministry’s approval. When a person applies for family reunification, he/she is requested to provide innumerable documents to prove the family’s ‘center of life’ is within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem, such as Arnona tax, electricity, telephone bills, work certificate, school certificates and others;
Thousands of Palestinian Jerusalemites, who live beyond the Qalandia military checkpoint, located inside the municipal boundaries, and those who live beyond Ras Al-Amud military checkpoint, east of Jerusalem, have to wait long hours in order to be able to reach their schools and workplaces.
Those who move outside the municipal boundaries are threatened with the loss of their residency rights in Jerusalem. Many Palestinians are also prevented from traveling abroad. Students have their Jerusalem ID cards confiscated if they spend over seven years abroad. Those who obtain a residency status in another country or obtain a nationality, they lose their residency right in their own country, and thus the guard of absentees’ properties takes over their property.
Article (14) is violated through attacking Palestinians’ right to freedom of worship by preventing Palestinian Moslems from praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and Palestinian Christians at the Church of Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Israeli police have prevented and continue to prevent Palestinian Jerusalemites under the age of 40 years from praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque;
Article (15) is violated by preventing Palestinians, adults or children, from holding peaceful demonstrations. If a peaceful demonstration is held, the Israeli forces use tear gas, rubber and live ammunition, and demonstrators are severely beaten and arrested;
Article (16) is violated by breaking into Palestinian homes, schools, Mosques, and Churches in Jerusalem and the rest of Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Israeli army spreads panic throughout the Occupied Territories, which has devastating psychological consequences, especially on children. The Israeli army also searches children, creating panic and fear among them;
Article (17) is clearly violated by confiscating the licenses of many Palestinian newspapers and magazines, destroying the building of the Palestinian TV and Radio in Ramallah, and taking over some private radio and TV stations;
Article (18) shows the extent to which Palestinians, especially Jerusalemite children are deprived and discriminated against. There is a severe shortage of nursery schools, child and mother health care centers, kindergartens, playgrounds, public gardens, and classrooms;
Article (19) Palestinian children are exposed to violence by the Israeli occupation forces. Thousands of children have been wounded, killed, and arrested. They are also exploited and maltreated by employers;
Article (24) which relates to health matters, is violated in Jerusalem more than in other areas of Occupied Territories. There are insufficient health centers, especially for children. Large numbers of Palestinian families, including children, are denied medical treatment when the family’s health insurance is discontinued because they live outside the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. Poverty, malnutrition and low income have a direct impact on children’s health;
Article (28) on education, is also violated. There is a lack of public schools in Jerusalem. Private schools absorb 50% of students for whom there is no space in public schools. There is a lack of adequate services and facilities in Jerusalem’s schools, such as healthy classrooms, libraries, laboratories, playgrounds, art equipment, and extracurricular activities. Thousands of students drop out before completing compulsory education;
Article (32) is related to labor. Large numbers of Palestinian children work in Israeli centers, such as construction workshops, restaurants and shops. They are exposed to difficult working conditions, with low wages and long working hours;
Article (37) is also violated. Palestinian children, including Jerusalemite children, are tortured and degraded during detention. Harsh sentences are imposed on children for participating in demonstrations, and they are placed in jails with Jewish criminals, who attack them, or force them to take drugs. They are physically pressured to admit crimes they have not committed.
Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world;
Bearing in mind that the peoples of the United Nations have, in the Charter, reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights and in the dignity and worth of the individual, and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom;
Recognizing that the United Nations has, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenants on Human Rights, proclaimed and agreed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without discrimination of any kind, due to race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, wealth, birth or other status;
Recalling that, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations has proclaimed that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance;
Convinced that the family, as the fundamental group of society and the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children, should be afforded the necessary protection and assistance so that it can fully assume its responsibilities within the community;
Recognizing that the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow-up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding;
Considering that the child should be fully-prepared to live an individual life in society, and brought-up in the spirit of high ideals proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and in particular in the spirit of peace, dignity, forgiveness, freedom, equality and solidarity;
Bearing in mind that the need to extend particular care to the child has been stated in the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1924 and in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child adopted by the General Assembly on 20 November 1959 and recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (in particular in articles 23 and 24), in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (in particular in article 10), and in the statutes and relevant instruments of specialized agencies and international organizations concerned with the welfare of children;
Bearing in mind that, as indicated in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, ‘the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before and after birth’;
Recalling the provisions of the Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to Foster Placement and Adoption Nationally and Internationally; the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules); and the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict;
Recognizing that, in all countries in the world, there are children living in exceptionally difficult conditions, and that such children need special consideration;
Taking into account the importance of the traditions and cultural values of each people for the protection and harmonious development of the child;
Recognizing the importance of international co-operation for improving the living conditions of children in every country, in particular in the developing countries.
Have agreed on the following:
PART I
Article 1
The CRC defines a child as ‘every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.’
Article 2
States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, regardless of the child's or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, wealth, disability, birth or other status;
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members.
Article 3
In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social care institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration;
States Parties shall undertake to ensure protection and care necessary for the child’s well-being, taking into account the rights and duties of his or her parents, legal guardians, or other individuals legally responsible for him or her, and, to achieve this purpose, shall take all appropriate legislative and administrative measures;
Article 4
States Parties shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, States Parties shall take such measures to the maximum extent of their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international co-operation.
Article 5
States Parties shall respect the responsibilities, rights and duties of parents or, where applicable, the members of the extended family or community as provided for by local custom, legal guardians or other persons legally responsible for the child, to provide, in a manner consistent with the evolving capacities of the child, appropriate direction and guidance while the child is practicing the rights recognized in this Convention.
Article 6
States Parties shall recognize that every child has the inherent right to life;
States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.
Article 7
The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents;
States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.
Article 8
States Parties shall undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without legitimate interference;
If a child is illegally deprived of some or all of
