Children are paying the price of injustice

[Scurrilous]

The beating of a pre-pubescent youth by soldiers is just another example of human rights abuse in the occupied territories

<snip>

"I feel like I'm still in prison", said Muhammad, as he described life after spending nearly five months in an Israeli jail. He sat nervously in his lounge as he answered questions about his ordeal, his baby-smooth face and teenager's awkward gait in stark contrast to the severe punishment meted out to him as though he were a hardened, adult criminal.

In February, Muhammad was snatched by a four-man squad of Israeli special forces while playing with friends near the security wall, a mile away from his home. He was subjected to a vicious beating by the men, who punched him repeatedly and smashed him across the face with the butt of a gun in broad daylight. "No one said a word to me during ", recalled Muhammad, whose description of the assault bore marked similarities to Rodney King's ordeal.

The difference, however, is that Muhammad is just 14 years old, yet was deemed a sufficient enough threat by the soldiers that he needed to be beaten to the point of almost losing consciousness. His crime? Allegedly throwing stones at the separation wall; something Muhammad strenuously denies.

Whereas Israeli youths are treated as children in the eyes of the law until they turn 18, Palestinians are not accorded such humane treatment, and can be imprisoned from the tender age of just 12. Since September 2000 Israel has arrested and detained almost 6000 children, with 700 under-18s arrested in 2007 alone.

Gerard Horton of DCI, an NGO which has taken up Muhammad's case, pointed to the IDF's flagrant violations of children's rights as yet another example of Israel thumbing its nose at international law. "These abuses have been well documented for many years, yet our pleas for intervention have fallen on deaf ears", he said. "The lack of will by the international community to uphold the rule of law when it comes to the Occupied Territories is deeply disturbing."

more

[subsuelo]

1. When Palestinians do it they are called terrorists.

When Israelis do it they are "human rights abusers". Not that I object too much with the phrase "human rights abuse", just making a note of the difference.

[azurnoir]

2. These are "child soldiers"

and the unwillingness of the international community to recognize this is indeed disturbing.

An HRW report on child soldiers

http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/facts.htm

[Violet_Crumble]

3. Oh, it's only Palestinian kids...

..now if it was Israeli kids, this thread would be hopping with those who claim they care about kids screeching about what monsters the perpetrators were..