❶ 15-year-old Palestine abused, medically neglected during detention by Israeli police

• Background from Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture

❷ B’Tselem: Israel’s use of administrative detention on Palestinian minors steadily increasing
― ❷ (ᴀ) Palestine Youth Orchestra’s triumphant UK debut
❸ Second debate in UK parliament on children in military custody in 2016
❹ POETRY by Fadwa Tuqan
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❶ 15-YEAR-OLD PALESTINE ABUSED, MEDICALLY NEGLECTED DURING DETENTION BY ISRAELI POLICE
Ma’an News Agency
July 30, 2016
A 15-year-old Palestinian boy sustained a broken hand and heavy bruising after being assaulted and detained by undercover Israeli police officers in the Issawiya neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.
__Fadi Rafat al-Issawi was detained last Sunday when two Israeli undercover police officers in civilian clothing stopped to ask him and his friend Mustafa Abu al-Hummus for directions, before the officers assaulted the two minors and detained them for allegedly throwing rocks, according to a member of the village’s monitoring committee Muhammad Abu al-Hummus.
___Abu al-Hummus told Ma’an that during a court hearing held for the two minors, Israeli authorities said three cars raided the village and detained the two “in order to limit rock throwing incidents.”      MORE . . .   

From Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture
The Youth Law, enacted in 2008, seeks to guarantee that a child who is suspected or accused of committing a crime is treated in accordance with his or her rights as reflected in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Israel ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 3 October 1991 and in 2008). The Youth law was amended to reflect provisions consistent with the spirit of the Convention. More specifically, the law establishes special safeguards for minors during the entire legal process, from arrest to detention and interrogation, to ensure that their welfare is protected, and that they are rehabilitated — the underlying objective of the law.
___Despite the existence of these safeguards, it has been well documented that the Israeli police regularly violate the Youth Law in East Jerusalem, improperly employ exceptions, and thereby deny Palestinian minors their rights under the law. . . the law requires the police to issue a summons for interrogation and outlines that detaining the minor must be a measure of last resort. . . . Palestinian children in East Jerusalem are routinely arrested during violent nighttime raids and subjected to interrogation without the issuance of a summons, often without the presence of a parent or attorney.
___Recent amendments to the Penal Code and the Youth Law reveal that they are intended to discriminatorily apply to and punish Palestinian minors of East Jerusalem.
___In 2014, the Israeli . . .  instructed the State Prosecutor’s office to amend the State Prosecutor’s Guidelines of December 2009 relating to the enforcement policy for stone throwing. The committee responsible for the decision found that the Guidelines did not “provide an optimal response for the prevailing security reality in East Jerusalem.” A review of the amendments reveals that Decision 1776 is blatantly aimed at increasing the punishment for stone throwing to include actual imprisonment.
[. . . .] goal of Amendment 119 was to create a separate offense for stone throwing, as offenders were previously accused under the offense of “willfully endangering human life on a transportation . . . Military Order 1651 prescribes that a Palestinian minor convicted of stone throwing with the intent to harm can be imprisoned for up to 20 years.
___Discussions surrounding the law in the [Knesset] confirm that these amendments were proposed to specifically target and punish the Palestinian youth of East Jerusalem for resisting the occupation.

• Baker, Aseil Abu. “Laws Targeting East Jerusalem: Discriminatory Intent And Application.” Palestine-Israel Journal Of Politics, Economics & Culture 21.3 (2016): 55-64.     FULL ARTICLE. 

AseilAbu Baker is a Palestinian lawyer based in Ramallah, and is licensed to practice law in the United States. Ms. Abu-Baker currently focuses on international law issues, and previously litigated business and contract issues before state and federal courts in the United States.

❷ B’TSELEM: ISRAEL’S USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION ON PALESTINIAN MINORS STEADILY INCREASING
Ma’an News Agency
July 28, 2016
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem released a report Thursday evening revealing that Israeli authorities have steadily increased their use of administrative detention — Israel’s policy of internment without charge or trial — on Palestinian minors since October.
___The group stated in the report that the controversial policy that allows for the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial based on undisclosed evidence had not been used by Israeli authorities on Palestinian minors since December 2011.
___However, the group found that Israeli authorities had begun to use the policy again on Palestinian minors as of October, when a wave of violence first erupted across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel.     MORE . . .
RELATED . . .   Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP)
. . . ❷ ― (ᴀ) PALESTINE YOUTH ORCHESTRA’S TRIUMPHANT UK DEBUT
The Electronic Intifada Glasgow
Sarah Irving
July 29, 2016
True to form, the rain is hammering down on Glasgow. In the foyer of the Royal Concert Hall young men in sharp black, wearing scarves bearing the unmistakable checkered print of the Palestinian kuffiyeh, are prowling around moodily. One detects pre-performance nerves.
___This is the second night of the Palestine Youth Orchestra’s six-night debut tour of Britain.
[. . . .] If there were indeed pre-show nerves, they weren’t necessary: the Palestine Youth Orchestra received a full standing ovation. Not even greats like the St. Petersburg Philharmonic get that when performing in Scotland.      MORE . . .

❸ SECOND DEBATE IN UK PARLIAMENT ON CHILDREN IN MILITARY CUSTODY IN 2016
The Middle East Monitor – MEMO
July 24, 2016
On the last day before the summer recess, the House of Lords debated “the conditions in which Palestinian children are living and the impact on their health and wellbeing” including their treatment while held in military detention. This is the second time this year that the UK parliament has considered the treatment of Palestinian children . . . .
___The most recent debate was sponsored by Lord Norman Warner who visited the West Bank in April as part of a cross-party parliamentary delegation organised by CAABU and MAP. As part of the visit, the delegation went to Ofer military court near Jerusalem.  MORE . . .

EYTAN  IN  THE  STEEL  TRAP,  by  Fadwa  Tuqan

Under the tree, branching out, spreading and growing … growing
In savage rhythms,
Under the “star”, as it builds before his very eyes
Walls of bloody dreams,
Forming a trap, held tightly together with the thread of steel,
Trapping him within, denying him movement
Eytan, the child, the human being, opens his eyes
And asks,
Why the trap and the walls?
Why the time with amputated legs, clad in khaki and death,
Enveloped in smoke rising from flames and from sorrows?

If only the “star” could tell the truth,
If only it could.
But alas!
Alas, the “star”!

Eytan, my child
You are the victim, drowning in lies,
And like Eytan, the harbor is sunk in a sea of lies,
Drowned by the bloated dream
With the head of a dragon
And a thousand arms.
Alas, alas!
If only you could remain the child, the human being!
But I shudder, and live in dread .
That you may grow up inside the trap,
In this time of amputated legs, clad in khaki,
In cruel death, in smoke and sorrow.

From Abdel-Malek, Kamal. The Rhetoric of Violence: Arab-Jewish Encounters in Contemporary Palestinian Literature and Film. MacMillan, 2005. Web.