WATCH: IDF Detains Palestinian Children And Foreign Citizen In Hebron

[Purveyor]

On Sunday, three Palestinian boys were detained by the IDF in Hebron, along with a Swedish activist who seems to have tried to calmly prevent their arrests. (Footage of the arrest is below, and highly disturbing to watch). According to the International Solidarity Movement, who put out a report on Sunday and has since been updating, the children were released a few hours later, but the Swede is still being held and attempts are being made to deport him.

According to sources from Youth Against Settlements and B’Tselem that I spoke with, the children were detained because settlers from the extremist Beit Hadassah settlement inside Hebron complained to the IDF that they had thrown stones. One of the children is only 10, the others 11 and 12 (the age of criminal responsibility is 12).

Issa Amro, a Palestinian activist with Youth Against Settlements who has been arrested countless times for organizing and engaging in peaceful protests in Hebron’s Tul Rumeida area where he lives, told me that the arrest of children by the IDF has become a regular “phenomenon” in Hebron. He says the IDF is “pro-settler,” often arresting Palestinian residents, whether children or adults, simply because settlers tell them to – regardless of whether there is any evidence against them. He also points out that settlers are almost never detained after they throw stones, even when the soldiers are standing right there. Issa added: “These arrests do not stop violence, on the contrary, they feed violence more and more in the long term.”

According to Ynet, the Swedish activist was arrested because he tried to steal a soldier’s weapon and resisted arrest – however the first video below makes both those accusations appear false, although he clearly made an effort to stop the soldiers from taking the children. (It is also well known that the IDF tries to deport foreign citizens living and documenting life in the West Bank). I contacted the IDF Spokesperson several times in recent days to hear its side of the story, but have yet to receive a response.

More... (click on source link to view video)

http://972mag.com/watch-idf-detains-palestinian-children-and-foreign-citizen-in-hebron/70340/

[Jefferson23]

1. ..."they feed violence more and more in the long term.” Yes. n/t

[azurnoir]

2. Two of the children were below the age of criminal responsibility

but that doesn't seem unusual when Palestinian children are involved

Unlawful detention for questioning of boy under age of criminal responsibility, al-'Esawiyah, 12 October 2012
Published:
4 Dec 2012

According to testimonies collected by B’Tselem, plainclothes police detained Amir Darwish, at midday on Friday, 12 October 2012, two days before his tenth birthday. The policemen took Amir to a police station, using force against the boy and his mother, who tried to prevent the arrest. Amir was questioned in his mother’s presence for allegedly throwing stones, and was released following the investigation.

The minimum age of criminal responsibility in Israel is 12. The arrest or even temporary detention of a minor under the age of 12 is absolutely prohibited.

Around midday on Friday, 12 October 2012, while Amir Darwish was in the yard of his home with his 12-year-old cousin, a group of undercover police arrived, accompanied by a uniformed police escort. The police, who claimed that Amir had thrown stones at the nearby Hadassah Mt. Scopus Hospital parking lot, detained him for questioning

http://www.btselem.org/detainees_and_prisoners/20121204_amir_darwish