Tag: child detention - Page 2 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli soldiers detain 7 and 10-year-old boys in Hebron

1st June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

This morning in al-Khalil (Hebron) Israeli forces detained two young Palestinian boys, 10-year-old Fares Abu Senene and 7-year-old Haitham Asrawi for one hour.

ISM activists spoke to an eyewitness who explained that the boys has been held for at least 30 minutes. For one of the boys, his mother stood with him, the other was forced to wait for a further 10 minutes before his own mother arrived.

An ISM activist present said: “When we arrived it was clear the children were really young, far too young to be detained or arrested by heavily armed soldiers. We spoke to several people who saw what happened and they explained there had been an altercation with some settlers from the nearby illegal settlements. It seemed like settlers attacked the children, who tried to fight back, and were then held by the Israeli military. After an hour the children were let go. This incident is just another example of the injustice that Palestinians face from the occupation in al-Khalil.”

15-year-old boy assaulted and detained in Hebron

10th May 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Today in al-Khalil (Hebron), Israeli soldiers viciously assaulted a 15-year-old boy while they were attempting to arrest him. The soldiers accused him of attacking 10 settler youth; he was then taken to Tel Rumeida military base and then released after 20 minutes with no charges.

ISM activists witnessed one Israeli soldier pulling the young teenager towards Tel Rumeida military base, as his two sisters frantically tried to intervene. The 15-year-old was held in the military base, on his own, for approximately 20 minutes before being released.

After the incident, ISM activists spoke to the boy’s father, Abu Shamsiyeh, who described the events leading to his son’s detention. He explained that he was in his house when his two daughters ran to him and said that Israeli soldiers were attacking their brother. Abu Shamsiyeh left the house to witness a group of soldiers grabbing his son by the neck and throwing him to the ground. He told the soldiers that his son has problems with his back, and was ignored.

More Israeli soldiers, including a commander, arrived and when Abu Shamsiyeh tried to speak to them, he was physically grabbed and told he was not allowed to accompany his son to the military base, or to continue filming.

Israeli police did not arrest the 15-year-old as they said it was impossible for a boy of his size to attack 10 settler youth.

Abu Shamsiyeh stated that the family, himself, his wife and all five of his children, have many problems with Israeli soldiers and with the settlers from nearby illegal settlements in Tel Rumeida. However, he explained that on Saturdays (the Sabbath in Judaism), the harassment often escalates due to an increase in settler activity and an influx of Zionists tourists.

VIDEO: Israel Border Police detain 6-year-old child in Hebron

23rd April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team| Hebron, Occupied Palestine

At approximately 7 am this morning, Rami Rajabi, a six-year-old child, was 20 meters away from checkpoint 29 when he threw several pebbles in al-Khalil (Hebron).

As Rami walked away towards his school, three Israeli soldiers burst out of an alleyway, grabbed his arm, and detained him in the street.

Rami then burst into tears and was clearly terrified, the Israeli soldier tightly gripped his arm and began to pull him back towards checkpoint 29.

ISM activists tried to intervene, trying to convince the soldiers to release the child. The soldiers dragged him back to the checkpoint where local Palestinians implored the soldiers to release the boy.

While ISMers were filming the incident, Israeli Border Patrol watched on as a settler from a nearby illegal settlement to aggressively confront the ISMers, calling one activist a “killer” and tried to grab the camera.

After approximately 20 minutes of pressure from locals and activists, the child was released and was taken home by a friend of his family.

An ISMer present said, “What happened today is part of an ongoing campaign to intimidate the local population: Israeli soldiers harass children here in Hebron all the time”.