Letters For Palestine

Arrest of Non Jewish Children

Background
  • ​Israel regularly arrests Palestinian Children. Kicking doors in at 2am, dragging the child from their beds and ransacking the house.
  • A child is defined as a person up to and including the age of 18. Many children as young as 12 are arrested by Israel forces.
  • The Palestinian child is taken to an Israeli base, denied access to Parental or Legal guidance.
  • The Palestinian Child is not informed of his/her Legal Rights under Arrest.
  • The Palestinian Child is often transferred from the Occupied Palestinian Territories into Israel making it difficult or impossible for their parents to visit. This transfer is Illegal under Geneva Conventions - Article 49.
  • The Palestinian Child is Interrogated with no Legal Representation
  • The Palestinian child is often threatened with Violence, including Sexual Violence, or actual violence. In addition, the Interrogators  often threaten to sexually abuse the child's female relatives.
  • The Palestinian child is forced to sign "Confessions" in Hebrew. AS language he/she does NOT understand.
  • The child is often held in custody until tried and then often sentenced to long prison sentences for minotr offences such as throwing stones.
  • It has to be noted that this treatment would Never be carried out against Jews or Jewish Children.
  • Take action and ask your Political Representatives whether they Consider Israel’s actions in Gaza meets the definition of Terrorism!
  • Please take action. 
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To:     - Foreign Minister
​
CC:   - Prime Minister
​         - Leader of the National Party
         - Co Leader of the Green Party

​Subject - The Israeli Military Arrest of Palestinian Children

Dear Minister

I have recently come across information that the Israeli Military has carried out the Arrests of hundreds of Palestinian Children in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
My understanding is that the UN recognises that the Palestinian children should be treated under the Convention on the Rights of the Child www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx 

My understanding that under the “Convention on the Rights of the Child”, the actions outlined above go against International Conventions and therefore International Law.

The specific convention is as follows:
Convention on the Rights of the Child - www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx
  • Article 37b - “No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time” 
  • Article 37d - “Every child deprived of his or her liberty shall have the right to prompt access to legal and other appropriate assistance, as well as the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his or her liberty before a court or other competent, independent and impartial authority, and to a prompt decision on any such action.”

An argument can therefore be made that the Politicians of the Government of Israel and the Military Hierarchy of Israel have contravened International Law and therefore are War Criminals.

My questions are these:
  1. Does our country support the Convention on the Rights of the Child?
  2. Does our country agree that Israeli actions in regards to Article 37b & 37d of Convention on the Rights of the Child contravene International Conventions?
  3. Does our country agree that Israeli actions in regards to Article 37b & 37d of Convention on the Rights of the Child contravene International Law?
  4. If Israel is in contravention of International Law, what will our country do to bring this War Crime to International Attention or to the attention of the International Criminal Court at the Hague? Please note that there is “Universal Jurisdiction” for War Crimes and there are “No Statute of Limitations” to War Crimes. Our country has the right to take any identified War Crime to the ICC at any time.

My subsidiary question is this:
  • If our country decides not to bring this atrocity to the UN or the Criminal Court in the Hague, what Laws does our country accept that Israel can use to rule over the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories?


I look forward to your response on behalf of our country to my questions above.

Kind regards

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