From hate to revenge

(ES)

"Sometimes they respond with revengeful expressions:" I hate you, you will pay for that ", they say. Such threats are far from the many boys and girls can tell when they believe really feel or perceive they are victims of injustice. For example, occurs when a boy tells his father or his mother "I hate you", with no message of revenge. In this case, actually is expressing his helplessness before what he believes is an injustice "
Pequeños Tiranos - Alicia Banderas.

Children and adolescents often develop a sense of justice very marked. His rebellious nature, coupled with that feeling, makes them extreme defenders of what they consider fair. Sometimes their actions are motivated by a mixture of inexperience and conflicting feelings that do not quite know how to handle.

Who in their adolescence has not yet acted on impulse, knowing that their actions could be subject to punishment?

In late January 2011, according to information provided by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) and the detention facilities of the Israeli army:

• 222 Palestinian children (between 12 and 17) were arrested by the Israeli army.
• 34 children between 12 and 15 years were arrested and tried by Israeli military courts.
• Currently there are no girls in detention. A 15 years-old girl in Hebron was released on January 27.
• The most common charge is the throwing of stones.

Currently there are no children in administrative detention, ie detention without charge or trial. On January 4, after nearly 12 months of administrative detention in Ofer prison, was released a 17-year-old who was stopped at a checkpoint by the Israeli army.

January 21, Mahmoud, a 10 year old boy was arrested, beaten, taken to police station and interrogated by Israeli police without their parents being present, which is not allowed in Israeli civil law. When his uncle came to take him, the police said: "Take him, but next time we'll send him to Al Mascabiyya and you know how things are there." The interrogation center at Mascabiyya has a reputation as a place where Palestinians are tortured. Mahmoud is 10 years old.

These data are extracted from the "Detention Bulletin January 2011" that compiles monthly since 2008 the NGO Defence for Children International (DCI). In the past 3 years, a monthly average of 300 children between 12 and 17 have been arrested by the Israeli army and police.

Claim to have suffered beatings, humiliation, threats, prolonged isolation in prison, sensory deprivation, interrogation without the assistance of lawyers and without the presence of their parents, coerced into signing statements in Hebrew, but is entitled to receive family visits every two weeks , are denied permits and go for months without receiving visits, they are transferred to detention centers inside Israel, in contravention of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and thus, a long list of abuses.

On November 24, 2010, more than 60 prominent Israeli professionals signed a letter to the Prime Minister and other officials to raise concern about the violent treatment of Palestinian children in occupied territory.

Unfortunately, injustice, rage, fear, frustration, anxiety, shame, abandonment, pain, loneliness, sadness, anger, stress ... experienced by Palestinian children in the environment of everyday violence in which they grow and develop as adults, without the proper channeling of those feelings, it can only become a "I hate you, you will pay for that".

Article 37. No child shall be subjected to torture, punishment or cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and the death penalty, life imprisonment or imprisonment and detention illegal and arbitrary. Every child deprived of liberty shall be treated humanely, be separated from adults, have the right to maintain contact with his family and to have prompt access to legal or other appropriate assistance.

Article 40. Any child who is considered the accused or convicted of violating the law is entitled to respect for fundamental rights and in particular the right to benefit from all guarantees of a fair, even to have legal or other appropriate assistance in the preparation and presentation of his defense. Whenever possible, avoid resorting to judicial proceedings and in institutions.

Convention on the Rights of the Child. ¹

¹ Ratified by Israel on October 3, 1991.

Photo credit: Awad Awad