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The Only Democracy? » Entries tagged with "Children"

Report on Summer Camps at Susya and Umm-Al-Kheir

Report on Summer Camps at Susya and Umm-Al-Kheir

The summer camps at Susya and Umm-Al-Kheir have just ended. Both camps are organized locally, and funded with the help of outside donors. Villages Group activists help arrange these funds, work with organizers to help meet their needs, and – most rewardingly – visit the camps to interact with the kids. ————————————- At Palestinian Susya, this has been the third consecutive year for the camp. As mentioned above, this has been a homegrown local initiative from the … Read entire article »

Filed under: On The Ground Reports

Eviatar: Three Dead Children

Eviatar: Three Dead Children

Guest Post by Aharan Eviatar The recent ghastly events in Arizona, especially the killing of Christina Greene, gunned down by a political lunatic at age nine, lead one to think of the phenomenon of political killing of children and what it implies for society. In particular, I would like to bring up along with Christina, two other cases of killing of little girls, one in Arizona and the other in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The story … Read entire article »

Filed under: Discrimination

In the name of the father: Israel arrests 16 year-old son of imprisoned protest organizer

From the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee In yet another nighttime raid on the village of Bil’in, soldiers stormed Adeeb Abu Rahmah’s house and arrested his sixteen year old son At 2:30 AM this morning Israeli forces entered the village of Bil’in in armored military jeeps and by foot, and proceeded to surround the home of jailed organizer, Adeeb Abu Rahmah. A group of masked soldiers forcefully entered the house without showing a warrant, and arrested Adeeb’s only son, 16 year old Mohammed. Since his father’s arrest 17 months ago Mohammed serves as the family’s sole provider. Soldiers escorting the bound and blinfolded Mohammed into a military jeep. Picture credit: Hamde Abu Rahmah During the raid, soldiers violently tried to prevent photographers from filming the raid, beating up local cameraman, Haitham Khatib and causing damage … Read entire article »

Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs

PHR-Israel: Delayed Exit of a Toddler from Gaza Results in Death

PHR-Israel: Delayed Exit of a Toddler from Gaza Results in Death

By Jesse Bacon Saturday, a child the same age as my daughter was killed in Gaza. She was not killed by a missile, or a suicide bomber, or any of the other dramatic ways children die in the Middle East. She was killed by an Israeli  policy, that the people of Gaza are to be imprisoned as punishment for who the adults voted for. While many children have been killed by this policy, this case sounds … Read entire article »

Filed under: Discrimination

In West Bank Palestinian Childhood Is Cut Short – It’s the Law

In West Bank Palestinian Childhood Is Cut Short – It’s the Law

Palestinian Child Being Arrested In the West Bank, there is a two-tiered system of justice, including for minors.  For settler children, justice is administered according to Israeli domestic law, with all the due process protections that affords.  They  cannot be  charged as adults until they reach 18, in accordance with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a signatory.  For Palestinian children, military law applies, and that  pretty much means due … Read entire article »

Filed under: Discrimination

At-Tuwani: Where Walking to School is An Act of Resistance

At-Tuwani:  Where Walking to School is An Act of Resistance

Here is another report from the Christian Peacemaker Team, who look out after the children in the area of the At-Tuwani village in the southern Hebron hills  as they try to make their way to school.   Once again, the Israeli military fails to patrol the children as they are required to do to protect them from attacks by adult settlers.  And once again, the children and their parents manage to overcome the dangers and make … Read entire article »

Filed under: On The Ground Reports

Declaration of Human Rights Too “Problematic” for Israeli Schoolchildren

In a related post, below, we learned about the militarization of education for Israeli children, including homework sheets filled with sketches  of tanks and other weaponry as a method of learning to count and be  indoctrinated at the same time.  Now we learn that  the same  Israeli Department of Education which promoted the militarization of schools  has taken quick action to keep certain rights enumerated in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights from troubling the minds of settler children. The Ariel municipality had bought as gifts for kindergarten children in the settlements hundreds of copies of the book, “We are all Born Free–the Human Rights Declaration in Pictures.” The book was published in a prestigious edition together with the Amnesty organization.  Among the dozens of pages are 30 illustrations by leading world artists, who were asked to simplify the sections of the declaration to … Read entire article »

Filed under: Human Rights Activists in the Crosshairs

Two Youths Killed by Israeli Military, WARNING: Graphic Photos.

Two Youths Killed by Israeli Military, WARNING: Graphic Photos.

by the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee Israeli Army Kills Youth Demonstrators in Iraq Burin Village Near Nablus. Mohammed Ibrahim Qaddous, 16, was shot dead with live ammunition when a Border Police force raided his village of Iraq Burin near Nablus to quash a demonstration this afternoon. Ussayed Qaddous, 19, who struck in the head with live ammunition and critically injured passed away in the Rafidya hospital in Nablus … Read entire article »

Filed under: On The Ground Reports

Israeli Schoolchildren Learn to Count with Tanks

Israeli Schoolchildren Learn to Count with Tanks

By Sergeiy Sandler In January 2010, an official UN body determined for the first time that the militarization of Israel’s government-run school system was in violation of the International Convention of the Rights of the Child and, in particular, of Israel’s implementation of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC), to which it is a signatory. Unprecedented … Read entire article »

Filed under: Discrimination