On November 6th we were called by the Azzun municipality about six boys who were arrested in the early morning. Their ages are from 12-18 years old. We went to the municipality office and met one of the staff from B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization. B’Tselem interviewed a father of one of the arrested boys. We were there while he gave this testimony of the arrest:
Around 2:30am, Tuesday November 6th while I was sleeping with my family in my house near the communication company in Azzun, I woke up after I heard voices and knocking at the door. I stood up to check what was going on outside. I confirmed that the people outside are Israeli soldiers. I went down and found 20 soldiers in the yard of my house with 2 police dogs. They broke through the entrance to the house. One of the soldiers asked me about my sons in the house. They asked me to bring them my sons with their ids. I woke up three of my sons (the oldest ones) and brought their ids. The soldier said these were not the sons they were looking for. They asked me for my sons, Ahmed (13 years old) and Osayed (10 years old). They ordered me to wake them up and bring them their ids. I told the soldier that they are still children and don’t have ids yet. The soldier asked for their birth certificates. They asked for Ahmed. I asked them not to arrest my son. I said it is not logical to arrest underage children but the soldiers insisted and took him out of the house.
My house is 3 rooms and one salon. They took the dogs throughout the house. The soldiers stayed in my house for half an hour then they drove my son outside the house to the military jeeps. They put my son in one of the military jeeps. The intelligence officer wrote down a fake, Arabic name and a landline phone 03 90 6555 on a paper. And after he wrote his name and phone number he told me that tomorrow morning at 8am I have to come to Ariel settlement police centre and when you are there you can call me on this phone number and come pick up your son.
Then the military jeeps and soldiers left with my son. My son when very scared when they took him from the house and he wasn’t able to speak. In the morning I went to Ariel police centre and I called the phone number which he gave me but I wasn’t able to talk to him. I spoke with a female soldier who told me my son was not there. I went there near the entrance of the settlement for about an hour and a half and called the phone number to clarify where my son is. I did not get an answer.
Afterwards I came back to Azzun to see my family and tell the Palestinian authorities about the situation. I called an organization called Hamoked in Jerusalem to tell them about my son’s arrest. After ten minutes Hamoked staff told me that my son is in Ariel settlement. Later on, I informed the Palestinian DCO and police about my son’s arrest and what I did this morning (going to the settlement) without any answer and how they deceived me and gave me wrong information about my son. Now I am waiting for news and for my son’s release. Before I left Ariel settlement I contacted a lawyer, Taher El Samery, to follow up my child’s case with the Israeli police and to follow if they receive any new information about him. Until now I did not receive any news.
On the rooftop of the Azzun municipality
In the first week of November around sixteen boys and men were arrested in Azzun. In the case of Ahmed, he was not accompanied by an adult (either parent or lawyer) when he was detained. He was later released and B’Tselem is following the case.
Sabeel’s Cornerstone “Breaking a Generation” about child arrests in Palestine: http://www.sabeel.org/datadir/en-events/ev260/files/Corner63%20final.pdf
Convention on the Rights of the Child: http://www.unicef.org/crc/
http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf
Article 37 (Detention and punishment) & Article 40 (Juvenile justice)
Israel’s perspective on recent Azzun arrests in the Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/Features/FrontLines/Article.aspx?id=291106
This article does not situate the military operations in the West Bank in the context of the occupation – for instance, the Israeli cars reportedly hit by stones are driving on roads and to settlements both considered illegal under international law.
I work for the United Church of Canada as an Ecumenical Accompanier serving on the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views contained herein are personal to me and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Church or the WCC. If you would like to publish the information contained here (including posting on a website), or distribute it further, please first contact me or the EAPPI Communications Officer (communications@eappi.org) for permission. Thank you.
reflections on solidarity and justice from Israel/Palestine to canada 