The Israeli occupation has long targeted Palestinian children, subjecting them to violence, injury, and detention. These children embody the ongoing suffering faced by Palestinians.
As per the data revealed by Defense for Children International for Palestine, 2024, each year approximately 500-700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12 years old, are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system.
Furthermore, Save the Children reported that 86 percent of children are beaten in Israeli detention, while 69 percent are strip-searched and 42 percent are subject to injuries during their arrests.
As revealed by Al Jazeerah, August 31, 2024, the youngest child who was released by Israeli authorities during the war after 7 October, 2024, was Ahmad Salayme, a 14-year-old boy. Salayme was arrested in May for throwing stones in a Jewish settlement in occupied East Jerusalem. (Settlements are considered illegal under international law.)
The detention of Palestinian is a long issue, various writers through poignant interviews and narratives have also penned down the experience of these children in prison cells. One notable work is ‘Dreaming of Freedom: Palestinian Child Prisoners Speak’, which powerfully illustrates the realities of the innocent children in the context of their struggles.
The book translated into English by Yousef M. Aljamal and edited by Norma Hashim, narrates the horrific prison experience of palestinian child prisoner and how the israeli occupation have violated Article 16 of the convention on the rights of the child (1989) which states that
- No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honour and reputation.
- The child has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
The book contains the interviews conducted by Fayhaa Shalash in 2015 and reveals the barbarity of the Israeli occupation.
Detention of Palestinian Children
Yazan Al Shrbati
Yazan Al Shrbati hails from Shuhada Street (the Martyr’s street). Shuhada Street has a large number of soldiers, settlers and checkpoints. The street has been a focal point for the settlers to target the palestinians.
On the day of Jewish Shabbat, Yazan went out for a brisk walk and heard loud noises. Ignoring the noises, he continued to walk but suddenly was stopped by a number of Israeli settlers. The settlers cursed, spat, beat and hardly hit Yazan on his head.
After a while, the settlers took him to a police station at the kiryat, where he was forced to confront the crime he never committed.
One of the officers brought a piece of paper in Hebrew and forced him to sign without telling him anything about the content.
Later on he found that the letter said, “ i will not create any problem in the future”
He was arrested for a day but the experience changed his entire life.
Muslim Ouda
Muslim Ouda (13) has been arrested 15 times and has been hit brutally each time. Bearing the several rounds of investigations, he has undergone humiliations that have forced him to act like a grown up man.
In his interview, Life of Palestinian Children Inside Prisonhe revealed that in his prison cell, he used to sit put his head between his knees to distarch himself from the torture he had witnessed.
“In the prison cell, I would sit on the ground, putting my head between my knees, trying to take me away to my own imagination,” Ouda said.
“I imagined myself kicking a football, I myself entering my home…” he added
He further revealed that he has been put to house arrest several times for the charges he never committed.
Ahmed Khalaf
Ahmed (13) did not think that imprisonment would be his destiny as he did not commit any crime. But unfortunately, he was arrested while frolicking in a park. Following his arrest, he was kicked until he felt he was dead.
The interrogator got a stick and beat me and kicked me until I felt like I was dead.” Ahmed said.He further revealed that the jailor served him rotten food on the toilet floor.
After spending 3 months in prison, Ahmed’s life completely changed. He had trouble catching up with the school lessons and quit school. He could not get a job either and the sense of failure has affected him psychologically.
The plight of Palestinian children encapsulates the broader humanitarian crisis faced by those living under occupation. The statistics are stark: hundreds of children detained each year, many subjected to violence and humiliation, paint a harrowing picture of systemic abuse. The accounts of Yazan, Muslim, and Ahmed illustrate not just the physical trauma inflicted upon them, but also the psychological scars that will last a lifetime
