The director general of DCI told me his organisation's petitions and campaigns within the Israeli military system have generally yielded very limited results, if at all. Still, this is a frustrating battle, requiring endless patience. And N has received counselling from the torture victims' centre of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association).
N still has nightmares and struggles to curb the fear he feels when the army is on patrol nearby.īut he's relatively lucky, having a supportive family that has encouraged him to talk about his experience. "I'll never forget his eyes the way he looked at me," he said, referring to his interrogator. So is recovery - N still struggles with his experience The Israeli army's response to these allegations also proves what DCI admits: this is a long-term battle. The army also said its practices were consistent with international law a claim hotly contested by all human rights organisations working in Israel and the Occupied West Bank. The army told us they would only comment if they had more specific details about these cases, which is a demand the children's lawyers say could jeopardise their clients.īut after the report aired on Al Jazeera, the Israeli military issued a statement rejecting the allegations and the DCI report. We tried to request a response from the Israeli army but all our requests were turned down. "Most of the time, the Israelis, they just dismiss our allegations and say this is not correct, this is not true so if this is the case, we challenge them to record these interrogations and let the interrogations happen with the lawyer," Kassis told me. This step is a reflection of the stonewalling human rights organisations usually face from Israeli authorities. Human rights organisations say the alleged abuses happen during this period of isolation. During interrogation, these minors are not allowed to have contact with their lawyers or families. Israeli forces arrest approximately 700 Palestinian minors every year. N told me that at prison, he met many boys who had suffered similar abuse. "I wish these people could be tried in a court so that they don't do this to other guys." So I asked this shy teenager why he mustered the courage to speak out. I mean, what a thing to talk about… It's shameful," he told me. N kept telling me he felt awkward talking about his experience.
N is one of these children… His confession landed him a three month sentence in an Israeli jail.īecause of the stigma attached, there are fears that many more children may have suffered similar abuse but have been afraid to come forward. Fourteen of them say they were either sexually abused or threatened with sexual assault, including rape, if they didn't confess to what their interrogators accused them of. The Palestine Chapter of Defence for Children International (DCI) has collected 100 sworn affidavits this year of Palestinian children, under the age of 18, who said they were mistreated by their Israeli interrogators. "I tried to hold on to the chair he kept poking me, groping my privates with the stick, trying to get me off the chair," N said while avoiding eye contact with me.
Let's pull down his pants so I can shove this stick up his a**." He told his friends, who were looking on and laughing at me: "This boy doesn't want to talk. "There was a dog barking outside the room… The soldier told me he would bring it in to f**k me if I didn't confess… I was so scared… The guy then took out a stick he whipped it forward and it got longer.
Beatings, humiliation, and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees, including minors, are regularly documented by human rights organisations. Until this point, N's story sounded familiar to someone like me, who's been covering the conflict in Palestine for years. "To throwing stones," they would say.Īfraid of ending up in jail, N refused to confess to the alleged offence. "Aren’t you going to confess?" the soldiers kept asking him… "To what?" he would reply. "They took pictures of me they were laughing," he told me. The soldiers then put sunglasses on N's eyes and a female headband on his head. They began cursing at him and using derogatory terms against his mother and female siblings. When the military jeep finally stopped, the soldiers took him to a room with chairs. He was blindfolded, handcuffed, and taken away without any explanation. Israeli soldiers came to his house a year ago at dawn. With a timid smile, 16 year-old N twiddles his thumbs as he tells me his frightening story.
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