VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH

VOICE OF GLOBAL UMMAH
Volume 167, January 22, 2011
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Editors: Mohamed & Rashida Ziauddin

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent and the most Merciful

EDITORIAL:

One the major social values in Islam is to stand up for justice. There is room for improvement to fight for justice both within the Muslim community (honor killings, suicide bombings by deviated terrorists and anti-Islamic elements, misguided practice of female genital mutilation, domestic violence) and outside the Muslim community (oppression of Palestinians, blatant violations of UN charter in terms of treatment of Palestinian children et.c).

(dci-pal.org)

The elderly, women and children are vulnerable groups that tend to easily become victims in any conflict. We appeal to all of humanity to come out of their individual boxes of religion, culture and nationality and fight for the common good of humanity. CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE. Humanity has a sacred duty to protect the rights of children and ensure their safety. Every child's life is precious regardless of whether the child is a Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist et.c.

Any terrorist act whether from extremist organizations or State sponsored that results in harm to children, women and other innocent people must be condemned.

As far as Israel is concerned, we fully support their right to exist as a State and condemn any terrorist act that results in injury and loss of life of any innocent Israelis. We look forward for the day when Muslims and Jews will live in peace and harmony.

In this E-Zine, our spotlight is on the sufferings of the Palestinian children. Below are articles highlighting such sufferings. Our special thanks to DEFENCE FOR CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL for their excellent work to defend the rights of children.

(dci-pal.org)

PART I:

Abusing Palestinian Children!
(www.stopzionisme.blogspot.com)

Feb 1, 2011

(sabbah.biz)

How long do we accept the Jewish crimes?

An article of Stephen Lendman on Sabbah Report.

(Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon).

Israel is an equal opportunity abuser, treating women, old men, invalids, and children like young adults because they're Palestinians, not Jews, so they're fair game, vilified as national security threats or terrorists for wanting freedom, equality, justice and peace.

Numerous previous articles discussed it, several specifically on children.

Defence for Children International (DCI) Palestine "is a national section of the international non-government child rights organisation and movement (dedicated to) promoting and protecting the rights of Palestinian children," according to international law principles.

Each year, hundreds, under 18, are arrested, detained, interrogated, tortured, and prosecuted, around 6,500 since 2000 alone.

In June 2009, DCI/Palestine's report titled, "Palestinian Child Prisoners," [PDF] documented their systematic, institutionalized torture and abuse, including testimonies providing chilling evidence, including from Mahmoud speaking for others saying:

"I went from having a normal life at home to handcuffs, deprivation of sleep, shouting, threats, rounds of interrogation, serious accusations," beatings and other abuse. As a result, "life (is now) dark, filled with fear and pessimism – tough days that words cannot describe."

On January 6, DCI/Palestine issued an "urgent appeal (for the) children of Silwan," an Arab village adjacent to Jerusalem's Old City, one of 28 such communities incorporated into the city. Evidence of serious forms of abuse were documented. In 2010, sharp increases in child arrests occurred. According to Israeli police data, 1,267 criminal files were opened between November 2009 and October 2010, accusing children of throwing stones, based solely on unconfirmed suspicions.

On November 24, 2010, 60 prominent Israeli professionals, including educators, authors, psychiatrists and psychologists, social workers, and children's rights specialists wrote Prime Minister Netanyahu and other top officials saying:

"….children and teenagers related that they had been dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night or arrested in their neighborhoods by undercover detectives and special security forces; taken in for questioning while handcuffed and unescorted by their parents; in certain cases, the families were not notified of the arrest in real time; minors were asked to give names and incriminate friends and relatives as a condition of their release; were threatened and humiliated by their interrogators; and some were even subjected to physical violence while taken in for questioning and under interrogation."

DCI/Palestine investigated 24 cases, collecting 18 sworn affidavits, 15 from children, aged seven to 17. Specific violations included:

* detaining, interrogating, and abusing children as young as seven; yet under Israeli law, they're not criminally liable and must be released;

* 76% reported violence during arrest, transfer and/or interrogation, including punching, slapping, kicking, beating with rifle butts, and in one case, throwing a pen at a child's head during questioning;

* 61% reported painful hand ties, yet under section 10B of Israel's Youth Law relating to trial, punishment and modes of treatment, other methods should always be employed; restraints may only be used to prevent escape of harm to others;

* 53% reported interrogations with no parent present; under Israeli law, they're entitled to be there, except in special limited cases; and

* 53% reported threats during interrogation, suggesting long imprisonments, various forms of abuse, and other forms of intimidation.

Imagine, their alleged "crime" was stone-throwing, not theft, vandalism, assault or murder, yet they were treated like dangerous criminals, beaten, humiliated, isolated, and otherwise abused. One case involved a seven-year old boy beaten by soldiers on his way to school. He's now terrified to leave home.

DCI/Palestine's December Bulletin commemorated the killing of 352 children during Cast Lead, but regular violence never stops. Last December, four more Gazan children were shot for being too close to Israel's border.

On December 23, a 17-year old boy was shot in the head while buying strawberries about 800 meters inside Gaza. On the same day, another 17-year old boy was shot in the right elbow while collecting gravel about 350 meters from Israel's border fence. On December 21, a 17-year old was shot in his right leg collecting building materials about 400 meters inside Gaza. Incidents like these occur regularly, nonviolent Palestinian civilians, including children, attacked, abused and at times killed by Israeli soldiers or police. Gaza remains a war zone, subjected to regular Israeli incursions, drone and F-16 attacks, fishermen fired on at sea, farmers attacked in their fields, and children shot while buying fruits and vegetables, collecting gravel, wood, or other materials, grazing goats, or simply living too close to Israel's border fence.

Snipers in watchtowers use them for target practice.

From March 26 through December 23, twenty-three shootings were documented, willful crimes gone unpunished even though Israeli and some Western media report them, none in America. Israeli repression devastated all Gazans, suffocating under siege and reeling from Cast Lead's aftermath, especially those living too close to Israel's border fence, in easy range of rogue snipers able to pick them off with ease. In addition, reports from Gisha, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Amnesty International, and other human rights groups showed little improvement since Israel's announced siege easing last June, besides regular documented instances of assaults, shootings and killings.

Yet international law absolutely prohibits targeting civilians and non-military facilities or infrastructure, regardless of circumstances. Israel remains systemically in breach, criminally complicit as a serial violator, flouting all legal principles with impunity.

Life in Besieged Gaza "Gaza on the edge of no return," Amira Hass headlined on January 6 in the New Statesman, saying: One mother, like others, fears Israeli drones may strike anytime without warning, like Cast Lead's devastating onslaught. "In Gaza slang," drones are called "zanana," three kinds a Hamas official told her. "One watches over us and photographs every move, every person; the second fires missiles at us….And the third kind? Its whole purpose is to annoy us, to drive us crazy."

Their use is central to Israeli intimidation and "process of turning Gaza into a vast panopticon, a detention camp under constant supervision and increasing invisible control."

For days leading up to Cast Lead, Gazans noticed regular humming. "They grew more anxious – and rightly so." Now every sound scares them, "reawaken(ing) fears of another attack," and small ones happen regularly. Gazans never know when Israel will next strike full force, perhaps with intent to entirely destroy Gaza and kill thousands of its residents. Some feel it's just a matter of time. Israeli leaders commit unspeakable crimes, then lie calling them self-defense, including when young children are shot. In a recent weekly Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) report, incidents, included:

* Israeli air strikes wounding three Gazan civilians;

* soldiers firing at Palestinian workers, farmers, and fisherman in Gaza border areas;

* four Palestinian fishermen arrested, their boat confiscated;

* residences bombed and damaged;

* 30 West Bank incursions and one in Gaza, causing one death, five injuries, and 28 arrests, including nine children, a PLC member and one Israeli journalist;

* two East Jerusalem houses demolished; and

* continued settlement expansion, and settlers allowed to attack Palestinian civilians and property freely.

On January 9, Israeli bulldozers began demolishing the old Shepherd Hotel compound in Sheikh Jarrah, to be replaced by 20 new East Jerusalem homes for Jews – on stolen Palestinian land. Hatem Abdel, overseeing Palestinian Jerusalem affairs, called the matter "extremely dangerous." Abdel Qader said Israel is trying to "create (an irreversible) belt of settlements," around East Jerusalem, one Palestinian property demolition at a time until the entire city is Judaized. In 1967, after Israel annexed East Jerusalem, the hotel was declared "absentee property," subject to confiscation. PA-appointed mayor Adnan Husseini called destroying it an "act of barbarism." His family claims ownership and went to court, challenging what led to its sale.

After annexation, East Jerusalem residents struggled to stay where their families lived for generations and they were born. Many, however, were forced out, their status to remain revoked. Those there aren't wanted in their own city, facing possible expulsion at the whim of Israeli authorities, targeting all Palestinians for removal.

In Occupied Palestine, the rule of law is null and void. Israel rampages freely as it's done for over 43 years, terrifying millions of residents wanting only to live free on their own land, regularly stolen for settlements and other development, excluding unwanted Arabs.

PART II

Ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children - a report
Defence for Children International
June 11, 2009
(www.uruknet.com)

(www.uruknet.com)

RAMALLAH,
Today, DCI-Palestine is releasing a report which documents the widespread ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children at the hands of the Israeli army and police force – Palestinian Child Prisoners: The systematic and institutionalised ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities.

The release of the report comes just days after an article was published in The Independent newspaper reporting the testimonies of two Israeli soldiers which detail the deliberate abuse of Palestinian children. One soldier is reported as saying that in an incident that occurred in a Palestinian village in March, he saw a lot of soldiers 'just knee (Palestinians) because it's boring, because you stand there for 10 hours, you’re not doing anything, so they beat people up.’

The report published today contains the testimonies of 33 children, one as young as 10 years old, who bear witness to the abuse they received at the hands of soldiers from the moment of arrest through to an often violent interrogation.

Most of these children were arrested from villages near the Wall and illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. There is evidence that many children are painfully shackled for hours on end, kicked, beaten and threatened, some with death, until they provide confessions, some written in Hebrew, a language they do not speak or understand.

A soldier [...] pointed his rifle at me. The rifle barrel was a few centimetres away from my face. I was so terrified that I started to shiver. He made fun of me and said: 'shivering? Tell me where the pistol is before I shoot you.' (Ezzat, 10 years old)

Disturbingly, the report finds that these illegally obtained confessions are routinely used as evidence in the military courts to convict around 700 Palestinian children every year. And the most common charge against these children is for throwing stones. Once sentenced, the children who gave these testimonies were mostly imprisoned inside Israel in breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention where they receive few family visits, and little or no education. The report concludes that this widespread and systematic abuse is occurring within a general culture of impunity where in 600 complaints made against Israeli Security Agency interrogators for alleged ill-treatment and torture, not a single criminal investigation was ever conducted.

The report also contains recent recommendations made by the UN Committee Against Torture which expressed 'deep concern’ at reports of the abuse of Palestinian children when it reviewed Israel’s compliance with the Convention Against Torture in May 2009. The report is now available on-line in PDF format: Palestinian Child Prisoners: The systematic and institutionalised ill-treatment and torture of Palestinian children by Israeli authorities

PART III

The Impact of the Conflict on Children
(www.ifamereicansknew.org)

124 Israeli children have been killed by Palestinians and 1,452 Palestinian children have been killed by Israelis since September 29, 2000.

(www.ifamericansknew.org)

“The majority of these [Palestinian] children were killed and injured while going about normal daily activities, such as going to school, playing, shopping, or simply being in their homes. Sixty-four percent of children killed during the first six months of 2003 died as a result of Israeli air and ground attacks, or from indiscriminate fire from Israeli soldiers.”
- Catherine Cook

Source:
Remember These Children, a coalition of groups calling for an end to the killing of children and a fair resolution of the conflict.

PART IV

PALESTINIAN CHILDREN USED AS HUMAN SHIELDS


(www.alternativenews.org)

The report also criticizes Israel for maintaining that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (ICRC) does not apply in the West Bank. According to Defense for Children International (DCI) and other rights organizations, the Israeli military in the West Bank and Gaza regularly violates child rights by arresting minors, using children as human shields, and allowing settler violence aimed at children.

Just today (21 November), an Israeli court gave suspended sentences to two Israeli soldiers convicted of using a nine-year-old boy as a human shield during Israel’s military attacks on the Gaza Strip in December 2008-January 2009.

Since 2004, DCI-Palestine has documented 15 cases of children being used as human shields by the Israeli army; however, this was the first case in which convictions have been recorded.

PART V

SILENCE IS COMPLICITY:

The Methodical Shooting of Boys at Work in Gaza by Snipers of the Israeli Occupation Force

By Dr. David Halpin
www.globalresearch.ca

January 20, 2011

Introduction

The deliberate injury of the limbs of 23 boys by high velocity weapons has been logged and described by Defence for Children International – Palestine Branch (DCI-P) since March 2010.

(1) Some of the facts have been published in national newspapers. These barbarous acts contravene international and national law but there are no judicial responses. The caring professions see the physical and mental pain of those who suffer and they should be in the vanguard in calling for this great cruelty to cease forthwith. Political leaders have failed to act.

The Geneva Conventions Act 1957, which is of central importance in holding war criminals to account in the jurisdiction of the UK, is being emasculated.

CONTEXT:

Most of the 1.5 million population of the Gaza strip is impoverished. Half are refugees from Mandate Palestine or their stock. About 50% of the male population is without work. It has been isolated and occupied for decades. A commercial port was being built in 2000 but that was bombed by Israel. The isolation and the hobbling of its commerce was increased by a siege which was started in March 2006 in response to the election of a majority of Hamas members to the legislature. It was further tightened in June 2007 after the Hamas government pre-empted a coup by the Fatah faction that was led in Gaza by Mohammad Dahlan.

The misery was further deepened with 'Operation Cast Lead' that was unleashed 27/12/08. This was promised 29/02/08 (2). "The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah (holocaust) because we will use all our might to defend ourselves.” - Matan Vilnai Deputy Defence Minister to Israeli Army Radio.

There was a massive bombardment which killed 220 adults and children in the first 15 minutes. This was followed by a full scale invasion. 1400 humans were killed and approximately 5000 injured physically. The minds of very many more were injured too. 4000 homes were totally destroyed, almost all the factories and 40 mosques. The two gleaming science blocks of the Islamic University of Gaza were flattened by very powerful thermobaric bombs, the blasts being heard throughout the 360 square kilometres of the Gaza 'Strip'. The siege has been even more draconian since. Cement, ballast and steel rods are only let in at about 5% of the rate needed for rebuilding, the pretext being that 'bunkers' could be constructed.

At the present rate it will take 78 years to rebuild Gaza.

The lack of any work and the extreme poverty of the large extended families has drawn the boys and men to scavenge for broken concrete ('gravel') in the evacuated Eli Sinai 'settlement' and in the industrial zone by the Erez border control post at the northern limit of the 'Strip'. The factories of the industrial zone have been progressively demolished by Israeli shelling etc. They are seen to the west as one enters Gaza through Erez. A donkey and cart, shovel, pick, sieve, muscles and courage are the tools. The rubble is used to make cement blocks and poured concrete with the cement that is imported largely through the tunnels. Many dozens of men and boys do this work for precious shekels in the shadow of manned watch towers and under 'drones' above.

The 23 boys who have been shot between 26/03/10 (Said H) and 23/12/10 (Hatem S) are listed in the table below with skeletal facts.

These points are made:-

• In 18 there were single shots and not automatic fire

• The reported range in most cases confirms that the weapon was a sniper's rifle in the hands of a sniper

• Almost always there were many dozens of other men and boys at work; these victims were picked off

• A leg was the target in most cases. Where the leg was not the target it is likely the sniper was 'aiming up' so the flank, elbow etc was hit instead.

• No weapons were being borne by the gravel workers so they posed no threat to the Israeli Occupation Force personnel. Instead they were bending their backs to their menial work within their internment camp

• The histories refer often to the recovery of the injured boy by friends and relatives under fire. This was a feature during 'Cast Lead' or instead the paramedics were barred from getting to the victims so they died without care.

The history of the injury and sequel for each boy are linked to in (1). It has been done meticulously and the translation into English is perfect. The pain, and often the terror, felt by the boy as the bullet struck home are vividly recorded. No bullets have been recovered yet so the calibre/type is unknown.

• How many boys will regain full, or nearly full function is difficult to judge without the radiographs being present. Cases 3,4, 5,7,13 and 15 are likely to have joint involvement and thus some lifelong disability.

• In cases 1 and 3 there is nerve injury. If that proves to be an axonotmesis in either, it is possible that a first class repair will not be available in Gaza.

• The fractures are open by definition and no doubt comminuted. Delayed or non-union is possible. Deep infection is a real risk, antibiotic therapy not withstanding. The risk of deep infection relates to:

a. the possible inclusion of fabric
b. the high energy injury causing irregular and wide devitalisation of the tissues
c. the probability that these difficult bullet wounds were not laid open and a complete wound toilet performed. One or two of these boys might end with an amputation.

• Almost all the boys have been frightened off or forbidden from gravel work. There are few, if any, other means of earning shekels.

The shooting to wound and kill Palestinians is relentless. DCI-P notes that according to a UN study, between January 2009 and August 2010, at least 22 Palestinian civilians in Gaza have been killed and 146 injured in the arbitrary live fire zone adjacent to the border with Israel and imposed at sea. At least 27 of these civilians were children. It also notes that the targeting of civilians is absolutely prohibited under international law, regardless of circumstances. These quotations from the available stories convey a little of the poverty, the suffering and the courage:-

• The three of us would wake up every day at around 5:30am and leave to collect gravel. We were not the only ones doing this type of work. Hundreds of youngsters aged between 13 and 22 used to work with us, despite the danger we faced because we were close to the Israeli border.' Awad W- 3

• The work was exhausting and dangerous. ‘Israeli soldiers would sometimes shoot at us, and sometimes shoot in the air to intimidate us,’ recalls Ibrahim . 'Sometimes they would shoot at the carts, horses and donkeys we used to move the gravel. But we had to do the work despite the dangers, because we didn’t have any other job to do.’ Ibrahim K- 4

• Mohammad was taught by his neighbours to watch for birds flying away from the watch towers, as this was a sign to start running, as it meant soldiers were climbing into the towers and the shooting would soon begin. Mohammad M - 6

• 'They killed our three horses and one donkey in four months, and we had to spend the money we earned on replacing them.' ... ‘They were down on their stomachs pointing their rifles towards us, but they didn’t shoot. We got used to such things.’ Mohammad S – 11

Silence is complicity

References:

To view each of the child that was shot at along with a brief description of the shooting, click below (1) :

1. http://www.dci-pal.org/english/doc/press/UA_4_10_Children_of_the_Gravel_UPDATE_29_DEC_%202010(b).pdf

2. http://www.haaretz.com/news/barak-hamas-will-pay-for-its-escalation-in-the-south-1.240417

3. http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_21083.pdf

I thank Gerard Horton and DCI-P for the availability and excellence of this information, and for supporting publication in a medical forum. I also thank Dr Khamis Elessi in Gaza for information.

Conflict of interest: I founded the Dove and Dolphin Charity 110119 with a voyage to Palestine 8 years ago and chair its trustees. It attends to the welfare of children in Gaza in the main. No pecuniary benefit is derived from this charity.

David S Halpin FRCS is an author, human rights activist and a former, orthopaedic and trauma surgeon at the Torbay and Exeter Hospitals Devon UK

PALESTINIAN LOSS OF LAND FROM 1946 TO 2000

THE END