Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
2 August
UN EXEMPTS ISRAEL FROM CHILD ABUSE 'LIST OF SHAME'
On this day in 2019, the United Nations Security Council’s meeting on children and armed conflicts took place. The world body failed to include Israel on its "list of shame" - those countries which have been proven to be committing officially sanctioned or directed extreme abuses against children. Israel was absent despite abundant evidence of its crimes against children, including from the UNHCR and the Office of the UN Secretary-General on Promoting and Defending the Rights of Children in Armed Conflict Zones.
2 أغسطس
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2019 ، عقد اجتماع مجلس الأمن التابع للأمم المتحدة بشأن الأطفال والنزاعات المسلحة. فشلت الهيئة العالمية في ضم إسرائيل الى سجل "قائمة العار" - تلك الدول التي ثبت أنها ترتكب انتهاكات ممنوعة رسميا أو وجهت اساءات جسيمة ضد الأطفال. كانت إسرائيل غائبة بالرغم من وجود أدلة كثيرة على جرائمها ضد الأطفال ،بما في ذلك من المفوضية السامية للأمم المتحدة ومكتب الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة لتعزيز حقوق الأطفال والدفاع عنهم في مناطق النزاع المسلح.
The UN repeated the shameful exemption in July 2022
"UN to probe killing of children in Ukraine, Ethiopia, Mozambique.
"Israel left off UN ‘blacklist’ intended to shame countries into implementing measures to protect children in conflict. [Even though] The report found the highest number of verified violations against children in 2021 were in Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Israel and the Palestinian Territories."
Why the UN fears exposing Israel
The United Nations did not include Israel in its "list of shame" of states committing grave violations against children. During the United Nations Security Council’s meeting on children and armed conflicts Aug. 2, the world body failed to include Israel on its "list of shame" — which includes countries committing dire abuses against children — despite figures and statistics mentioned in the June report of the Office of the UN Secretary-General on promoting and defending the rights of children in armed conflict zones.
The report said that 2018 witnessed the highest rate of killing and wounding of children since 2014 in the Palestinian territories; it stated that 59 Palestinian children were killed and 2,756 were wounded that year. The report noted that the Israeli army and settlers were responsible for violence against children in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
A justice group for Palestinians arrested in Israel has released an explosive report claiming that 40% of children detained by Israeli authorities in Jerusalem have been subjected to sexual abuse at the hands of Israeli police. Around 600 Palestinian children have been arrested in Jerusalem since June 2013, the International Middle East Media Centre news agency reports. This means approximately 240 minors could have been abused during their arrest or investigation by Israeli authorities, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC).
The PPC say the "daily arrest campaigns" inflicted on young Palestinians living in the historic capital are a "collective punishment against Palestinian residents of Jerusalem". An attorney with the organisation, Mufeed al-Haj, says other violations were reported during the apprehension of children, including night and dawn raids on family homes, and sexual and physical abuse.
Al-Haj said minors undergoing investigation in Israel should be accompanied by their parents, but "Israeli authorities pay no respect to these laws in many cases. Forces often ignore laws and arrest Palestinians without even having warrants," he said to WAFA – the official Palestine news agency.
The PPC is an independent Palestinian organisation set up in 1993, made of 1,600 former Palestinians who spent at least a year in Israeli jails. The club supports Palestinians in Israeli jails by funding legal aid, political action, and by supporting their families.
In March 2013, the United Nation's children fund (Unicef) found that the ill-treatment of Palestinian minors held in Israeli military detention centres is "widespread, systematic and institutionalised". The UNICEF report that examined the Israeli military court system for holding Palestinian children found evidence of practices it said were "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment."
