With Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory nearing a half-century, members of Congress have developed a new way to focus on the structural and physical abuse of Palestinian young people that is a major driver of conflict in the region. In a letter sent to President Obama yesterday, Rep. Betty McCollum (MN) and 19 other members call for the appointment of a Special Envoy for Palestinian Youth.
Having lived in in the West Bank and now working as an advocate for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, I believe this letter is a much needed opportunity to revive the discussion about root causes of violence in the region.
Palestinians under the age of 18 comprise nearly half of the population of the Occupied Territories. Each year, Israeli forces arrest and prosecute approximately 700 Palestinian minors, some as young as 12 years old. At times taken from their homes in the middle of the night, children endure both physical and psychological trauma at the hands of Israeli forces. The widespread abuses of the Israeli military detention system are a significant obstacle to peace. Whole generations of Palestinians are growing up fearful of potential abuse at the hands of the Israeli military and police and left with few options to change their lives.
According to a recent Human Rights Watch report, “The number of Palestinian children arrested by Israeli forces has more than doubled since October 2015.” Human Rights Watch found “Israeli security forces use unnecessary force while arresting and detaining children, in some cases beating them, and holding them in unsafe abusive conditions.” The institutionalized mistreatment of Palestinian youth in Israeli detention centers has been well documented by UNICEF and the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
And yet Palestinian youth cannot appeal to the civilian justice system: While Israeli children are prosecuted in Israel’s civilian juvenile system, Palestinian children arrested from the West Bank are automatically brought before Israeli military courts that lack basic trial guarantees. A report from Defense of Children International-Palestine found that from 2012 to 2015, three quarters of Palestinian youth detained in Israeli military courts endured some form of physical violence following arrest. In a stunning 97 percent of the cases, children had no parent present during the interrogation or access to legal counsel.
As citizens of this country, we have a particular responsibility to work for solutions to this conflict because Israel is the top recipient of U.S. military aid in the world. As Rep. McCollum writes in her letter, “It is in the interest of the American people to advance the cause of security, human rights, equality, dignity, justice, and opportunity for Palestinians, just as we do for Israelis.”
As a Quaker organization, the Friends Committee on National Legislation condemns violence by all parties, including the recent attacks in Israel. We believe violence only begets violence. We also strongly believe that the U.S. must do more to address the root causes of the violence that is undermining prospects for peace in Israel / Palestine. The letter also has the strong support of the No Way To Treat a Child campaign, a coalition comprised of faith-based and human rights organizations.
The Special Envoy would engage Palestinian and Israeli government officials, Palestinian youth, human rights advocates, and legal experts to better understand the abuses Palestinian youth endure and actively promote human rights. While it is too late for Tareq Sbaitan and Munther Saleem, two Palestinian minors who were interrogated without the presence of family members, a Special Envoy would considerably raise the profile of the mistreatment of Palestinian youth, and work to ensure more children do not endure similar experiences.
Our government must do everything in its power to ensure the trauma and violence directed toward the next generation of leaders in Palestine does not go unaddressed. This letter presents an opportunity to discuss how the United States can take constructive steps to bring about an end to the structural violence of the occupation perpetrated against Palestinians and the violence perpetrated against Israelis. The appointment of a Special Envoy would send a strong signal that Washington is serious about working for peace in Israel and Palestine.
Kyle Cristofalo is the Program Assistant for Middle East Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker Lobby in the Public Interest.