Israeli police detain 7-year-old Palestinian child

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Wednesday, January 4 2012|Yossi Gurvitz

Jerusalem police detain 7-year-old child

The Jerusalem detained a seven-year-old Palestinian child for alleged stone-throwing, and interrogated him for hours, separate from his father, in direct contravention of the law.

A long time ago, during the First Intifada, I was manning a shift in the Dir Al Balah Civil Administration ops desk, when a stupid army officer radioed me that he detained a “riot ring leader.” I asked for the detainee’s ID number, so as to match it against the list of wanted people. The army officer said he didn’t have an ID. I told him to go to the guy’s house, because they usually left the ID there, and he replied, “No, no, you don’t understand – he doesn’t have an ID. He’s five years old.” Silence. “Repeat that. Did you say ‘five years old’?” “Yes.” I went to wake up my officer, who proceeded to shout at the army officer. The child was released.

Turns out we can do worse. Nir Barkat, the de jure mayor of Jerusalem and de facto military governor of Jerusalem, toured Issawiya yesterday, and the locals, taking a dim view, stoned his entourage (this is an old tradition in Jerusalem: Old King Alexander Yanai, while serving as High Priest on Sukkot, once upset the religious sensitivities of his subjects, so they stoned him with their citrons). Soon afterwards, reported the Palestinian news service Ma’an, policemen detained Muhammad Ali Dirbas, aged seven, carried him off to a nearby police station, interrogated him for three or four hours, and then released him. Further information, obtained by B’Tselem, shows that Dirbas was was detained by YASAM (riot police) at about 4 P.M., and was then moved to a police station at about 5 P.M. His father came to the police station circa 6 P.M., was kept apart from his child until about 9 P.M., and then Muhammad was interrogated in the presence of his father until around 11 P.M., when they were released.

Where to begin? Well, with the fact the police has no authority over children. The age of criminal liability is 12. I find it very hard to believe the police would have detained a seven-year-old Jewish child – the public outcry would reach the heavens, and justly so. But Dirbas is just a Palestinian child, so it’s hard to believe the Israeli media will pay too much attention to the story.

The practice of holding minor detainees without access to their parents or a trusted adult is very common: As B’Tselem reported back in July, the vast majority of detained minors in the West Bank were interrogated in this way – which is contrary to law. An incident in which cops “pick up” a six-year-old, take him to a police station and then hold him there for hours without the presence of a family member is much more similar to a kidnapping for purposes of terrorizing the neighbourhood than to anything resembling a proper police action.

Officially, Issawiya has been annexed to Israel. However, as this incident shows, the claims that Jerusalem is a “unified city” are a hollow fiction. The police would never have dared to act this way in a “normal” part of Israel. East Jerusalem is an occupied territory and the authorities behave accordingly. It is also worth noting here that the notorious brute Doron Zehavi (AKA “Captain George”), who was dismissed from the security services for conduct unbecoming a torturer, is employed by the Jerusalem police as an “Arab Affairs Advisor.”

http://972mag.com/jerusalem-police-detain-seven-7-years-child-old-for-hours/32123/

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Ma'an News and other sources are reporting that the child is actually 6, not 7.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=449915

Edited January 5, 2012 by wife_of_mahmoud

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Not to justify the detention and interrogation of a 7 year old, but seriously? "Stone throwing tradition"???

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Not to justify the detention and interrogation of a 7 year old, but seriously? "Stone throwing tradition"???

Yossi's esoterica...

[luckytxn 2,265]

If an Israeli child that young was throwing rocks would they do the same thing?

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Why is this even news? The TSA does this kind of ####### all the time.

[luckytxn 2,265]

Why is this even news? The TSA does this kind of ####### all the time.

Link please.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

If an Israeli child that young was throwing rocks would they do the same thing?

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Once again, John Galt misses the point.

The question is not: "Do Israeli and/or Palestinian children throw stones ?" Obviously, they do. We have pictures and video of it.

The question is: "Are 6- or 7-year old Jewish Israeli children detained and interrogated by Israeli police for hours without their parent present, as is done to Palestinian and/or Palestinian Israeli children ?"

Edited January 5, 2012 by wife_of_mahmoud

[luckytxn 2,265]

Once again, John Galt misses the point.

The question is not: "Do Israeli and/or Palestinian children throw stones ?" Obviously, they do. We have pictures and video of it.

The question is: "Are 6- or 7-year old Jewish Israeli children detained and interrogated by Israeli police for hours without their parent present, as is done to Palestinian and/or Palestinian Israeli children ?"

We know that Israeli children would not be treated as harshly. I am wondering if this is the norm. It said that an official was out inspecting something and that his entourage had rocks thrown at it. It may be that the official told the authorities to detain whoever did this. In that case it would be more of an abuse of power on the officials part. I never did find if it was normal to detain Palestinian kids like this.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

We know that Israeli children would not be treated as harshly. I am wondering if this is the norm. It said that an official was out inspecting something and that his entourage had rocks thrown at it. It may be that the official told the authorities to detain whoever did this. In that case it would be more of an abuse of power on the officials part. I never did find if it was normal to detain Palestinian kids like this.

I can't find any reports of young Jewish Israeli children being detained and interrogated by Israeli police for hours without their parents present.

But it's not unusual for it to happen to Palestinian children - they are commonly snatched off the street or pulled from their homes by police or soldiers (often in the middle of the night) and held and interrogated without an adult family member present. From the article:

The practice of holding minor detainees without access to their parents or a trusted adult is very common: As B’Tselem reported back in July, the vast majority of detained minors in the West Bank were interrogated in this way – which is contrary to law.

Edited January 5, 2012 by wife_of_mahmoud

[luckytxn 2,265]

I can't find any reports of young Jewish Israeli children being detained and interrogated by Israeli police for hours without their parents present.

But it's not unusual for it to happen to Palestinian children - they are commonly snatched off the street or pulled from their homes by police or soldiers (often in the middle of the night) and held and interrogated without an adult family member present. From the article:

I could not find any either. I did searches and even found many rude youtube videos of very disturbing Israeli's treating Palestinian's badly. (Even found many where Christian tourists were treated harshly by Jews) The most I could find was on video where some soldiers started beating a few Israeli's who came to the aid of some Palestinians that were being treated badly by Israeli soldiers.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

I could not find any either. I did searches and even found many rude youtube videos of very disturbing Israeli's treating Palestinian's badly. (Even found many where Christian tourists were treated harshly by Jews) The most I could find was on video where some soldiers started beating a few Israeli's who came to the aid of some Palestinians that were being treated badly by Israeli soldiers.

There would be massive public outrage in Israel if Israeli police or soldiers did this to a Jewish child - people would demand official investigations, punishment of the culprits, "re-training" programs in proper procedure for handling minors, etc.