Today was another tough day but I get less and less tired the more work I do. I actually did everything one could do with cistern digging today: pulled up buckets, dumped the rocks in the trailer, filled buckets with rocks, and even drilled a little bit - all around a good time. I don't really get tired or hot persay while I'm in the cistern but I sweat more while I'm down there than I have in my entire life, truly ridiculous. The greatest part though, is that about a minute after you get out of the cistern into the Palestinian sun, you're dry.
An English woman also came to visit today, she's worked here and in other parts of Palestine before so she was just visiting. We spoke a little bit about what she did and she started talking about what she did in Northern Palestine last year. She's becoming a lawyer so it was legal work dealing with Palestinain child prisoners. This kind of threw me off initially and it still does now, but her orginization dealt with children, between the ages of 12 and 17, who are literally sent to Israeli prisons, not juvenile hall or anything, but prison. These kids are arrested for throwing stones which the maximum sentence is 20 years. After a riot occurs or stone-throwing happens, Israeli military enters the town, usually at night, and arrests children from their homes. The kids are put into vans, usually without being told where they're going and are taken to a military holding cell. Much of the time, they are abused or beaten in the van (slapped, kicked, etc.). In the holding cell, they are "interrogated" until they give a confession of what they did. Most of the time, the interrogation is in a language the children don't understand and the confession itself is in Hebrew so the kids don't know what they are confessing to - usually they end up confessing because of threats or subtle forms of torture. These kids are then brought to a military court where, if a confession is presented, evidence proving guilt does not need to be presented - this means the kids can be sent away without any real proof of them even touching a stone. I heard that many of these children are innocent as well, either just watching the other kids throw stones or sometimes at a completely different part of the wall. The Israeli military court system has the ability to make who they want, guilty. If an Israeli child does something against the law or the government, they go to juvey, just like anyone in the States. I am not ashamed or scared to be saying any of this, how is this democratic? How is this right? How is this humane? I'm sorry, but when a child throws a stone at a wall, I simply cannot make the connection between that action and torture, threats, fear, and prison time. I know some of you may support the Israeli government, but what I do not understand is how when something like this is happening every week. I pray, for the sake of these children and all peaceful Palestinians and Israelis, that this changes, soon.
آمين يا انه جيد يا ابني
ReplyDeleteLuke, your Englishwoman acquaintance provided a first hand account, but it does not sound like a balanced one. Yet, you have accepted it fully and without question. If you heard that one Texan beat his wife would you automatically conclude that all Texans beat their wives?
ReplyDeleteDale
Of course not Dale, but the Texan is an individual, a person only applies to themselves. I am talking about the Israeli military court system, in that, if anything is corrupt in a governmental organization, I will assume that the government itself is corrupt. If the US government took bribes from companies to alter the bills being passed, I could safely assume the US government was corrupt.
ReplyDeleteThe military of Israel plays a much larger role in the government than it should in a democratic system. I'm not sure what "balanced" account you're looking for, how the Palestinian government treats Israeli children? There is no government but the Israeli one here in Palestine, there is no such thing as a balanced account unless you ask the military why they trick or abuse young men 12-17 for throwing rocks.
I have accepted it because one, it was a first hand account, and two, because there are other accounts of what the Israeli military and government does at times in Palestine, especially the current government under Netanyahu. I am not saying all Israeli people are abusive and corrupt, I'm saying the government and military is. I think this is a safe conclusion from what I've heard, seen, and experienced.
Excellent thinking, Luke. I agree that there is little room for argument on this one. If this is happening, and I have little doubt, then it's a pretty short distance to concluding that there is corruption in the government. Does that mean the ENTIRE government is corrupt? Perhaps not, but there are definitely crimes against humanity which, in my mind, equals corruption within.
ReplyDeleteI can't resist pointing out that the US government--via congressmen and women and a whole system of PACs and revolving door agencies--does accept bribes that alter the bills being passed.
ReplyDeleteCorruption is a sad reality of all government systems of all types. Yet I agree with both Nancy and Dale in some respects. The exploitation of children exists all over the world. Here the context is a legal system; other places children are enslaved for labor and sex, subjected to abuse and forced pornography, and forced to work as drug mules and gang runners.
Corruption and the exploitation of children are not Israeli issues or Palestinian issues, they are HUMAN issues. They are the product of a selfish race and an international culture that emphasizes individual gain over all else. I think you are right to identify these as disturbing occurrences and blatant human rights violations but wrong in your application of them to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. They are the product of a much more universal problem- human nature.
Luke,
ReplyDeleteIf we're going to talk about people exploiting children, I suggest we start with Palestinian families who use their children as pawns. Who lets a 12-year-old child out on the street, and who "arms" him with the idea that it's o.k. to solve problems with violence? In Minneapolis this summer, we are dealing with a great upsurge in gang violence -- you could say that gangs are "occupying" select neighborhoods and streets. Many people have been killed, some innocent. Would a Minneapolis family be likely to send their teen-ager out on the streets to counter this occupation? Of course not. But Palestinian families such as these revel in the martyrdom. The occupation is an abomination, but families who put rocks in the pockets of their children and bombs on their backs are a greater abomination. The average suicide bomber is a teen-ager. They have succombed to a culture of sacrificing their children to a cause, and it is unconscionable.
Elizabeth
Luke, I think you slightly misinterpreted my comment. Your post implied that most all Palestinian children are taken from their homes without reason, beaten, forced to confess and summarily imprisoned for terms that are inappropriate to the "crime." Your tone painted the Israeli military and court system as implacably tyrannical. Based on the post, it seemed that you concluded this from the reports of the Englishwoman only.
ReplyDeleteYou make assumptions about what rights a "democratic" country should provide to its citizens, frequently faulting Israel for not meeting (your) standards of a democratic society. In reality, there is a great tension between individual freedoms and government power in democracies (as well as in other forms of government). In the US, we are blessed with a constitution, including the Bill of Rights, and a tradition that prizes individual freedoms. Yet US citizens do not have unlimited freedoms (the famous Supreme Court quote that you don't have a right to yell Fire in a crowded theater). In particular, in the wake of 9/11, our freedoms were curtailed (with some controversy) in the quest to deter future attacks. Israel has repeated faced attacks. The issue is not complete freedom of individual action versus dictatorship. The issue is what is the appropriate balance of individual freedoms versus government power.
Dale
One final note about government and civil authorities. Palestinian families are paid out of a special martyr's fund when they "sacrifice" a child via suicide bombing. By their government.
ReplyDelete