Sunday, May 07, 2023
Elder of ZiyonTo see allegations of abuse against detainees by the PA, you have to read Hamas media. To read about abuse by Hamas, you have to read pro-PA media. And for both of them, you have to look for it in Arabic.
Last week, according to Hamas media, a 15 year old child named Qassam Ali was arrested by the PA security forces. His crime, they say, was raising the Hamas flag to greet his brother Obeida, a Hamas terrorist who was released from Israeli prison after a 30 month sentence.
The Ali family immediately began a social media campaign to get Qassam released
The PA released Qassam from custody today, and he spoke to Hamas media, saying, "The arresting force of the authority came to the house and they were masked and wreaked havoc in our house. They tried to attack my sister, who was documenting the moment they stormed our house, and they tried to arrest my brother Obeida, who was recently released from the occupation prisons....While I was in prison, they hit me on the head, and I was subjected to shabeh for many hours as well, and they shackled my hands behind me to a chair."
While he was detained, Qassam did not have the right to communicate with his family or a lawyer, and his family was not told where he was being held.
There is no mention of this incident in any NGO site. The Felesteen article mentions that the Independent Committee of Human Rights confirms that Qassam was released today, but this incident isn't mentioned on their webpage.
The ICHR did issue a report last year where they mention:
In 2016-2021, a total of 505 claims of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment were filed by children, representing 12 percent of all claims made to the ICHR in this regard. These claims were distributed by year as follows: 113 in in 2016, 120 in 2017, 60 in 2018, 98 in 2019, 26 in 2020, and 88 in 2021.Children subjected to torture or maltreatment were detained against multiple backgrounds, mainly, theft, letting off fireworks, drug abuse, hacking of Facebook accounts, and murder. Claims of torture involved all security agencies, particularly the Preventive Security, Police, General Intelligence, Military Police, Internal Security, and juvenile welfare institutions. Patterns of torture inflicted on children included physical and psychological abuse, torture, threats during detention, and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
Human Rights Watch issued a report on torture by Palestinian security forces last year - and did not mention a word about abuses of children.
Such claims against Israel, no matter how far-fetched, are amplified by so-called "pro-Palestinian" NGOs. But no Western NGO shows any interest in the torture and mistreatment of children detained by Palestinian security.
