This website monitors the treatment of children in Israeli military detention.
I wanted to share this with you and in particular the story of Tareq, a 14 year old Palestinian boy who was arrested for throwing a molotov cocktail. The problem is , he doesn't know how to make them and he was forced to sign a confession in Hebrew which he can neither speak or understand. He signed it anyway to stop the soldiers from beating him.
It is not an unusual story and happens hundreds of times, but this abuse of children just doesn't seem to be making the headlines.
See below for the details about Tareq.
Testimony: O.I.A.
| Name: | O.I.A. |
| Age: | 14 |
| Date of incident: | 18 October 2015 |
| Location: | Tuqu', West Bank |
| Accusation: | Throwing stones/Molotovs |
On 18 October 2015, a 14-year-old youth from Tuqu’ is detained by Israeli soldiers at 1:30 a.m. and accused of throwing Molotovs and stones. He is released without charge 17 hours later.
I woke up at around 1:30 a.m. to the sound of a loud explosion. It was the sound of Israeli soldiers blowing up our back door. My father got up and was shocked to see soldiers already in our living room.
The soldiers told my father they had come to arrest me. They gave my father a document but they did not tell him where they were going to take me and why they were arresting me. My father asked if he could bring me to the police station in the morning but they insisted on arresting me in the middle of the night. They wanted to take me in my pajamas but my father did not allow them. They allowed me to put on my boots but did not let me put on my jacket.
The soldiers then tied my hands to the front with three plastic ties: one on each wrist and one connecting the two. They led me to the main road where I was blindfolded. A soldier slapped and kicked me. Then they took me to a tent the soldiers had put up at the entrance to our village. They pushed me to the ground face down and I remained in that position until around 7:00 a.m.
I was then taken to the back of a jeep where I sat on a seat. The jeep drove for about 30 minutes towards the police station inside Etzion settlement where I was put in a courtyard. I sat on a seat for about 30 minutes. I was then taken to see a doctor who removed the ties and the blindfold and examined me. I was tied and blindfolded again and then I was taken for interrogation at around 8:00 a.m.
The interrogator removed the ties and the blindfold and accused me of throwing a Molotov cocktail at settlers. He did not inform me of any rights. I denied the accusation and told him I had no idea how to prepare Molotov cocktails. He then said in that case you I was accused of throwing stones at settlers and soldiers. The first round of interrogation lasted for about two hours. The interrogator also punched me in the stomach and slapped me and called me a fucker. He punched and kicked me again and I couldn’t take the pain so I decided to confess to throwing stones at soldiers on two occasions.
He then took me to see another interrogator who was in police uniform and had a tape recorder which he turned on. He told me to repeat what I had told the first interrogator. He then printed out my statement in Hebrew and asked me to sign it and I did without understanding what it said. I was afraid that if I refused to sign it he would beat me again. He then took my photograph and my fingerprints.
After the interrogation I was strip searched and taken to a prison cell in Etzion where I remained until around 10:00 p.m. I was allowed to use the toilet but I wasn’t given any food.
At around 10:00 p.m. I was shackled and handcuffed and taken to the back of a troop carrier where I sat on a seat. The carrier drove for about one-and-a-half hours and then stopped at Ofer prison, near Ramallah. At Ofer I was strip searched and taken into Section 13.
The following day I was taken to Ofer military court where I waited for about two hours. A policeman then told me they were going to release me. I did not see a lawyer and I was never taken inside the courtroom. I was taken back to prison and around 7:00 p.m. I was released. My parents were not waiting for me outside prison because they were not told I was going to be released. I took a taxi home by myself. I arrived home at around 10:00 p.m.
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