[child-rights] Israel/Palestinian Authority: Killing of children under scrutiny

* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *

30 September 2002
MDE 15/145/2002


More than 250 Palestinian and 72 Israeli children have been killed in
Israel and the Occupied Territories in the past 23 months. When the
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child meets to consider Israel's
periodic report on Wednesday October 2, Amnesty International calls
for a new mindset among Israelis and Palestinians to prevent the
killing of more children.

Killing the Future: Children in the Line of Fire, a new report
issued today by Amnesty International details the way in which
Palestinian and Israeli children have been targeted in an
unprecedented manner since the beginning of the current intifada.

"Children are increasingly bearing the brunt of this conflict. Both
the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and Palestinian armed groups show an
utter disregard for the lives of children and other civilians,
Amnesty International said today.

"Respect for human life must be restored. Only a new mindset among
Israelis and Palestinians can prevent the killing of more children."

The impunity enjoyed by members of the IDF and of Palestinian groups
responsible for killing children has no doubt helped create a
situation where the right to life of children and civilians on the
other side has little or no value.

"Enough of unacceptable reasons and excuses. Both the Israeli
government and the Palestinian Authority must act swiftly and firmly
to investigate the killing of each and every child and ensure that
all those responsible for such crimes are brought to justice," the
organization stated.

The international community should heed the call by Amnesty
International and scores of other NGOs for international monitors to
be sent to the region. The Israeli government should stop refusing
the presence of international monitors. Amnesty International
believes that had observers been present in the region since October
2000, their presence may have saved the lives of Israeli and
Palestinian children as well as other civilians.

Killings of Palestinian children

The majority of Palestinian children have been killed in the Occupied
Territories when members of the IDF responded to demonstrations and
stone throwing incidents with unlawful and excessive use of lethal
force. Eighty Palestinian children were killed by the IDF in the
first three months of the intifada alone.

Sami Fathi Abu Jazzar died on the eve of his 12th birthday after
being shot in the head by a live bullet fired by Israeli soldiers
into a crowd of mostly primary school children. The shooting took
place in the aftermath of a stone throwing demonstration. Six other
children were injured by live fire in the same incident. Amnesty
International delegates were present in the crowd at the time and
concluded that the lives of the soldiers were not in danger.

In the past year Palestinian children have been killed when the IDF
randomly opened fire, shelled or bombarded residential neighbourhoods
at times when there was no exchange of fire and in circumstances in
which the lives of the IDF soldiers were not at risk. Others were
killed during Israeli state assassinations, when the IDF destroyed
Palestinian houses without warning, and by flechette shells and booby
traps used by the IDF in densely populated areas.

The large numbers of children killed and injured and the
circumstances in which they were killed indicates that little or no
care was taken by the IDF to avoid causing harm to children.

Dina Matar, two-months-old and Ayman Matar, 18-months-old, were among
nine children killed on 22 July 2002 when the IDF dropped a one ton
bomb from an F-16 fighter jet on a densely populated area of Gaza
city. The bomb killed 17 people. The aim of the attack was to
assassinate a leading Hamas activist, who was among those killed. The
following day Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon called the attack
"one of the most successful operations".

A number of Palestinian children have also died after being held up
at IDF checkpoints, and delayed or even prevented from passing
through to reach hospital. At least three children have been killed
by Israeli settlers. In most cases the IDF does not intervene to
protect Palestinians from Israeli settlers, who literally get away
with murder.

Killings of Israeli children

Israeli children have been killed by armed Palestinian groups both in
the Occupied Territories and inside Israel. The first Israeli child
killed in this intifada was killed in January 2001 near Ramallah, in
the Occupied Territories. About 70 percent of the victims were killed
by Palestinian suicide bombings and others were killed in shootings
and other bomb attacks on cars or public buses.

In the last 18 months there has been a marked increase in attacks on
Israeli civilians and an increasingly high number of victims have
been children. In the first seven months of 2002 alone, 36 Israeli
children were killed by Palestinian armed groups, 19 in Israel and 17
in the Occupied Territories.

On 1 June 2001 a suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of
young people waiting to enter the "Dolphinarium" night club. Twelve
of the 21 people who were killed were aged under 18. Among the
victims were 14-year-old Maria Tagilchev, outside whose school a car
bomb had exploded two days earlier and 15-year-old Yevgenia Keren
Dorfman, who sustained serious brain damage and died 18 days later.

The 'Izz al-Din al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian
Islamist group Hamas, claimed responsibility for the bombing and
pledged to carry out further attacks.

Twelve people were killed and more than 50 were injured by a suicide
bomber on the 2 March 2002. The bomb was detonated next to a group of
women waiting with their children, for their husbands to leave the
nearby synagogue. Those killed included two sisters Shiraz Nehmad
aged 6 and her two-year-old sister Liran, their four cousins LIdor
and Oriah Ilan aged 12 years and 18 months and Shaul and Avraham
Eliahu Nehmad aged 15 and 17.

The full text of the report is available at:
http://www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/mde020052002


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