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Parishioners at a US Catholic parish are being urged to lobby for Palestinian child prisoners in Israeli jails to be released.
A letter sent to All Saints Church parishioners encourages them to contact Hady Amr, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs at the State Department.
They should press Amr for the release of 16-year-old Shadi Khoury and other imprisoned Palestinian children, the parish letter says..
The letter also urges parishioners to join six California co-sponsors who support legislation prohibiting US funding from being used to abuse Palestinian children, or to sponsor a companion bill in the Senate which would prevent US military aid from being used to support the Israeli military detention of children in violation of international humanitarian law.
The letter explains that Shadi Khoury was beaten in his home by Israeli Occupation Forces and taken away bleeding. He was then interrogated without a lawyer or his parents present. He remains in detention without charge.
During his three-week detention, he has had multiple court hearings. No charges have been filed against him.
Parishioners were told: “There is speculation that his parents were the real target of this action. His father, Suhail, directs the Edward Said National Conservatory and his mother leads the Yabous Palestinian Cultural Association. Both have been previously arrested for their non-violent activism.”
Shadi’s next hearing was scheduled for yesterday (14 November).
“… There is no guarantee we will learn anything more since Israel’s policy of ‘Administrative Detention’ allows people to be detained for up to three months without charges being filed,” the letter says.
“These three-month long detention orders can, and often are, renewed repeatedly, sometimes for years.”
The letter also notes five other teens were also arrested and similarly abused the same day as Shadi.
“The Israeli military prosecutes between 500 and 700 children each year in military courts that lack fundamental fair trial rights and protections,” it says.
“Organisations such as UNICEF, Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem, have found that ill-treatment of Palestinian children by Israeli forces is widespread, systematic, and institutionalised from the moment a child is detained in the Israeli military detention system.
“The United States Department of State and the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child have also raised serious concerns about the mistreatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military custody.”
A Palestinian Prisoners’ Club (PPC) report published last week stated that Israel has detained 6,000 Palestinians since the start of this year. They include 141 women and 739 children.
The report says the highest number of detainees was recorded in Jerusalem, where 2,700 Palestinians had been detained.
It also reported there are a number of wounded prisoners and others in Israeli jails with medical ailments.
The lack of proper treatment and medical care puts their life at stake, the report stresses.
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