Officials Highlight Kuwait’s Confrence on Palestinian Children
Ramallah, MINA – Palestinian officials have emphasized the significance of the conference tackling the “suffering of the Palestinian children amid Israel’s violations” which Kuwaiti hosts on Sunday for two days.
Addressing the issue of children is of great significance in light of the “Israeli occupation forces’ targeting of the Palestinian community, and the repeated shocks and trouble the young are exposed to due through the Israeli practices,” head of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Issa Qaraqe told KUNA.
Detaining Palestinian children has been a growing phenomenon over the past few years, he added. “Thousands have been detained by the Israeli forces, mostly under 13,” he added.
“More than 300 children have been subjected to house arrest by the Israelis since 2015.” The Commission is financially and administratively affiliated to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
After the Kuwait event reviews all aspects of the reality of the Palestinian children, there will be a host of demands to the international community and the UN to provide due protection to them, and force Israel to be committed to the relevant international accords.
According to Qaraqe, a major topic on the conference agenda will be establishing a fund to offer cultural, academic and social support to the Palestinian children, as well as rehabilitation for children suffering with long-term psychological effects. Hosting the conference, Kuwait is reiterating its support to the Palestinians and their just cause, he stressed.
For his part, Palestinian Prisoners’ Club Director Qadura Fares underline the dire need to crystalize Arab policies that highlight the suffering of the Palestinian children.
Interviewed by KUNA, Fares said that the Palestinian children are targeted by an Israeli systematic policy. The action of the Israeli occupation is spontaneous, nor reactional, but it is part of a policy whose details have to be revealed to the Arabs, then to the world.
Fares called for putting forward certain thoughts and formulas to be adopted by the Arab League, the Arab ministries of foreign affairs and justice, then the civil society.
He stressed the need for coordination and integration among the Arab governments and the trade unions and NGOs concerned with human rights.
The Prisoners’ Club will submit a paper to the conference, called for by the Arab League, offering applicable proposals. Many Palestinian children who have been directly exposed to injustice at the hands of the Israelis will attend the conference, Fares said.
Targeting Palestinian children through many ways
According to the club’s statistics, there are about 250 Palestinian children held in the Israeli prions, among them 11 underage. Only this year, the Israeli have detained 1,025 child.
Lawyers of the Prisoners’ Club revealed testimonies by minors on the brutal and insulting treatment they received at the hand of the Israeli soldiers and even investigators.
Since the beginning of 2017, the Israeli occupation forces have killed 13 children, 11 of them by live ammunition, a report issued by the Defense for Children International -Palestine last August stated.
The report noted that the Israelis continued targeting Palestinian children through killing, detention, or wounding them. (T/RS5/RS1)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
