PROFILE: INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP ISSUES A REPORT CHARGING ISRAEL WITH SYSTEMATIC VIOLATION OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

All Things Considered: July 24, 2003

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

And I'm Melissa Block.

Today in the West Bank city of Ramallah, an international human rights group issued a report charging Israel with systematic violation of Palestinian children's rights. More than 70 children have died so far this year. The group is calling for international action to protect them. Israeli officials criticized the findings as one-sided and say they have tried their best to avoid harming children. NPR's Linda Gradstein reports.

LINDA GRADSTEIN reporting:

In the report, Defence for Children International, a Geneva-based human rights group, said that 463 Palestinians under the age of 18 have been killed by Israeli forces or Jewish settlers since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising almost three years ago. Speaking at a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Catherine Hunter, the research coordinator for DCI in the occupied territories, said Palestinian children have suffered disproportionately from the past three years of violence.

Ms. CATHERINE HUNTER (Research Coordinator, Defence for Children International): Contrary to Israeli propaganda, DCI documentation shows that only a small percentage of children lose their lives in or around demonstrations or clashes, while most are killed in or around the home or on their way to somewhere.

GRADSTEIN: Hunter charged that the Israeli army consistently uses disproportionate force and weapons that are inappropriate for heavily populated Palestinian residential areas.

Ms. HUNTER: Such as F-16 bombers, Apache helicopter gunships and ammunition such as shells, mortars, light bullets(ph) and things like that, not things that one would normally associate with civilian law and order.

GRADSTEIN: She said almost 40 children have been killed unintentionally during Israeli assassinations of Palestinian militants. In one case, the killing of Sheik Salah Shehadeh of Hamas last year, eight children were killed when an Israeli plane dropped a one-ton bomb on his apartment building in Gaza. The report also says that among the more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are 350 children who are often kept in crowded conditions and denied visits with their parents.

The DCI report also gives dozens of examples of Palestinian minors who were killed or beaten by Israeli soldiers. At the news conference, 18-year-old Rashid Jabareen(ph) said he was detained on March 31st last year by Israeli soldiers who entered his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah. He was arrested with his brothers and a friend, 17-year-old Murad Awaisa. Jabareen said all of them were severely beaten. Murad Awaisa, who had suffered from a long-term illness, was killed by a bullet to his heart. Jabareen says one of the soldiers told him he had shot Awaisa. The next day the soldiers released Jabareen. Awaisa's mother, Faria, cries as she says she tried to convince the soldiers not to arrest her son.

FARIA (Mother of Murad Awaisa): (Through Translator) I kept on begging them, really begging them not to take my son because he's really sick. He had many surgeries on his hand. I kept on begging the Israeli soldiers, but they kept on pushing me and taking my son away. And then I heard the screaming and yelling of my son from the second room, and I couldn't take it anymore.

GRADSTEIN: The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem also investigated the case and found the soldiers had flagrantly violated international law. An army spokesman said an inquiry is under way.

Responding to the report from Defence for Children International, Israeli officials said Palestinian incitement in schools and on radio and television encourages children to attack Israeli soldiers. The children are then hurt when the soldiers respond. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled says soldiers make every effort to avoid civilian deaths, especially those of children.

Mr. JONATHAN PELED (Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesperson): Israel hasn't received a copy of this report and is not aware of its findings, but obviously the human life is sacred to all of us, especially when we're talking about children. But we would like to see a report also mentioning all the children that were killed by suicide bombers in Israel.

GRADSTEIN: Peled says at least 93 Israeli children were killed in Palestinian attacks in the past three years. Linda Gradstein, NPR News.

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