Israel’s house arrest policy against Palestinian children

Jerusalem24 – Through many violations that Israel practices on Palestinians in Jerusalem and children in particular, many children are subjected to home arrest  which is a dangerous policy implemented not only on children but also any Jerusalemite resident. Usually, Israeli authorities use this policy against children under the age of 18 and focus mostly on those under 14. This is because Israeli law does not allow children to be imprisoned under the age of 14.

The 16-year-old boy, Abdullah Obeid, surrendered to prison, after spending 3 months in house arrest. The boy’s mother, said, “It is difficult for us to hand our children to prisons, but this is the tax of steadfastness. The days of home arrest for the past weeks did not pass easily on Abdullah and on us as a family too, which forced him to choose actual imprisonment despite its harshness , especially as we approached the month of Ramadan.”

Noting that her son was arrested for the first time several months ago, then he was arrested last November and transferred to house arrest.

Last Monday, the 16-year-old Jerusalemite boy, Abd al-Rahman Al-Bashiti, surrendered to the Israeli occupation prisons until the completion of the legal procedures against him.

The Al-Bashiti family explained that their son Abd al-Rahman surrendered to the prison after about two months of home arrest and deportation from his place of residence in the Old City of Jerusalem to the town of Beit Hanina.

Al-Bashiti was arrested at the beginning of this year for a period of 3 weeks, and subjected to harsh investigations, then released with conditions, despite his suffering from diabetes and the deterioration of his health during the first period of his detention.

The lawyer of Wadi Hilweh Information Center, Firas al-Jabrini, explained that the two boys, Muhammad Al-Ghoul and Qais Hassouna, were summoned for investigation at the police station, and turned themselves in too.

In his talk with Jerusalem24, Amjad Abu Assab Chairman of the Committee of the Families of Jerusalemite Prisoners, said that Israel use house arrest as a sanction against Jerusalemites in general and minors and kids in specific which has harmful psychological  consequences on children and needs difficult conditions for release.

Adding that the home that represents safety and security, Israel transforms it into a prison for months, they also may send the kid to another home or even another neighborhood, which means families are often forced to rent a house someplace else, thus creating even more financial burden on them. The sentence is also sometimes carried out in the home of a relative, which also puts additional burden on the relative’s family as well. it doesn’t not only burdens children mentally but also creates financial and economic burdens on their families. What’s more, it deprives them of their right to education and to exercising their normal, everyday lives like any other children.

Abu Assab also pointed out that there’s a gap in the presence of foundations concerned with integrating children which aggravates the issue even more.

At the domestic level, this is considered collective punishment against all family members and creates psychological barriers between children and their parents. This is because Israeli authorities make parents the legally responsible party for ensuring that their children remain at home, making the parents  obligated by law to inform the authorities or be held legally accountable and made to pay hefty fines.