Sugar Cubes

Happy Children’s Human Rights Anniversary

The anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child should be an occasion for celebration across the globe. In the 16 years that have passed since the CRC was adopted, it has become the most widely ratified international human rights treaty ever, enshrining into international law a framework that guarantees all children, without discrimination, the right to survival, protection, development and participation. For Palestinian children however, Universal Children’s Day brings with it little to smile about…

Needless to say, children’s rights have been always violated by Israel and the IOF since as early as 1967. Looking back at the latest of the 38 years of occupation and violations, counting only since September, more than 728 children were killed by IOF and settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories including 98 aged less than 8 years-old.

And as many would think that the disengagement of Israeli forces from Gaza carries a faint light of hope for all of the Palestinians - adults and children- what has happened (and still happening) is a new wave of terror amongst children caused by Supersonic Booms:

For nights on end since the disengagement, Gazans have been subjected to one terrifying blast after another as low-flying Israeli fighter jets burst through the sound barrier creating massive shock waves that crack windows, shake buildings and strike fear and panic into the heart of everyone living in the area. Children are particularly susceptible to the psychological trauma inflicted by these arbitrary and earth-shattering explosions, yet the Israelis have shown scant regard to their welfare….

Photos credit: Palestine Pool

Children were killed with cold blood by Israeli soldiers, carelessly, opening fire randomly and in some cases confirming the kill too. Palestinian children are often detained just like adults for protesting against the Apartheid Wall, or for no reason at all.

Murdered, deprived the right of education, of innocence and life. God bless your children Palestine, God be with them and ease their suffering.

Related tags: Palestine, war crime, human rights, IOF, IDF

“Officer ignored warnings that teenager was terrified”

“Defence says ‘confirming the kill’ standard practice”

An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday.

The soldier, who has only been identified as “Captain R”, was charged with relatively minor offences for the killing of Iman al-Hams who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli army post near Rafah refugee camp in Gaza a year ago.

The manner of Iman’s killing, and the revelation of a tape recording in which the captain is warned that she was just a child who was “scared to death“, made the shooting one of the most controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago even though hundreds of other children have also died.

After the verdict, Iman’s father, Samir al-Hams, said the army never intended to hold the soldier accountable.

[Read more]

where is justice in this world??

Related tags: Palestine, war crime, human rights, IOF, IDF

Paris has the Legion d’Honneur, Britain has its Knighthoods, and the US has the Congressional Medal of Honour. With the creation of the Bethlehem Passport, Bethlehem has its own high honour to recognise those who make an important contribution to the city. The passport has been deliberately crafted as a beautiful object, with leather covers and deep watermarked pages, and a design that features both the star of Bethlehem and the figure of St George – Al-Khadir – the patron saint of Bethlehem and a figure sacred to Bethlehem’s Muslims and Christians alike. There are several routes to winning a passport, whether as a benefactor prepared to underwrite a specific initiative or an entrepreneur bringing wealth-creating opportunities to the city. The passport is also open to people of imagination and experience who can bring major events to a city that lives through its visitors: imagine an international conference, a festival of sacred music, even a marathon across the mountains of Bethlehem’s wilderness. But the passport will also be offered to anyone willing to make an extended stay in the city – sharing our journey as we work to overcome the Wall.

Dabdoub explains that the passport represents a strategic initiative to regenerate the city, build goodwill and, more importantly, an emotional investment with Bethlehem. “The passport is for friends of Bethlehem worldwide, who will stand by us for as long as the Wall stands. We should not under-estimate what the passport means for the Palestinian Diaspora abroad, some of whom are in the third or fourth generation and know Bethlehem only as a memory of their grandparents or from an old photograph in an album. The passport is a way for them to reconnect with their watan, their homeland.”

[Via This week in Palestine]

Related: Bethlehem an Open City

Related tags: Bethlehem, Palestine