A 10-year-old Palestinian Child Was Arrested, Breaking Even IDF Practices
"What did you do in the army today, sweetie?"
"I arrested a 10-year-old, mom."
"Where?"
"In Hizma, northeast of Jerusalem."
Last Thursday evening, a couple and their 10-year-old son visited the son's grandfather, who lives elsewhere in the village. The child went down to buy something at the grocery store. It was around 11: Late, it's true, but between Thursday and Friday people spend time with family until late. After all, the next day is a day off work.
Then, while the child was still downstairs, neighbors came and told his father that an officer was looking for him. It turned out that an armed military force in two jeeps had just been raiding the village, as they do daily.
"Your son threw a stone at me," the officer claimed. How? the father, 46, protested. "He's 10-years-old. He just went to buy something at the convenience store. And look, he's just standing by the store door, crying."
The officer decided to arrest both of them. The soldiers put the child in the jeep. They handcuffed the father's hands behind his back and blindfolded him. A video from a nearby camera showed him being put in to the army jeep as cars drove by.
After the two didn't return for hours, their terrified family tried to locate them. The Israel Police said they didn't have them. Horrific scenarios flashed through the minds of every family member. Every one of them had heard first-person testimonies describing soldiers – both regular conscripts and Home Front Command (namely, settlers) – beating Palestinians for pleasure.
On Friday, a bit before 7 A.M. and after a sleepless night, one of the family members, who is a friend of mine, called me. "We want to know where they are, and we're also looking for a lawyer to get the child released," he said. I made a quick inquiry, and a security official told me that the two were in army custody, and that the military was still figuring out their exact location.
The journalist in me reminded the security official that the child was 10 years old, and that this arrest was illegal. As described in a 2015 publication by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, "The age of criminal responsibility in the [West Bank] territories is 12. That means it is forbidden to arrest or detain minors under the age of 12."
However, the army insists that it's allowed to detain such children for up to three hours, and up to six with a lieutenant colonel's approval. This was the IDF Spokesperson's Unit's response to ACRI, in response to a freedom of information request sent at the end of 2014.
However, by 8 A.M. on Friday, the three hours for arresting a child under 12 permitted by the army's own policy had long passed, even with a special 3-hour extension. Even according to the army's permissive declared practices, the max time for arrest is over – the entity that was still holding the child was doing so without any authority.
"The army is looking for them," I told my friend. He responded, "If they're in the army's custody, it must be in one of the two military bases in the area – Anata Base and al-Ram base." I reported this to the security official, who promised to check. At 9:57, my friend called, saying that the father had just called to let them know they'd been released from Anata Base and were on their way back to Hizma. And as if answering a question I was afraid to ask, my friend let me know: They weren't beaten.
They weren't beaten, but according to the father's testimony to Haaretz, this is how they were treated.
When they arrived at the camp and were taken out of the jeep, according to what the father understood, a female soldier asked someone in Hebrew if it was allowed to handcuff a 10-year-old child and cover his eyes. She received positive confirmation, and that's what the soldiers did: They also handcuffed the 10-year-old child and wrapped a plastic bag around his eyes.
Both were made to sit outside, on the asphalt. They were cold. The child cried, asking his father, "When will they let us go?" Time dragged on. They couldn't fall asleep, of course. The father begged for them to be allowed to go to the bathroom. The child couldn't hold it any longer, and wet his pants. The father continued to shout that he needed to use the bathroom. A female soldier guarding them shouted "Shut up! Shut up!" in Arabic. Finally, a soldier came and took the father behind a trailer in the base, took his handcuffs off, and warned him not to move from there, or he would shoot him. Afterwards, the father was cuffed again, and the handcuffs were tightened. He said it hurt, and the soldier replied "shut up" in Arabic.
Time continued to drag on. Someone came and shined a flashlight on them, and then took a photo of them. They were given water. Time crawled further, while they remained awake. The sun rose, the handcuffs hurt more and more. A jeep arrived around 7:30, and the two soldiers that came out of it told him that they were being released. But, as the father understood it, the female soldier told them that the order for their release hadn't arrived yet. Time continued to drag on. The sun's heat started to be unpleasant. Finally, they were released at 9:30, without any interrogation, questioning or summons.
The IDF Spokesperson's Unit responded to me as follows: "On Thursday, during operational activity in the village of Hizma IDF forces identified a suspect and a Palestinian minor who appeared to have intended to throw stones at a road. The suspect and minor were detained for several hours for questioning, and were released immediately after the questioning."
So many lies in a single short answer.