US and EU assist Israeli violations of children's rights
In the period from 22 December 1999 to 1 January 2000, 16 Palestinian children, ranging from 12 to 16 years of age, have been arrested by the Israeli authorities and accused of throwing stones. As the rest of the world was celebrating the coming of the New Millenium, Palestinian children in Jalazon Refugee Camp and Beitunia village have been subjected to a campaign of arrests and detentions by the Israeli Military Forces. 15 out of the 16 children were arrested in the middle of the night effectively creating an environment of terror. They were taken for interrogation immediately following their arrest, without allowing them to sleep. During interrogation, two of the children were beaten and the others were threatened with physical abuse, and confessions were extracted from them.
These arrests constitute a clear violation of international law, including Article 37 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and their immediate release is hereby requested.
The circumstances of these arrests and interrogations constitute serious violations of the Fourth Geneva Conventions and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Likewise they constitute equally grave violations of international human rights conventions, to which Israel is a signatory.
We want you to know that we are very concerned about human rights violations in Israel, a country which receives a greater share of US taxpayers' money than any other and which has preferential status under the EC-Israel Association Agreement, which strengthened economic ties between Israel and the EU. Israel receives annually $5 billion in assistance from Washington, making it by far the largest recipient of US bilateral aid, and making the US Israel's largest provider of aid. Additionally, Israel and the EU have strong economic ties.
The inclusion of human rights clauses prominently in all European Union cooperation agreements with third countries implements a declared intention of the EU Member States to incorporate respect for human rights as a goal and as a material condition of EU external relations. Both the US administration as the EU through respectively its assistance and the cooperation agreements provide the US and the EU to influence Israel's human rights practices. However, neither the US nor the EU have publicly suggested that US aid and the EU-Israel trade relations should in some fashion be conditioned on curtailing Israeli violations of human rights of Palestinians living in occupied Palestine.
Such linkage is warranted by US law (Section 116 and 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act) which states that "no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights" unless the President specifically requests an exception to this provision. Additionally it is warranted by the recently ratified EU-Israel Association Agreement (article 2) which states that "respect for human rights...constitutes an essential element of the Agreement."
By neglecting this, the US administration and the EU Member States have become complicit in a pattern of Israeli human rights violations, especially those of children, through the continued unconditional provision of extensive economic ties.
See also ACTNOW! FREE SU'AD GHAZAL