From June 2019 until today, the Israeli forces have launched a fierce attack on the town of Al-Issawiya, in the northeastern side of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Holy City, and its residents, represented by the daily incursions into neighborhoods and homes, campaigns of arrest and abuse, and the imposition of house arrest on Jerusalemites, in addition to erecting barriers Military at the entrances to the town and its streets.

This collective punishment attack extended to Al-Saghir before Al-Kabeer in the town of Al-Issawiya, which has 30,000 Jerusalemites, where the Israeli forces intentionally targeted children, starting with their warnings to the residents of Al-Issawiya if their children participated in confrontations inside the town, until they arrested them while they were returning from their schools, Or break into their homes harshly.

The campaign of arrests, which continue to this day, affected more than 600 citizens, a third of them are minors, and under the age of 12, according to data published by the "Citizen Rights" Association, an Israeli-Palestinian human rights organization, in January.

Exhausted innocence

At the end of July last year, the Israeli police summoned the father of the child, Qais Firas Obaid (six years old), to investigate him on suspicion that his child threw stones at the police patrols, which took place a day after the Israeli forces pursued the child (Qais) to arrest him, but managed to escape To his home, where his mother and grandfather prevented them from arresting him.

Firas Obaid, the father of the child (Qais), said: “My child was on the day of being chased by the forces next to the house, and he bought a small carton of juice juice. After he drank it, he threw it on the sidewalk, and there were Israeli soldiers in the place, they thought he was throwing stones at them, so they attacked him. He ran away to the house and hid under the bed, but the forces pursued him storming the house, and my wife was present and my father was also, and prevented the arrest (Qais), and they took the identity of my wife and through them they wrote a summons in my name and my identity number ».

He adds: «During the investigation they accused (Qais) of throwing stones at the forces, and I denied this, citing that he threw a small juice box on the sidewalk, and after a long time I left the investigation center, after pledging not to throw the stones to my children, and this did not happen at all, but until I protect him from their oppression. .

The day before the child Qais Ubaid was chased, the Israeli police summoned the child, Muhammad Rabee 'Alayyan (four years old), to be interrogated on charges of throwing stones at an Israeli military vehicle as they stormed the town of Al-Isawiyah.

The scene of the presence of the child Muhammad Alyan to the Israeli police station, witnessed by everyone through the media that accompanied him from his home to the center, accompanied with candy and drink, accompanied by his father, along with a number of neighbors and Jerusalemites who came to support the young child, while he was going to the investigation.

Rabi 'Alyan, the father of the child (Muhammad), told «Emirates Today»: “(Muhammad) was playing with other children next to him, when they all ran towards their homes, after the Israeli forces stormed the town, and my child became chased by the forces who tried to arrest him, except that The townspeople responded to them and prevented his arrest, but the police handed me a summons to interrogate him, on the pretext of throwing stones. ” He explains that he was not surprised by the decision to investigate his child and try to arrest him despite his young age, as he and his child headed in high spirits to the police station, reinforced by a popular crowd of Jerusalemites.

The father of the child (Muhammad) indicates that the Israeli police reversed the decision to summon the child (Muhammad), and only warned him while he was outside the center not to throw stones at his child. Alyan continues: “What happened with my child (Muhammad) is a daily series that the children of Al-Issawiya town are exposed to, and it is also part of the attack facing the town, but these practices affect children with severe psychological conditions that accompany them for a long time, and this is what happened with (Muhammad), where The scene of being chased by dozens of heavily armed soldiers, and his attempt to arrest him, remains in his mind until this moment.

Violations

What happened with the children (Muhammad) and (Qais) is a model of what the children of Al-Issawiya town face, as the repeated arrest campaigns against the children of the Jerusalem town, which have been continuing until now, have made them a primary target of the Israeli police, as there are children who have not exceeded five or six years of age. They were summoned and interrogated inside the detention centers, and others imposed on them house arrest or deportation for varying periods of time from their homes and town, as well as being subjected to brutal beatings and abuse during detention and interrogation without the presence of the families.

A member of the Follow-up Committee in the town of Al-Issawiya, Muhammad Abu Al-Homs, said: “Israel is trying to impose a new fait accompli on the people of Al-Issawiya by chasing children in the streets, storming their homes to arrest them, subjecting them to beatings during arrest and interrogation, in addition to imposing house arrest on a number of young men And the arrest of dozens of them, as well as demolishing the homes of the people on the pretext of building without a license.

It indicates that most of those who have been arrested by the forces since the start of their campaign against Al-Issawiya are children and minors, as the number of those arrested according to the data of human rights organizations reached more than 200 children.

Abu Al-Homs explains that the Israeli forces are arresting and chasing them brutally, without observing their young age, or respecting the laws of the child and human rights, pointing out that the forces injured 10 children in the eyes of them as a result of shooting directly while they were being pursued, and trying to arrest them, since the campaign against Al-Issawiya began until Today.

Continuous arrest campaigns

The head of the Committee of the Families of Jerusalemites, Amjad Abu Asab, confirms that cases of detention of children have been repeated in the occupied city of Jerusalem continuously, and brutally violated the innocence of their childhood, pointing to the forces using violent repressive methods against children during their arrest and during interrogation.

Abu Asab explains that the methods of investigation pursued by the forces with the children are harsh, as they are intimidated without regard for their innocence, and interrogated in isolation from their families, and most of them are subjected to severe beatings and systematic assault in order to intimidate them.

He added, “The forces move the captured children to centers similar to the centers of juveniles that lack good living conditions, just as happened with the Palestinian child Muhammad Hoshiyya, who was detained in one of the four years ago when he was 12 years old.”

The Israeli forces brutally detained and chased children, without observing their young age, or respecting the laws of the child and human rights, and the forces wounded 10 children in the eyes of them, as a result of direct shooting while they were being pursued and trying to arrest them, since the campaign against Al-Issawiya began until today.