Holy Land: Rise in Palestinian children held by Israel 'alarming'

Image: EI

A jabbing pain in his shoulder and thigh roused Obada from his sleep at 3am. In the half-light, the 15-year-old could make out eight masked men surrounding his bed, their rifles pointed at him. "I felt terrified," he said of the experience of being arrested in February from his home in the village of al-Araqa, near Jenin in the northern West Bank. Jonathan Cook writes in his website: The View From Nazareth.

Obada is one of more than 100 Palestinian children who, in recent months, have found themselves dragged from bed at gunpoint in the middle of the night by Israeli soldiers, according to children's right groups. Testimonies like Obada's feature in a new report, No Way to Treat a Child, compiled by Defence for Children International - Palestine (DCIP), a group monitoring Israeli violations of Palestinian children's rights.

The 440 children currently in military detention are the highest total since the Israeli army started issuing figures in 2008 - and more than double the number detained this time last year.

To read on see: www.jonathan-cook.net/2016-04-24/rise-in-palestinian-children-held-by-israel-alarming/

Jonathan Cook is an independent journalist based in Nazareth and winner of the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. You can read all Jonathan's recent reports and commentaries on his website: the View from Nazareth: www.Jonathan-Cook.net and on his blog: www.Jonathan-Cook.net/blog/