Amid continuing violence, Israel has jailed more than 5,000 Palestinian youths
By John Murphy – Sun Foreign Reporter – 18 November 2007
OFER MILITARY BASE, West Bank – It is just after 9 a.m., and an Israeli military court, deep inside this remote West Bank army base, is being called into session.
A soldier slams his palm on a table, bringing the courtroom to order for the case of a Palestinian charged with attempted murder. A pair of Israeli security guards enters with the defendant between them. A slight figure with large almond eyes and her hair wrapped in a headscarf, she shuffles in, her sneaker-covered feet bound in rattling leg chains.
Her name is Ayat Dababsa.
She is 15 years old.
Read the report on the Defence for Children International website | Read the report on the Baltimore Sun website
View the ITV News Report, Palestinian child prisoners
View B’Tselem’s report, The Prisoners’ Children
About the film: Almost 9,000 Palestinians are being held in prisons inside Israel, in violation of international humanitarian law. In hundreds of cases, Israel forbids adult relatives to visit, so it is left to children under 16 to maintain the family contact.