THE way Israeli forces use Palestinian children as human shields is nothing but a war crime. There are many documented cases and human rights reports of Israeli troops in Palestine carrying out such barbaric crimes. Yet, this war crime and its perpetrators are rewarded with fresh supplies of weapons by the West to kill more children, who, by the way, have no role in the bloody conflict.

Palestinian children are used as labourers in Israeli settlements and agriculture. Children as young as 10 years old work for the occupiers. Palestinian children working on settlement farms vomit and suffer from dizziness after spraying pesticides with little protection. They are denied medical assistance by the apartheid regime. The stolen fruit and vegetables from Palestinians are sent to European and American markets.

The occupation forces of Israel deny water to Palestinian farmers, freedom of movement and market access for their products.

The Palestinians want to cultivate their own lands and to create an economic environment in which they may support their children so they may go to school and get education. All is denied by the settlers.

The West poses itself as the champion of education for children, but the occupiers in Palestine prevent students from reaching schools, attacking children on the pretext of ‘security’. And none of this bothers the West.

The Israeli settlers, protected by the army on the orders of the government, carry out attacks against Palestinians. A Palestinian child, Yazan al-Rajbi, was so brutally beaten by Israeli extremist settlers that he needed to be hospitalised. Palestinian human rights groups reported that 40 children have been killed and 750 others were arrested by the Israeli occupation forces in 2022 alone. Yet, the Europeans and the Americans, who are but European settlers on occupied native American land, continue to supply weapons of mass destruction to the Israelis.

The Defence for Children International has said that each year approximately 500-700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12 years old, are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system. The most common charge is stone-throwing; yes, stone throwing against a heavily armed Israeli military in Palestine. That would have been a joke had it not been so cruel.

Ahmad Manasra, now 21 years old, was arrested when he was just 13, and since then has been imprisoned by Israeli authorities. His mental health has been deteriorating, yet the extremists enjoy watching Manasra’s sufferings.

Where is the so-called United Nations (UN), which was once so quick to recognise white settler colony in Palestine calling it ‘Israel’? Why does it seem so powerless against the same settler colony and could not demand an immediate release of Palestinian children despite claiming to be working for the rights of the children?

The UN, the European Union (EU) and, indeed, the United States of America will not boycott, sanction and divest because money and resources need to be stolen for the white race from Palestine.

If the West and the world bodies mean what they say about children, they

should ask illegal settlers in occupied Palestine to release Palestinian children, men and women and return their land.

Angabeen Ahmad
Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2022