“Stone Cold Justice”, ABC News Australia’s investigation into Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children

ABC News synopsis

A SPECIAL FOUR CORNERS / THE AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER INVESTIGATION

This program is the Investigative Journalism Walkley Award winner for 2014. Watch the full documentary on ABC News’ website here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-10/stone-cold-justice-promo/5245064

The Israeli army is both respected and feared as a fighting force. But now the country’s military is facing a backlash at home and abroad for its treatment of children in the West Bank, occupied territory.

Coming up, a joint investigation by Four Corners and The Australian newspaper reveals evidence that shows the army is targeting Palestinian boys for arrest and detention. Reporter John Lyons travels to the West Bank to hear the story of children who claim they have been taken into custody, ruthlessly questioned and then allegedly forced to sign confessions before being taken to court for sentencing.

He meets Australian lawyer Gerard Horton, who’s trying to help the boys who are arrested, and talks to senior Israeli officials to examine what’s driving the army’s strategy.

The program focuses on the stories of three boys. In two cases the army came for the children in the middle of the night, before taking them to unknown locations where they are questioned. A mother of one of the boys described the scene:

“Every soldier stood at the door of a room. I was telling him ‘What do you want with him?’ He said ‘Shut up woman.’ And then they started hitting him and pulling him out of bed.”

“They started kicking me with their boots in my stomach, slaps on my face. They pulled me up by my t-shirt and took me out of bed.” Arrested boy

Is this, as many Israelis suggest, simply part of the drive to maintain security? Or is it, as Palestinians claim, part of a much wider plan to make life in the West Bank intolerable for them?

“I think that they want to kick us out of here and drive us away because they don’t want Arabs in this area.”

It’s a claim that’s dismissed out of hand by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

“Let me say this very clearly. There is no such policy. A policy to create fear? There is no such thing. The only policy is to maintain law and order, that’s all. If there’s no violence, there’s no law enforcement.” Yigal Palmor

The United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) has been investigating these claims and last year released a scathing report finding that “children have been threatened with death, physical violence, solitary confinement and sexual assault.”

As Four Corners discovered, though, Palestinian children have more to fear than the Israeli army. Reporter John Lyons shows clear evidence that Israeli settlers in the West Bank regularly attack Palestinian school children, knowing the authorities will not intervene. He also discovers there are two legal systems operating. One for Israeli children and one for young Palestinians. It’s an impossible situation that may provide temporary security for Israel, but in the long term may well breed a new generation of Palestinians prepared to do anything to gain retribution.

Journeyman Pictures synopsis

How children have become the key to Israel’s control of the West Bank

“The sound of the chains clanking, clanking. Even now it still rings in my ears”, a mother says bitterly after attending the trial of her son. Like many other children he shuffled in chains through proceedings taking only 60 seconds, on a conveyor belt of military justice with a conviction rate of 99.74%. Last year UNICEF released a scathing report on the justice system, finding that “children have been threatened with death, physical violence, solitary confinement and sexual assault”.

In some cases the army came for the children in the middle of the night, before taking them to unknown locations to be questioned. A mother of one of the boys describes the scene. “I was asking, ‘What do you want with him?’. They said, ‘Shut up woman.’ And then they started hitting him and pulling him out of bed.”

“I’ve never broken into houses in Jerusalem and torn apart apartments, but in Hebron where I served 14 months 24/7 that’s what we did to make our presence felt”, says ex-soldier and co-founder of ‘Breaking the Silence’ group Yehuda Shaul, explaining the huge difference in treatment that the Palestinians in the West Bank receive compared to Israelis, and the tactics used to create a culture of fear.

It’s a claim that’s dismissed out of hand by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “A policy to create fear? There is no such thing. The only policy is to maintain law and order, that’s all. If there’s no violence, there’s no law enforcement.” But there is clear evidence of two legal systems operating, one for Israeli children and one for young Palestinians. Israeli settlers in the West Bank regularly attack Palestinian school children, knowing the authorities will not intervene.

Amongst Palestinians the mental battering Israel is dishing out is having a dramatic, debilitating effect. “I feel scared. I want to leave and go to Amman”, says a five-year-old boy who was arrested. It’s an impossible situation that may provide temporary security for Israel, but in the long term may well breed a new generation of Palestinians prepared to do anything to gain retribution.

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