Israel banishes eight Palestinian children from their home town

An Israeli court has banished eight Palestinian minors from their home town of Beit A'mer, north of Hebron in the occupied West Bank). The eight are currently being detained by Israel. Yousef Abu Maria, the Coordinator of the People's Committee in the town, said that the court's decision prohibits the children, the oldest of whom are 16 years, from going within 40 kilometres of the town.

Mr. Abu Maria added that the Israeli occupation forces have taken this action after the intervention of human rights associations to defend the children and demand their release. When the judge announced that the deportation would go ahead, chaos erupted in the courtroom before Israeli soldiers attacked the children's parents and threw them outside.

The children to be banished are: Zain Hisham Abu Maria (15 years), Basil Ali Abu Maria (15 years), Sa'ed Imad Saleby (16 years), Ahmed Mahmoud Saleby (16 years), Ayesh Khaled Awad (16 years), Samer Amer (age unknown), Abu Jowd (15 years), Mohab Jawad (14 years) and Bilal Mahmoud Awad (15 years). They are accused of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers when the latter stormed the town, and participating in popular resistance activities.

According to Mr. Abu Maria, "The Israeli occupation's move towards adopting a policy of deporting children is just the beginning." He called upon all human rights groups to intervene quickly to stop what he described as "Israel's continued violations against the people and children of Beit A'mer, particularly this decision which will have a detrimental effect on the children, deprive them of their education and keep them away from their families."