Israeli authorities continue to prosecute kids underage

An Israeli tribunal condemned seven Palestinian underage kids to spend sentences between a year and 39 months in prison after accusing them of throwing stones against Israeli objectives.

The announce was made by the Palestinian human rights NGO Adamir, whose lawyer, Muhamad Mahmud added that the kids were sentenced after throwing stones to Israeli vehicles in the venues of Bet Hanina neighborhood, in East Jerusalem, zone occupied by Israel since 1967.

Three Palestinian kids of 14 years old, two aged 16, one, 17 and a seventh whose age has not been determined are being prosecuted by the Israeli judicial system. According to the Palestinian news agency Maan, all of the kids have already spent eight months in home arrest.

Israel toughened the sanctions against Palestinian citizens who throw stones against trains and vehicles by the time the violence escalation began six months ago, after the first Israeli fatal victim was product of an accident caused by stones throwed against a vehicle in a highway of East Jerusalem.

According to Adamir, the number of kids under arrest of Israeli Forces has tripled since last summer, with 450 detainees in Israeli prisons till last February.

The wave of violence that’s been striking the region since October 1^st has left above 180 Palestinian citizens dead, more than two thirds of them executed in the moment they intended to attack (or actually attacked) Israeli objectives. Until now, there are 28 fatalities among Israelis, product of Palestinian attacks.

Palestinian authorities assure that at least 36 of their citizens killed by Israeli Forces and Israeli settlers have been product of extra-judicial executions which were not necessary to stop the alleged attackers.

Meanwhile, analysts of the oldest Middle East conflict revealed today that the Palestinian economy hasn’t experienced any significant growth since 1993-1995, when Oslo agreements were signed.

“We have acknowledged that the continuation of this situation in which there is not an agreement (of peace) has a much bigger price for the Palestinian side”, professor Josef Zeira, member of Aix Group (a forum for the cooperation in the Mediterranean) said during the conference “Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Economy – The price of Status Quo” carried out in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The think-tank presented a detailed analysis of the situation that emerged after the signature of Oslo Agreements, which should have led to the beginning of a “route towards peace” with a Palestinian State as final destination, whose failure was evidenced with the burst of the second Intifada in 2000.

According to Zeira, “all hopes disappeared completely” when it was proven that labor productivity in Palestinian economy has decreased more than 30% in the last two decades, mainly due to a lack of accumulation of capital in Palestinian land and a limited productive capacity, reduced by the movement restrictions imposed by Israel by different means, like the 584 control sites spread in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli expert claimed.

 Written by Lisbeth Mechter