The number of Palestinian children detained in the occupied West Bank has noticeably surged since the start of the second Palestinian Intifada or Uprising which broke out six years ago, the Palestinian Ministry for Prisoners Affairs and the NGO, Defense for Children International can confirm that.

Contrary to the constant denial by Israeli officials, there are probably hundreds of Palestinian children in the Israeli dungeons.

Israeli forces and police had long been targeting Palestinian children between 12-17, and have actually arrested many as young as nine.

"Five thousand children have been either imprisoned or arrested in Israeli investigation centers for different periods of time since the start of the Intifada," said Dawood Dar'awi, head of the DCI office in OPT, adding that the victims are targeted for what Israelis call "suspected participation" in Intifada activities.

According to Dar'awi, 95 percent of detained children are from the West Bank and the rest from the Gaza Strip.

Layth Ghalib Bedwan, a 14-year old Palestinian boy, was arrested and detained by the Israeli authorities on 28 August 2006, according to Reuters.

Layth hasn’t returned to his family until today.

"His mother is crying all the time. I contacted all the children's rights organizations in the hope that they can do something to accelerate the release of my son, but all my efforts were in vain," said Ghalib Bedwan, 36, Layth's father.

On September 9, an Israeli military court sentenced Layth to three months in prison for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.

The court also imposed $400 fine on him. "The occupation force stormed into our house at 2 a.m. in the morning on 28 August," Layth’s father said. "They were shouting and threatening to use their guns. They asked me to get my son Layth, and soon after they tied his hands, covered his eyes and put him in a military vehicle and drove away."

In another case, a Palestinian child detainee, arrested and jailed by the Israeli forces two months ago, revealed that he was threatened with rape by Israeli interrogators if he refused to sign a confession of what they accuse him with.

The child, who was confined to solitary in Petah Tikva prison, said the Israeli prison guards tortured him, kicked and punched him in his chest.

In an affidavit singed in front of lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Hanan Al Khateeb, detainee Dhia' Mahdi Al Bostami, 15, from Nablus, revealed that he was arrested on October 2, and forced to sign a "confession" written in Hebrew without even being able to read or know what’s included in it.

Bostami suffered breathing difficulties as a result of torture he was subject to for 25 days.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted on 20 November 1989 and entered into force on 2 September 1990 (to which Israel is a signatory), stipulates that a child is defined as every human being under the age of 18 years. The UN Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, adopted by General Assembly Resolution 45/113 of 14 December 1990, states the same.

Although Iyad Misk, a lawyer for the NGO Defense for Children International (DCI) in the occupied Palestinian territories says that there’s an international law that permits detaining children or adolescents under 18, he asserts that specific rules governs such law.

"A specialized interrogator for children should interrogate them. The interrogation should be filmed and the parents should attend to be sure that the child was not subject to psychological pressure or abuse," Misk said, adding that children should appear before a special tribunal for children and kept in jails dedicated exclusively for them- Which is not what’s being applied on Palestinian children held in Israeli jails.

"All these conditions are not provided to Palestinian children detained by the Israeli authorities, although they do provide it for Israeli child prisoners," Misk said, adding that Israeli authorities try Palestinian children in military courts – another violation of international law.

Misk cited Article 37 of the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child which stipulates that resorting to detaining children should be the last option, and for the shortest possible period of time.

The pact had been signed by Israel in 1990 but NGO's lawyers say that it is only being applied to Israeli children.

The Palestinian Ministry for Prisoners' Affairs and children's rights activists like the DCI, confirmed the presence of at least 450 Palestinian children from the West Bank in Israeli prisons, including three girls aged 15, 16 and 17.

At least 100 of those children are ill, and three of them suffer gunshot wounds.

An immediate action is needed to stop Israel’s policy of brutal, illegal and inhumane detention of Palestinian children. The international community is responsible for the daily suffering inflicted on those innocent children and their families. (Source: Aljazeera.com)