Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

PALESTINIAN CHILDREN

IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY

Prepared for, and under the guidance of,

the Committee on the Exercise of the

Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People

United Nations

New York, 1990

Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. For example, document A/42/714 is the 714th document issued in the series of main documents of the General Assembly at its forty-second session. A/, E/ and S/ at the beginning of the symbol refer to a document of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Security Council, respectively.

Certain documents are also issued in or reissued in the Official Records of the body concerned, at which time any mimeographed versions are withdrawn from circulation.

The following notes refer the reader to the version in print, usually mimeographed, at the time the document was issued.

CONTENTS

		Page

Introduction		1

I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII.	Military occupation and the legal protection of the child Family and community Education Health Personal security The intifadah Conclusion	5 11 24 33 41 48 63

Annexes

I. II.	Declaration of the Rights of the Child Palestinian children under 10 years of age who reportedly died as a result of acts of violence, December 1987 – December 1988	90 95

List of tables

1. 2. 3.	Palestinian population (estimates) Palestinian educational institutions, classes and pupils (estimates) Palestinian pupils per type of educational institution (estimates).	4 25 27

Nahalin Nahhalin

Introduction

Two anniversaries of international commitments to promote the well-being and protection of the child were observed in 1989. These commemorated the thirtieth anniversary of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Child. Also, a Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by the General Assembly at its forty-fourth session in 1989.1/[Link] Principle 2 of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1959 states the concern of international conventional law and human rights instruments regarding the legal protection of the child as follows:

“The child shall enjoy special protection, and shall be given opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, to enable him to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. In the enactment of laws for this purpose, the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration.”2/

In resolution 43/175 B of 15 December 1988, the General Assembly requested “the Secretary-General to direct the Division for Palestinian Rights to pay particular attention to the plight of Palestinian children in the occupied Palestinian territory in its programme of work for 1989”.

The present study, prepared in partial response to the request of the General Assembly, attempts to describe some of the conditions under which Palestinian children have been living since 1967 in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, the occupied Palestinian territory.3/ It discusses in five chapters the plight of Palestinian children under military occupation focusing on the areas of family and community, education, health and personal security. In addition, the study contains a chapter on the situation of Palestinian children during the first 13 months of the Palestinian popular uprising, the intifadah.

For the purpose of this study, Palestinians under 15 years of age are considered as children. Special legal protection is provided to that age group of children in international conventional law such as the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, commonly referred to as the fourth Geneva Convention. At the end of 1986 almost half of the estimated more than 1.5 million Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territory were children.4/ Between 1968 and 1987, reported birth rates per thousand Palestinians declined from 43.9 to 41.0 in the West Bank and increased from 42.0 to 47.7 in the Gaza Strip; in 1975 birth rates had reached peaks of 45.4 and 49.5 per thousand in the two areas.5/ Some 45 per cent of the Palestinian children in the West Bank and 83 per cent of those in the Gaza Strip were refugees registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in early 1986. An estimated 11 per cent of the West Bank and 46 per cent of the Gaza Strip Palestinian children lived, respectively, in 20 and 8 refugee camps. Between 1977 and 1985 the estimated proportion of Palestinian children growing up in refugee camps has slightly declined.6/

Three quarters of a million children constitute an important part of Palestinian society under occupation. Palestinian children bear much of the burden of military occupation and have an unusually high degree of responsibility in the day-to-day lives of their families. Approximately 75 per cent of Palestinians in the occupied territories are below 30 years of age and only about one third of the population over 13 years of age is employed.7/ For considerable periods after 1967 technically and professionally trained adults, particularly men, left the occupied Palestinian territory at a rate of sometimes 20,000 per year.8/ During the early 1980s, a marked reduction in emigration, a return of well-educated adults from abroad and a continuing high and growing rate of natural increase were demographic factors contributing to the increasing competition for housing, education and health care required by children in the occupied Palestinian territory. The occupation authorities allocated limited resources to Palestinian children according to military requirements and the rationale of occupation.

Table 1. Palestinian population (estimates)

End of year	1967	1972	1977	1982	1986 _
Occupied Palestinian territories
TOTAL – thousands	1,030.1	1,107.1	1,252.4	1,350.7	1,515.5
West Bank
TOTAL – thousands	585.9	633.7	695.8	749.3	837.7
AGE GROUPS – per cent
0 – 4	18.7	17.7	18.5	18.2	18.9
5 – 14	30.3	30.8	28.6	28.1	27.8
15 – 19	8.6	11.7	12.9	12.4	11.0
20 – 24	6.3	6.5	9.4	10.7	10.5
25 – 34	9.7	9.0	8.6	10.4	13.4
65+	6.5	5.9	4.5	4.0	3.7
Males per 1000 females	942	954	977	990	1,004
Gaza Strip
TOTAL – thousands	380.8	387.1	450.8	477.3	545.0
AGE GROUPS – per cent
0 – 4	20.5	17.3	19.8	19.7	19.8
5 – 14	30.4	31.2	28.5	27.7	28.5
15 – 19	9.9	12.8	11.7	12.5	10.8
20 – 24	6.6	8.0	9.4	9.5	9.8
25 – 34	9.8	9.0	10.0	12.5	13.6
65+	4.6	4.2	3.0	2.8	2.8
Males per 1000 females	942	954	977	990	1,004
Jerusalem
TOTAL – thousands	63.4	86.3	105.8	124.1	132.8

Sources: See note 4 below. It should be noted that the size and composition of the Palestinian population have not been officially determined for decades.

I. Military occupation and the legal protection of the child

Palestinian children in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, came under military occupation by Israel since war broke out in June 1967. This chapter presents elements of the legal protection which international conventional law as well as human rights instruments and declarations provide for the welfare of the child.

Natural disasters, wars, prolonged occupation and substantial unforeseen socio-economic change constitute circumstances that negatively affect a child’s growth and well-being, often for the long term. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a document entitled “Children in situations of armed conflict”, summarized conclusions of studies examining the effects of armed conflict on children as follows:

“It was concluded that war has an all-embracing impact on a child’s development, on his attitudes, his experience of human relations, his moral norms and his outlook on life. Facing armed violence on a continuous basis creates deep-rooted feelings of helplessness and undermines the child’s trust in others”.9/

The UNICEF report also quoted R.-L. Punamäki, who presented in Current Research on Peace and Violence, research findings on childhood in the shadow of war: “‘Socialization of children to desirable moral values is impossible in a beleaguered society'”.10/

Examining the protection of the child set out in international conventional law, D. Plattner interpreted the provisions regarding the legal protection of children in time of war and occupation contained in the Geneva Conventions, including the fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a High Contracting Party, and their Additional Protocols, as follows:

“International humanitarian law provides general protection for children as persons taking no part in hostilities, and special protection of persons who are particularly vulnerable. Moreover, children taking part in hostilities are also protected.”11/

According to the fourth Geneva Convention discussed below, the occupying Power has the obligation to further the protection of the child. The military authorities in the occupied Palestinian territory devised an unusually narrow definition of the legal age of the Palestinian child and even then treated minors on the same terms as adults in any suspected security-related matter.12/

International customary and conventional law such as the Regulations Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, annexed to both The Hague Convention of 29 July 1989 (II) and The Hague Convention of 18 October 1907 (IV), and the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, the fourth Geneva Convention, give legal protection to the child under military occupation. Children are considered in need of protection because of their vulnerability, age, immaturity, and absence de discernement. According to articles 27 and 32 of the fourth Geneva Convention, children, like all civilians, shall be treated humanely, free of coercion, corporal and collective punishments as well as with respect for their life, physical well-being and moral integrity. Furthermore, article 50 of the fourth Geneva Convention stipulates the following:

“The occupying Power shall, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities, facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children.”13/

The fourth Geneva Convention contains no conclusive age definition of the child or minor. It contains, however, in articles 24, 28 and 50, provisions for the legal protection of “children under 15” years.

Destruction of property such as homes and collective punishment have been considered unlawful from the earliest attempts to provide international legal protection for civilians, including children. Regarding these two areas, articles 46 and 50 of the 1907 Hague Regulations as well as articles 33 and 53 of the fourth Geneva Convention are directly relevant. For instance, article 33 of the fourth Geneva Convention reads as follows:

“No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”14/

International conventional law also provides special protection for detained children. Article 76 of the fourth Geneva Convention details that when children are accused of offences and detained, “proper regard shall be paid to the special treatment due to minors.”15/ Such treatment should include the detention of an accused protected person on the territory under occupation, rather than elsewhere; the provision of conditions of food and hygiene sufficient to keep the detained in good health; as well as medical attention and spiritual assistance as required.

The United Nations has declared in several resolutions since 1967 that the fourth Geneva Convention applied to the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory. The Security Council in resolution 641 (1989) of 30 August 1989 and the General Assembly in resolution 43/233 of 20 April 1989 reaffirmed once again that the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949 was applicable to Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel, including Jerusalem.

International legal instruments and declarations also elaborate the human rights of the child. These instruments include the Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 26 September 1924, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1959, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 16 December 1966, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966, the Declaration on Social Progress and Development of 11 December 1969 and the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict of 14 December 1974. Generally recognized standards for the protection and treatment of children are thereby established and outlined in detail.

On 20 November 1959, the General Assembly unanimously adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child.16/ Many of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration are based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other earlier legal instruments such as the Declaration on the Rights of the Child of 1924.

In 10 principles the Declaration of 1959 affirms the rights of the child to enjoy special protection and to be given opportunities and facilities to enable him or her to develop in a healthy and normal manner in conditions of freedom and dignity; to have a name and a nationality from birth; to enjoy the benefits of social security, including adequate nutrition, housing, recreation and medical services; to receive special treatment, education and care if he or she is handicapped; to grow up in an atmosphere of affection and security and, wherever possible, in the care and under the responsibility of the parents; to receive education, to be among the first to receive protection and relief in times of disaster; to be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation; and to be protected from practices which may foster any form of discrimination. Finally, the Declaration emphasizes that the child shall be brought up in a spirit of understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples, peace and universal brotherhood.

International conventional law and human rights instruments provide legal protection of the child subjected to military occupation. The protection of the child is an obligation of the occupying Power. By their nature, the basic rights of the child are not subject to derogation and need to be unconditionally respected. The following chapters attempt to illustrate the extent to which internationally recognized rights applicable to Palestinian children living in the occupied Palestinian territory have been violated since 1967 during more than 20 years of military occupation.

II. Family and community

The conduct of Palestinian children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, has been under the control and at the discretion of Israel, the occupying Power since 1967. Ordinary life has been disturbed by the consequences of Israeli military occupation in an increasingly systematic, collective and violent manner. The day-to-day plight of Palestinian children between 1967 and 1987 may be described in three phases. These phases broadly correspond to the late 1960s, most of the 1970s and the 1980s preceding the intifadah. First, Palestinian children had to adjust to the aftermath of war and military occupation. Secondly, they had to cope with the consolidation of military occupation, rapid socio-economic change and growing awareness of their inferior status in the occupied territories. Thirdly, Palestinian children had to develop defences against the increasingly repressive policies carried out by the occupation authorities, the effects of economic hardship and the hostile activity of foreign settlers on Palestinian land.

In the aftermath of the 1967 war, Palestinian children had to face the consequences of armed conflict and military defeat many directly affecting their lives in the family and community.17/ Tens of thousands of Palestinian children became homeless, refugees, displaced and orphans. These children, in need of homes, communities, education and health care, had to be accommodated in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem. Also, Palestinian children had to manage with the humiliation and uncertainty their parents and elders experienced as a result of war and military defeat. In any society, adjustment after war as well as the integration of refugees and displaced persons pose considerable problems for children. As one of the very vulnerable groups in society, children often suffer most when living conditions become difficult. Additional challenges arose, however, when the war-ridden society could not return to its former state but had to adjust to the entirely new situation of prolonged military occupation.

Under occupation, Palestinian children were confronted in everyday life with many coercive regulations and restrictions, suspicion and humiliation as well as an all-pervasive climate of fear and intimidation. Military occupation placed Palestinian children in an inferior legal position and discriminated against them, especially compared with non-Palestinian children transferred into the occupied Palestinian territory.18/

In violation of provisions of international conventional law, decisive first steps were taken in 1967 to alter the demographic and physical character of the occupied Palestinian territory when foreign civilians were permitted to settle in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem. Policies on residence, re-entry and family reunification as well as the demolition of houses were featured in discriminatory measures introduced after June 1967. The application of these measures persisted and became more widespread in the mid-1980s. The 1989 United States Government’s report entitled “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988” stated the following:

“Requests for family reunification are granted only on a restricted basis. Persons who marry Palestinians in the occupied territories generally are not allowed to take up residence there. Entry or residency permission is frequently denied spouses, relatives and children, following the emigration of the head of the household. Israel has also denied the return of many former West Bank Palestinians who were not present in the territories, for whatever reason, at the time of the 1968 census conducted after the June War. Palestinians claim many thousands of family reunification requests are pending. According to the Government of Israel, in 1988, 300 applications for family reunification were approved, involving 607 people. Israeli officials acknowledge that family reunification is limited for demographic and political reasons and assert that the laws of occupation do not require Israel to permit immigration into the territories. Restrictions on residence, re-entry, and family reunification do not apply to Jews, whether or not they are Israeli citizens.”19/

The demolition of hundreds of houses during the first years of occupation following the war in June 1967 incurred a direct economic cost to families and deprived Palestinian children of shelter.20/ Furthermore, homes could not be restored without a building permit issued by the occupation authorities. A whole section of the Old City of Jerusalem, the historic Maghrabi quarter, was destroyed when hostilities terminated in 1967. Palestinian cultural property was annihilated. Demolished houses exemplified vividly and contributed daily to the climate of insecurity that was imposed upon families and communities, leaving many Palestinian children without home and hope.

During the 1970s, Palestinian children were confronted with the consolidation of military occupation, fortified after another war in 1973, as well as the imposition of rapid and substantial socio-economic change throughout the decade. In that period, political and cultural disfranchisement of Palestinians became pervasive and pronounced furthering Palestinian children’s awareness of their dependent and inferior status vis-à-vis the occupation authorities and incoming settlers from Israel.

As military occupation continued, the economic situation in the occupied Palestinian territory was shaped by the authorities in such a manner that progress was hindered and made dependent on the Israeli economy. The establishment of a complex system of licences and permits interfered with the development of Palestinian agriculture and industry and contributed to the appropriation of land and water resources as well as collection of taxes by the occupation authorities. D. Peretz highlighted the following aspects of the Palestinian economy:

“Since 1967 the economies of the territories have been dependent on Israel. They were described by one scholar as ‘an auxiliary sector of both the Israeli and the Jordanian economies’. A substantial section of the work force in both Gaza and the West Bank was employed, mostly in unskilled labor, within Israel, and income it provided was responsible to a large extent for the spate of new homes, household goods, automobiles and other consumer items that spread throughout the territories, especially in the West Bank. While the territories were flooded with imports from Israel, little if any industrial development took place. Gaza and the West Bank became major markets for Israeli products, importing far more from the occupier than they exported to it. Over the years Jordan became the principal market for exports, mostly agricultural, from the West Bank. Both Gaza and the West Bank became dependent on Israel as a major source of employment and income, and for many daily consumer items such as clothing, preserved foods, and the like.”21/

Virtually full employment in the 1970s secured many Palestinian families and communities increases in purchasing power and GNP permitting, for instance, ownership and modernization of households to increase.22/ In that period, agricultural output was generally sufficient and children’s food balance was considered adequate.23/However, statistical data also reveal persisting areas of poverty during the 1970s as indicated, for example, by widespread sub-standard, overcrowded housing.24/ Poor housing, the stifling of the Palestinian productive sectors as well as polarization of the Palestinian economy into poorer and better-off households increased the material plight of Palestinian children.

During the 1970s, Palestinian children also had to face substantial social changes imposed upon Palestinian society, which highlighted the children’s dependent and inferior status under occupation. For instance, an increasing number of West Bank children was born to urban families whose incomes were less frequently based on traditional agriculture, to nuclear families rather than extended multi-generational family networks and to families whose men often had to seek employment abroad.25/ Also, ascribed values in the family and community connected with social origin, position and mature age were considered as less important in a society dependent on occupation authorities. The socialization of Palestinian children became strongly determined by factors outside Palestinian society. An alienation from traditions and customs could be found among Palestinian children. Some observers recognized during the late 1970s increases in juvenile delinquency and drug abuse among young Palestinians caused by the effects of the protracted political and social situation.27/

During the late 1970s, child labour became a matter of social concern.27/ In almost all societies children participate in economic activities. The usual tasks performed by Palestinian children may include domestic work such as cleaning, cooking, child-care and other household chores; fuel and water collection, gardening and shepherding; as well as artisanal and small industry manufacturing and related services such as guarding and running errands. These activities may or may not be adequately remunerated, appropriately limited in scope and time, and at the expense or to the benefit of the educational development of the child.28/ Quantitative data on child work are difficult to gather and obtain. Yet, the issue of irregular employment of Palestinian children in Israel has received some attention. Reports indicated the employment of children as young as 12 years of age and estimated that, in the late 1970s, some 20 per cent of irregular workers were minors.29/ In 1978 the occupation authorities raised the minimum working age in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, to 14 years.30/

In the 1980s prior to the intifadah, Palestinian children continued to be threatened by grave political events, notably when, at the beginning of the decade, the occupation authorities decided to regard, de jure, Jerusalem as part of Israel, the occupying Power. Once again, Palestinian children were challenged by a major attack on the conditions of their daily life and on their peace of mind.

Three major developments characterized the situation of Palestinian children in the occupied territories during the 1980s, contributing to the growing defiance and defensive attitudes of the children. These developments, addressed below, were economic deprivation; the accelerated establishment of Israeli settlements on occupied territory; and the adoption by the occupation authorities of particularly violent as well as collective repressive measures.

First, the material well-being of Palestinian children was affected by the economic recession spreading both in Israel and the region during the early 1980s. The recession left Palestinian families with reduced or merely constant incomes compared with earlier years.31/ It involved considerable reduction in net emigration, a marked decline of the Palestinian agricultural sector and a general stagnation in the industrial sector. During 1985 and 86, for instance, the West Bank suffered from a 4 per cent decline in agricultural income; and unemployment, hitherto virtually unknown there, exceeded 3 per cent.33/ Housing shortages became particularly acute in the first half of the 1980s and deteriorating environmental conditions in the community made it a more dangerous, unsanitary place for children.34/ Agricultural markets, which used to be adequately stocked, had during the 1980s a reduced supply of several basic fruits and vegetables important for a child’s diet.35/ Also, malnutrition of Palestinian children and the incidence of infants with a low birth weight increased.36/ Families had more members to feed, lower incomes as well as fewer consumer goods and services available as compared with earlier years.

As one measure to mitigate the worst impact of the recession, household and community-based production was revived.37/ This measure was likely to have added to the workload of children. During the 1980s, Palestinian children from the occupied Palestinian territory continued to be used in irregular employment and were not effectively protected by labour inspection agencies.38/

Although economic recovery may have been in sight in 1986,39/ a major study found that the provision of public services and investments in infrastructure in the occupied West Bank was becoming increasingly bisectoral, featuring one sector for foreign, mostly Israeli settlers and one for Palestinian Arabs, and included an inferior provision of public goods for Palestinian Arabs.40/ M. Benvenisti stated the following:

“The budgetary policies of the authorities further depress conditions in the Palestinian sector. Ongoing consumption expenditure ought to be higher, especially in human capital formation services (education, health, etc.). … The budgetary policies of the Israeli authorities illustrate the deliberate freeze characterizing official policy with regard to the Palestinian productive sector.”41/

In addition, the occupation authorities have increasingly expropriated Palestinian natural resources such as land and water. By 1985, Israeli authorities controlled approximately 50 per cent of the land in the West Bank.42/ Reported estimates on water use suggest that Palestinians of the West Bank were permitted access to a mere 20 to 30 per cent of the water resources.43/ Palestinian children suffered from the short supply of land and water, the daily tribulations connected with rationing water and the humiliation of dispossession. They also were harmed by the debilitating secondary effects of discriminatory land and water policies on agriculture, construction, communications and local government.

A second development in the 1980s was the massive increase in settlers encroaching on Palestinian communities and perpetrating acts of violence against Palestinian families and children. This development affected Palestinian children daily at home, on their way to school or at play. By the end of 1987, reportedly more than 58,000 settlers had been permitted to reside in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem.44/ Even though only some 2.5 per cent of the total area of the West Bank and Al-Quds, Jerusalem, had been made available to settlers, an estimated 40 per cent of the West Bank children lived in the urban areas most affected by settlements during the 1980s.45/ Jerusalem, which had already suffered in 1967 from, for example, the razing of the landmark Maghrabi quarter, underwent a period of “urban renewal” that threatened the Palestinian character of the Old City.

Palestinian children witnessing for many years the steady expropriation of the assets of their communities tended to develop a strong sense of helplessness and despair. These feelings intensified during the 1980s. The powerlessness of their elders regarding settler activities added to the suffering of Palestinian children. M. Fennoun, an inhabitant of Al-Nahalin, expressed his perception of the situation in his village, as quoted in a United Nations document:

“‘From the outset the settlers have been provoking the inhabitants and now the village is like a virtual prison. The settlers, of course, have the support of the occupation authorities. They are accompanied by soldiers when they go to uproot the trees. They take out olive trees, poplars, all trees that are cultivated. They destroy the crops. When they find children they beat them, and chase them. If they come across shepherds they beat them as well and prevent them from taking care of their animals in peace. These are daily harassments, and all the complaints addressed to the authorities and to the settlers themselves have remained futile.'”46/

Palestinian children were increasingly threatened by civilian settlers who were militarily and financially supported by the occupation authorities.47/ Children were made to feel inferior by settlers who were better off, permitted to defend themselves with firearms and benefited from a favourable application of the law.48/ Increases in violent confrontations instigated by settlers against the Palestinian population rendered Palestinian children’s lives frequently unprotected against crime and cruelty. M. Benvenisti made the following statement in connection with an attack by some 200 settlers on unarmed refugee families in the Dehaishe camp on 6 June 1987:

“A growing number of settlers refuse to follow even the guidance of Gush radicals, and influenced by Rabbi Kahane’s KACH hoodlums, they embark on murderous vendettas against defenseless Arabs, (Dehaishe Camp, June 1987)”.49/

The third development directly increasing the plight of Palestinian children during the 1980s was an unprecedented level of conflict, repression and violence in the occupied territories even before the Palestinian uprising began in December 1987. M. Benvenisti observed a proliferation of harsh government enforcement policies:

“Government enforcement policies in the territories were harsher under the national unity government. Strong-arm tactics, such as deportation, the demolition and sealing of houses and administrative detention, had proliferated.”50/

During the early 1980s, the occupation authorities had devised a number of pacifying policies and employed administrative techniques to “impose the Israeli version of autonomy”.51/ From 1981 onwards, civil administration and village leagues aimed at restructuring the socio-political environment of Palestinian communities to make occupation palatable and promote a local Palestinian leadership. When these policies proved to be a failure, the “iron-fist” and “strong-arm” policies were intensified in 1985 leading to the increased loss of life and injury of children as well as violent interference with their universal rights to personal security, family, education and health.52/ In that year, Palestinian children and youths living in the Gaza Strip were the first to respond to the increase in repression with the street-level, mostly non-militant shabibah movement culminating in 1987 in the Palestinian popular uprising.53/

By the late 1980s, two generations of Palestinian children had grown up under military occupation which showed no sign of coming to an end. The children of 1967 had become adults and their children experienced the accumulated pain of a generation enduring a childhood under military occupation. In particular since the early 1980s Palestinian children suffered from severe economic deprivation and the policies of the occupying Power. Collective punishments, beatings, arrests, deportations, curfews, school closures, interruptions of health and welfare services, refusals to issue building permits for homes and restrictions regarding the reunification of families abounded. These aggravated the effects of serious economic problems as well as the consequences of the large-scale appropriation of land and water resources and of the establishment of tens of thousands of settlers in the occupied Palestinian territory by the occupying Power. An unprecedented degree of frustration and rage accumulated in Palestinian children. Since December 1987, the Palestinian popular uprising, the intifadah, has provided an unequivocal expression of the determination of Palestinian people, particularly the children, not to accept occupation, humiliation and deprivation which were imposed on their parents and from which their families and they continue to suffer.

III. Education

The plight of Palestinian children in the area of formal education could be seen between 1967 and 1987 in the inordinate efforts children had to make to overcome the very difficult material conditions prevailing at school, the constraints on school curricula relating to Palestinian history, culture and nationality as well as the feeling of futility of excelling in education when military occupation consistently prevented the sound application of talents, knowledge and skills. It will become apparent in the discussion below that, during more than 20 years of military occupation, the universal right of Palestinian children to education was violated frequently and in many ways.

This chapter describes principal institutions of formal education for Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, presents basic indicators for the educational achievements attained by Palestinian children despite very adverse circumstances and discusses fundamental problems in the area of formal education under conditions of military occupation before the Palestinian uprising began in December 1987.

Palestinian children living in the occupied territories received formal education through institutions managed by the occupying authorities, private organizations and UNRWA (see tables 2 and 3).54/ Over 60 per cent were institutions controlled by the Government of the occupation authorities. These institutions included kindergarten schools for children below 6 years of age; elementary schools for children between 6 and 12 years of age; and preparatory schools for children between 13 and 15 years of age. The elementary and preparatory levels were compulsory, serving free of charge, in 1987/88, well over 400,000 pupils. Schools in the Gaza Strip followed the Egyptian curriculum and those in the West Bank the Jordanian curriculum, except for Jerusalem, where schools were compelled to follow the educational system of Israel, the occupying Power.

Table 2. Palestinian educational institutions,

classes and pupils estimates

	Gaza Strip	West Bank excl. Jerusalem	Total
School Year 1987/88
TOTAL
INSTITUTIONS	316	1,199	1,515
CLASSES	4,218	9,344	13,562
PUPILS	176,686	310,517	487,203
GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
Institutions	105	831	936
Classes	1,932	6,871	8,803
Pupils	77,917	235,398	313,315
UNRWA INSTITUTIONS
Institutions	162	100	262
Classes	2,025	1,183	3,208
Pupils	90,713	40,678	131,391
OTHER INSTITUTIONS
Institutions	49	268	317
Classes	261	1,290	1,551
Pupils	8,056	34,441	42,497
School year 1986/87
Institutions	305	1,142	1,447
Classes	4,087	8,972	13,059
Pupils	174,406	300,939	475,345
School year 1967/68
Institutions	166	821	987
Classes	1,746	4,402	6,148
Pupils	80,050	142,216	222,266

Sources: It should be noted that the number of pupils and educational institutions in the occupied Palestinian territory has not been conclusively determined for decades. Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1988, table XXVII/47; Palestinian Statistical Abstract of 1984/1985, tables II/22 and III/22. As of October 1987, UNRWA reported responsibi- lity for 146 schools in the Gaza Strip and 98 schools in the West Bank as well as 128,711 refugee pupils there (see Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-third Session, Supplement No. 13 (A/43/13), table 5).

Table 3. Palestinian pupils per type of

educational institution estimates

	1987/88			1986/87		1967/68
	Gaza Strip	West Bank, excl. Jerusalem	Total	Total		Total
					of which at UNRWA Institutions:
PUPILS
TOTAL	176,686	310,517	487,203	131,391	475,345	222,266
Kindergartens	6,940	18,712	25,652	1,370	22,024	3,850
Elementary schools	109,772	184,703	294,475	92,431	289,613	162,051
Preparatory schools	39,765	69,190	108,955	36,450	105,570	40,177
Post-primary schools	19,379	36,725	56,104	577	56,082	15,910
Teacher training colleges	830	1,187	2,017	473	2,056	278

Sources: It should be noted that the number of pupils and educational institutions in the occupied Palestinian territory has not been conclusively determined for decades. Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1988, table XXVII/48; Palestinian Statistical Abstract of 1984/1985, tables II/21 and III/21. As of October 1987, UNRWA reported 128,711 refugee pupils receiving education in UNRWA schools in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (see Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-third Session, Supplement No. 13 (A/43/13), table 5).

Educational attainment of Palestinian children after 1967 was initially reflected by a number of basic indicators.55/ For example, illiteracy among Palestinian adults was reduced substantially by the mid-1970s, leaving traces only in very remote rural areas and among the elderly, often women.56/ Also, the number of pupils per generation of Palestinian children increased steadily; in the early 1980s primary school enrolment had included about 90 per cent of Palestinian children.57/ In particular, the participation of girls in formal education improved from just over 40 per cent of Palestinian children in the late 1960s to about 47 per cent in the early 1980s.58/ Lastly, during the 1970s, an increasingly higher percentage of school children passed examinations and proceeded, at 15 years of age, to secondary school.59/

A number of indicators qualifies the above data relating to the educational development of Palestinian children under occupation. Even though the enrolment in kindergarten had substantially increased between 1967/68 and 1987/88, thereby preparing for the educational attainment of Palestinian children, it included only a very small proportion of future primary school pupils.60/ Also, during the 1970s, the drop-out rate of primary school pupils was reported to be over 20 per cent.61/ Furthermore, the increasing percentage of school children recorded in the late 1970s as proceeding at 15 years of age from compulsory schooling to the voluntary secondary level reportedly declined in the early 1980s.62/ Lastly, the number of students attending teacher training colleges reportedly decreased after the mid-1970s.63/ Teachers of Palestinian children did not have appropriate incentives and working conditions that would attract educated Palestinians into the profession. Teachers were in short supply despite an enormous need for qualified staff.64/

The conditions of military occupation under which formal education took place in the Palestinian territory between 1967 and 1987 required special efforts by Palestinian children and teachers and often had lasting debilitating effects on pupils, including physical injury and the loss of life. In the day-to-day experience of schooling, Palestinian pupils suffered especially in three areas, which will be presented below. These were the administrative and frequently military interference with education by the occupation authorities; the lack and substandard quality of premises; and overcrowded classes.

First, formal education of Palestinian children living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, was systematically controlled by the occupation authorities. As noted, most schools were administered by the occupying Power. The occupation authorities applied a number of policies and measures that interfered directly with the contents and operation of schooling. In the 1980s, the military authorities increasingly resorted to closing schools as a collective punishment and committed acts of violence on school premises.

The contents of school curricula was a crucial concern of those ultimately responsible for the education of Palestinian children, notably parents and educators. The consequences of the annexation of Jerusalem as well as administrative requirements and educational policies of the occupying Power contributed to modifying the original Jordanian and Egyptian curricula, teaching subjects and materials. At government schools, the control of teaching contents was carried out through the political screening of teachers, the licensing of textbooks as well as the prescription and confiscation of teaching material, including maps.65/ The 1984 annual report of UNRWA to the General Assembly of the United Nations provided the following figures:

“The 142 textbooks prescribed for Jordan are also the prescribed textbooks for the West Bank. Of the 108 approved by UNESCO, the Israeli authorities have refused import permits for nine. …

“The total number of textbooks prescribed by the Egyptian Ministry of Education was 120; of these UNESCO has approved 81, of which the occupation authorities have permitted the importation of 70 and disallowed the importation of 11.”66/

The occupation authorities aimed at eradicating from teaching material what they considered as anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish or nationalistic incitement. At the same time, they prevented a presentation and appreciation of Palestinian history, culture and politics acceptable to Palestinians.67/ Although the censorship of newspapers was of no immediate concern to most school children, the prohibition of dozens of textbooks and books of general interest hindered the educational development of Palestinian children.68/

Censorship, licensing requirements and severe administrative regulations were widely imposed. Pupils were expelled, teachers dismissed and schools closed.69/ There were also instances of pupils being transferred to schools outside their area of residence and roadblocks and checkpoints were erected on the way to school.70/ Military forces disturbing teaching in progress and the tear-gassing, beating and harassing of pupils increased in the 1980s prior to the intifadah, resulting at times in the death of pupils.71/ The direct interference with schooling by the military authorities was often very violent.

Secondly, the education of Palestinian children suffered because of the lack of classrooms as well as the prevalence of substandard and dilapidated premises. Few new schools were built by the authorities in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, until the late 1970s. Licensing requirements enforced by the occupation authorities and meagre funds for education were regarded as key factors contributing to the lack and substandard quality of educational facilities. Many schools had to introduce double-shift teaching to provide a minimal amount of formal education to Palestinian children.72/ A recent study found that some 2,000 classrooms would be needed to provide acceptable material conditions in formal education.73/

Thirdly, the average pupil-teacher ratio in the 1980s was over 30 to 1, reflecting overcrowding and a serious strain on teaching in individual classes.74/ In 1987, the ratio of pupils per elementary school class was reportedly as high as 35 to 1.75/ In the mid-1980s, the number of classes available in the West Bank was reportedly lower than in the early 1980s.76/ In addition to the above-mentioned problem of the insufficient availability of adequate school premises, an increasing number of pupils and a lack of qualified teachers were regarded as contributing to overcrowding in Palestinian schools.77/

Overcrowded classes had a negative effect on both Palestinian pupils and their teachers. Teaching methods had to be confined largely to those with a low didactic quality. Learning had to take place by rote and memorization drills rather than through discussion, tutoring and problem-solving.

In conclusion, the education of Palestinian children in the occupied Palestinian territory became a continuous source of grievances and resentment during over 20 years of military occupation. Some of the main factors impairing between 1967 and 1987 the educational development of Palestinian children in the occupied territoriy were military attacks on educational institutions; the closing of schools; the screening, hiring and dismissal of teachers based on political considerations; the modification of school curricula; and the unavailability of adequate teaching staff, premises and equipment. The time pupils were forced to spend away from school prevented many of them from acquiring basic skills and, at times, from taking examinations required to advance to the next level of instruction. Inadequate conditions for learning have jeopardized both the education and cultural development of Palestinian children. The anger at education policies was aggravated especially during the 1980s when pupils frequently became the target of very harsh repressive measures carried out by the occupying Power on school premises.

IV. Health

The plight of Palestinian children under military occupation with regard to health was reflected since 1967 in the following fields. These were the prevalence of common childhood, dehydration-related and respiratory diseases and of nutritional deficiencies; the decentralization of public health care in place of curative, specialist and hospital services; and the staggering cost of public health care. The poor health of Palestinian children was closely related to poverty and unsanitary environmental health conditions in overcrowded homes and congested communities. The mental and emotional well-being of children became a particularly urgent concern in the 1980s when the occupation authorities began taking very harsh law enforcement measures injuring and killing an increasing number of Palestinian children.

This chapter will present basic health institutions and indicators concerning Palestinian children living in the occupied Palestinian territory during the period 1967 to 1987. It will then discuss major medical problems that contributed to impairing the health of Palestinian children before the intifadah began in December 1987.

During the period from 1967 to 1987 the occupying Power controlled over 80 per cent of the health services in the occupied Palestinian territory.78/ UNRWA and private organizations also provided pediatric health care. Between 1984 and 1987, two hospitals, including one in Jerusalem making specialist services available to Palestinians, were closed and the number of actual beds and hospitalization days also decreased slightly; at the same time, the number of hospitalized patients increased by some 10 per cent.79/ During a period of growing demand for health services in the 1980s, a freeze of public expenditure in the governmental health sector depressed further the hitherto merely adequate health conditions of Palestinian children.80/Hospitals were considered as inadequately equipped and as being often in a state of disrepair.81/ Hundreds of small villages had no primary health care centres. Specialized services such as, for example, cancer treatment needed by some 200 terminally ill Palestinian children, were largely unavailable in the occupied Palestinian territory.82/ In the 1980s, an increasing shortage of paediatric services in the West Bank as well as long waiting lists for patients requiring special examinations or surgical operations were also recorded.83/

During more than 20 years of military occupation, there was recurrent criticism of the way in which authorities provided health services with little independent participation on the part of Palestinian parents and professionals ultimately responsible for the health of Palestinian children.84/

Since the late 1970s, changes in the financing of public health services have made the use of paediatric health care more expensive for Palestinian families. Medical services in connection with childbirth and for children up to six years of age were largely free of charge until the early 1980s; in the mid-1980s, the age threshold was lowered to include only one- and two-year-old infants.85/ A voluntary health insurance scheme was introduced in the late 1970s to put the user of health services in a position to contribute to meeting the cost of public health care that hitherto had also been virtually free of charge.86/ Participation in the scheme declined substantially in the early 1980s; during that period, the monthly insurance payment almost doubled from approximately US$8 to US$15 when economic recession already had a negative impact on family incomes.87/ As the economic cost to families requiring public health services for children rose considerably in the 1980s, many Palestinian children suffered.

A decentralization of public health services from curative, often hospital-based services to more preventive, community-based services was carried out by the occupying Power in two steps. The first step included immunization campaigns, the treatment of diarrhoeal diseases at the community level, the establishment of governmental maternal and child health centres and the promotion of environmental health education. The number of maternal child health centres increased from about 23 in 1968 to some 126 in 1986 and the number of general community clinics rose in the 1980s.88/ The number of births in hospitals and clinics increased between 1968 and 1987 from 3,463 to 22,468 and a hospital development project on the West Bank was continuing.89/

Basic indicators of the physical health of Palestinian children living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, improved for some time after 1967.90/ Even though reliable data are not available, studies reported that until the mid-1980s the infant mortality rate was largely declining, to approximately 30 per 1,000 live births, life expectancy was increasing, and the general appearance of school children indicated a satisfactory nutritional status;91/ a progressively smaller number of Palestinian children, less than 7 per cent in 1983, suffered from low birth weight below 2,500 grams;92/ and an almost universal child immunization campaign carried out by the occupying Power substantially reduced common childhood diseases such as diphtheria, polio, pertussis, tetanus, tuberculosis as well as most measles outbreak.93/ Despite improvements, the absolute levels of these health indicators were, however, considered as inadequate; for instance, the reported infant mortality rate in the occupied Palestinian territory of about 30 per 1,000 live births included a disturbing variation featuring extremely high counts of well over 100 per 1,000 in rural areas of the West Bank. It also compared unfavourably to rates found elsewhere during the mid-1980s such as approximately 18 per 1,000 among the non-Jewish population of Israel and just under 10 per 1,000 among the Jewish population of Israel.94/

The second step towards decentralizing public health services affecting Palestinian children was taken by the occupying Power during the mid-1980s. It attempted to reach Palestinian communities and families in over 200 villages without maternal and child health care centres. The occupation authorities, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) co-operate in projects designed to train and supervise dayahs, traditional local birth attendants, in order to improve the utilization of primary health services.95/ Projects were started in 50 villages in the outskirts of Hebron and 10 villages in the vicinity of Jericho.

Before the beginning of the intifadah in December 1987, health care for Palestinian children urgently required solutions in a number of areas. Respiratory diseases, associated with cold injury, became increasingly the major cause of the death of Palestinian children, particularly during winter.96/ Also, the control of tuberculosis remained an issue requiring substantial efforts in certain localities; immunization of children at schools was suggested as a remedy.97/

Subsistence-level family incomes and poor environmental hygiene continued to be a weakening factor in efforts to maintain the health of Palestinian children. Nutritional problems became acute when economic problems increased in the 1980s; low birth weights and persisting nutritional deficiencies resulted and undermined further the often extremely vulnerable health conditions of Palestinian children.98/ A healthy environment at home and in the community was considered to have, as a rule, a very positive impact on controlling children’s diseases.99/ To that end, in many communities, the degree of salinity of drinking water needed to be lowered to acceptable levels; main sewage systems had to be constructed; and rodents had to be exterminated with more effective means in some communities to improve the environmental hygiene for children.100/ In the mid-1980s there were reports that drinking water sometimes mixed with waste water, particularly in refugee camps.101/

Mental health of children became an area of urgent concern in the mid-1980s requiring service delivery, data collection and planning. In the early 1980s, coinciding with the adoption of often brutal law enforcement policies, an increase in psychiatric disorders of the population was recognized.102/ Although the provision of services to the severely mentally ill had reportedly shown signs of improvement between 1984 and 1985,103/ many less tangible mental and emotional disturbances of a general nature remained to be alleviated.

In the late 1960s, during the early years of military occupation, the future of Palestinian children had appeared hazardous and ill-defined at best. Surviving a childhood after war and adjusting to the threatening transition to military occupation required of that generation of Palestinian children an inordinate amount of steadfastness, mental strength and emotional maturity. A personal representative of the Director-General of WHO, examining the mental health situation of Palestinian society in the early 1970s, concluded as follows:

“The concept of mental health is linked with the different norms of varied cultural patterns. Any attempt to appraise the state of mental health of a population as a whole is therefore fraught with the utmost difficulty. While the Representative of the Director-General encountered no evidence of an increased incidence of overt neuroses or psychoses in the population of the occupied territories at the time of his visit, it is at least questionable whether those who are obliged to live in the occupied territories enjoy mental health in the wider – if rather ill-defined – sense of term.

“According to an authoritative Arab source in the area, the crisis of 1967 resulted in an enhanced incidence of mental disturbances. However, he believed that the situation has now reverted to its previous level, and that the majority of the affected population have adjusted to the present conditions in the hope that the future will bring a solution to their problems.”104/

A particularly harmful incident, suggesting the return of very precarious mental health conditions of Palestinian children, occurred at the end of March and in April 1983. The incident involved the acute, poisoning-like illness of Palestinian schoolchildren, especially girls, in Jenin, Arraba, Tulkarm and the Al-Khalil, Hebron, region of the occupied West Bank. A team of researchers from the United States Department of Health and Human Service, Centers of Disease Control, invited by the occupying Power, found that the epidemic was induced by anxiety. The following quote from a summary of the researchers’ findings was communicated in 1983 to the Director-General of UNESCO:

“‘We conclude that this epidemic of acute illness was induced by anxiety. It may have been triggered initially either by psychological factors or by sub-toxic exposure to H2S. Its subsequent spread was mediated by psychogenic factors. Newspaper and radio reports may have contributed to this spread. The epidemic ended after West Bank schools were closed. We observed no evidence of malingering or of deliberate fabrication of symptoms.'”105/

Notwithstanding the results of a comprehensive professional analysis of mental health problems among Palestinian children living under occupation, a common form of psychological damage was likely to have resulted every time children were separated from parents, witnessed the harassment of family members or had to look on as their homes were destroyed; children are considered to be least capable of coping with the overpowering consequences of violent conflicts and recurring humiliation.106/ Emotional problems were exacerbated enormously when the “strong-arm” and “iron-fist” policies were adopted by the occupation authorities in the first half of the 1980s to control and discipline the Palestinian population, including children. Mental health issues identified in the sources cited above needed to be addressed urgently in the mid-1980s for the sake of the individual Palestinian child suffering as well as Palestinian society at large.

In view of the findings discussed in this chapter, it may be concluded that the physical and mental health of Palestinian children was not properly protected by the occupation authorities during more than 20 years of military occupation. Among the health needs identified as particularly acute in the mid-1980s were respiratory diseases, nutritional deficiencies, poor environmental hygiene and mental health problems. The violent events connected with the Palestinian popular uprising since 1987 have destroyed much of the health infrastructure serving Palestinian children. The demand for health care, including emergency services needed by thousands of injured Palestinian children, has dramatically risen.

V. Personal security

Every child has the right to personal security, including the rights to life, liberty and freedom of expression, to a name and nationality as well as to freedom from oppression, fear and intimidation. Military occupation itself constitutes a violation of the right to personal security as the protection of life, limb, body, reputation and personal liberty of a child is predicated upon the requirements and at the discretion of the occupying Power. In addition to military occupation, the legal system and law enforcement practices adopted by the occupation authorities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, further circumscribed the right of the Palestinian child to personal security.

Since 1967 two generations of Palestinian children have been subjected to a dual and discriminatory system of governance. A recent United States Government report on human rights practices describes salient features of the legal system prevailing in most of the occupied Palestinian territory:

“Jewish settlers in the occupied territories are subject to Israeli law while Palestinians are subject to Israeli military occupation law. Under the dual system of governance applied to Palestinians and Israelis, Palestinians are treated less favorably than Jewish settlers in the same areas on a broad range of issues, such as the right to legal process, rights of residency, freedom of movement, sale of crops and goods, land and water use, and access to health and social services.”107/

Palestinian children in Jerusalem have become second-class citizens in the state of the occupying Power once the city was annexed.

Violations of the right to personal security of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, involved five main areas in the period from 1967 to 1987. These are the violent loss of life and infliction of injury; arrest and detention, including instances of cruel treatment; disregard of the nationality status of Palestinian children; interference with the right to personal expression and worship; and use of collective punishment. The violations of the child’s right to personal security discussed in this chapter are not exhaustive. They are merely illustrative of the personal plight of Palestinian children.

Causing the death of a child and inflicting physical injury on a child may be regarded as two of the most fundamental violations of the right to personal security. In the course of the mid-1980s alone, over 20 Palestinian children were killed or severely wounded in such occurrences as travelling in a vehicle that did not stop for questioning by soldiers, playing with explosives, stepping on a mine or participating in a demonstration; still other children were killed, kidnapped or beaten by settlers.108/

Although violent death or injuries may be inflicted on children by accident, the occupation authorities brought about situations that inadvertently increased the risk of injuring or killing a Palestinian child. Between 1967 and 1987, there were many instances of a child being harmed during an arrest of a family member; a raid on school premises; or a gunfire attack on a demonstration.109/ During the early 1980s, the practice of firing ammunition in the air or at the ground in order to disperse demonstrators was considered dangerously close to inflicting injuries deliberately on Palestinian children. An Israeli soldier reportedly testified that in the yard of the military government headquarters at El Bireh he saw in 1982 a child of less than 12 year of age being kicked and punched by three soldiers; the following account given by the soldier was published by K. Coates:

“‘All three of them were kicking him and hitting him in turn. I was shocked. For a child of less than 12 to undergo such a terrible experience – it’s something he’ll never forget. Suddenly a military vehicle drew up and three other young boys were brought in. I was told they had threatened shopkeepers in the centre of El Bireh. The scene that followed was one of the most distressing I have ever seen: brutality and cruelty such as I had never before witnessed.'”110/

The arrest of a child, imprisonment without due process of law and cruel treatment of detained children were particularly disturbing violations of the right of the Palestinian child to personal security during 20 years of military occupation.111/ Since November 1987 special permission by the military command has been required for detaining a Palestinian child under 14 years of age.112/ However, children could always be detained incommunicado for up to 14 days.

Reliable, verifiable information regarding the torture of detained children under 15 years of age is scarce.113/ Reports indicate, for example, the use of cruel interrogation techniques, lack of sufficient medical care as well as detention of children under overcrowded conditions and on the same premises as adults at Al-Fara’a detention centre in 1985.114/ Information on an incident of ill-treatment of detained children was reported in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz in November 1987 and presented in a recent United Nations document as follows:

“On 2 November 1987, the Southern Region military court sentenced five soldiers to prison terms, suspended terms and demotion for ill-treatment of detainees in the Ansar 2 facility in the Gaza Strip. According to the charge sheet, the five soldiers, including the commander of the local Military Police, with the rank of lieutenant, had beaten and kicked children aged 12 to 14 from Gaza who were detained following disorders.”115/

Oral testimonies also reveal instances of cruel treatment of Palestinian children during detention. For example, testimonies show that, since 1969, children under 15 years of age were detained with adults, adults, punished with solitary confinement and beaten.116/ Even though a significant drop in the number of complaints of torture during the interrogation of detained Palestinians was recorded for the period 1977 to 1984, the number was reported to have risen again considerably by the mid-1980s.118/

The right of Palestinian children to an internationally recognized nationality was disregarded since military occupation of the Palestinian territory began in 1967. For example, Palestinian children living in Jerusalem were confronted with a change in national status and sovereignty when the occupation authorities incorporated the city into the State of the occupying Power in 1980. In the Gaza Strip, most Palestinian children grew up since 1967 as stateless persons.118/ The geographic and cultural designation “Palestine” was banned and expressions of Palestinian nationalism were eradicated from Palestinian life. Any reference to Palestinian political culture and national identity, as in the arts or by using the colours of the Palestinian flag, was prohibited by law.

During 20 years of occupation, a Palestinian child’s right to personal expression was almost continuously violated.119/ For example, when children sang songs, acted in plays or wore traditional clothes, they had to be constantly on the alert that the occupation authorities did not regard these activities as nationalistic or otherwise undesirable. The self-image of Palestinian children suffered as a result.

The Palestinian child’s right to worship was also repeatedly interfered with. The occupied Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem, are home to some of the most ancient and revered Holy Places of Judaism, Christianity and Islam traditionally maintained by Palestinians. Between 1967 and 1987, the occupation authorities destroyed religious property, waqf, restricted access to the Holy Places, prohibited religious activities and stormed places of worship to make arrests.120/

Punitive and preventive measures of an increasingly collective nature directly affecting Palestinian children have been adopted by the occupation authorities since 1967. Collective punishments included the demolition and sealing of homes and rooms as well as the blocking and sealing of streets.121/ Between 1967 and 1987, hundreds of houses were destroyed, making children homeless and extremely vulnerable as owners were not allowed to rebuild premises.122/ Collective punishments included the destabilization of families through cruel forms of arrests, the deportation of parents and the prevention or slow authorization of family reunifications.123/ Lastly, in the 1980s, punitive measures affecting whole communities comprised frequent curfews, area-based travel restrictions and mass detentions of civilians for questioning.124/ The hours and days children spent in confinement because of house arrest, curfews and travel bans cannot be accurately enumerated. These measures rendered the lives of Palestinian children intolerable in a physical sense, constraining their very ability to move. The consequences of collective punishment were particularly damaging to young children, who need the stability and protection of a home and family.

Violations of the right to personal security of Palestinian children abounded in the occupied territories. These violations affected all aspects of a child’s life and, in several cases, led to the death of a Palestinian child. The most serious violations were committed when Palestinian children were detained. The increasing occurrence of arrests of Palestinian children, in particular in the 1980s, caused great concern. A number of cases of cruel treatment, or torture, of detained children under 15 years of age was related in oral testimonies. Also, military occupation entailed a variety of collective punishments and persistently incurred violations of basic human rights to nationality, expression, worship, shelter and family. An atmosphere of increasing confrontation and repression in the occupied territories placed an additional traumatizing burden on Palestinian children. During 20 years of occupation, Palestinian children have been victimized and were, de facto, unprotected by existing legal instruments.

VI. The intifadah

Twenty years of humiliation, expropriation and repression in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, erupted into a war-like situation during December 1987. Palestinians from all walks of life, children, youth, women, merchants and labourers, have since carried out massive demonstrations, economic boycotts and strikes protesting the continuing occupation of their land and demanding national independence. The extent and duration of the Palestinian popular uprising, the intifadah, are unprecedented. The largely decentralized, spontaneous and non-military nature of the uprising has serious implications for Palestinian children. Children are involved in the uprising both as participants and bystanders. As a group they have become defenceless victims of violence, human rights violations and economic paralysis. Many innocent children, including more than two dozen infants and small children, were reportedly killed during the first 12 months of the intifadah.

An unusually high degree of confrontation and repression in the occupied territories defined the day-to-day lives of Palestinian children during the first year of the intifadah. The United States Government’s report on human rights practices for 1988 found a “substantial increase in human rights violations”.125/ These developments were considered to constitute a new phase in the plight of Palestinian children in the occupied Palestinian territory.126/

As early as 1985, when the “iron-fist” and “strong-arm” policies were intensified by the occupation authorities to quell any resistance to military occupation, groups of young Palestinians, shabibah, took to the streets of the Gaza Strip.127/ These young people confronted military forces, border guards and the police, defying threats to their lives to end occupation. During the period from 1982 to 1987, per year over 3,000 instances of violent demonstrations were identified.128/ “Local initiative, rather than externally controlled violence, as an expression of resistance, …”129/ was increasing in the 1980s. With the beginning of the intifadah, a spontaneous outburst of protest to 20 years of occupation, repressive policies and violence escalated.130/ Hundreds of Palestinians have since been killed; thousands injured and detained; homes destroyed and virtually all schools closed; health, utility and food services interrupted; whole villages and regions placed under curfew; as well as thousands of cultivated trees uprooted and crops destroyed.131/ The policy of “force, might and beatings” was adopted by the occupation authorities in January 1988 to suppress the intifadah and instil fear; it unleashed an “essentially uncontrolled epidemic of violence”132/ brutalizing Palestinian children physically and psychologically, many for the rest of their lives. Information for the account below was taken from the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz and related in a recent United Nations document as follows:

“On 16 May 1988, it was reported that, according to reservists who finished doing their service in the territories, acts of vandalism, ill-treatment and degradation of Arab civilians by some of the soldiers have become a norm that no one was trying to combat. Such acts ranged from forcing persons to take off their clothes during searches to beating and acts of vandalism inside homes, after the arrest of their occupants.”133/

Children under 15 years of age became one of the most vulnerable victims of repression, collective and individual punishments as well as siege conditions. Within the first week of the intifadah, an infant was killed.

This chapter will discuss events that were particularly debilitating for Palestinian children during the first 13 months of the intifadah. Between December 1987 and December 1988, the plight of Palestinian children was exacerbated when the occupation authorities adopted policies and violent repressive measures that resulted in the loss of life and physical injury of children; the arrest and detention of children; the destruction of family and community life; the violation of a child’s rights to education, health, worship and association; and in the suffering of very young Palestinian children.

First, the violent loss of life of Palestinian children, including through miscarriages, increased dramatically during the first year of the uprising compared with earlier years of occupation.134/ A list of 32 infants and young children under the age of 10 who reportedly lost their lives during the first year of the intifadah is presented in annex II. The number of children injured has risen sharply compared with earlier years. It was estimated that 5 to 10 per cent of Palestinians injured during the first two months of the uprising were children under 11 years of age.135/ After half a year, their numbers were estimated to be in the hundreds; after a year, thousands of Palestinian children under 15 years of age had been recorded with injuries, many suffering from permanent disability.136/ Injuries were the consequence of systematic beatings, exposure to tear gas and gunshots by live ammunition as well as by plastic and rubber-coated metal bullets.137/ T. Hammarberg, General-Secretary of the renowned Swedish child welfare organization Rädda Barnen which had prepared a survey on Palestinian children during the intifadah, was quoted recently by P. Lancaster in The Middle East as follows:

“‘Perhaps the most striking conclusion is that soldiers in their use of gunfire have deliberately aimed at children and young people. The injuries are not the result of mistakes and accidents. Furthermore, as the horrifying effects of the army’s methods and gunfire have become clear one is bound to conclude that the continued killings are deliberate'”.138/

Secondly, the arrest and detention of Palestinian children have become commonplace during the uprising. For example, during December 1987 and February 1988, several children, aged 12 to 14, were held for suspected serious offences, children between 9 and 11 years of age were arrested and children as young as 11 or 12 years of age were detained.139/ In April 1988, minors aged 12 to 18 were being held under very harsh conditions and were suffering from serious overcrowding of a detention centre.140/ In May 1988, it was reported that during the first five months of the uprising 20 minors were tried in Gaza for breaking the peace; dozens of children, aged 8 to 12, were arrested in the Gaza Strip during the first week of May 1988 and children, as young as 13 years of age, have reportedly been sentenced to two and a half years’ imprisonment for throwing stones.141/ The newsletter of the Women’s Organization for Women Political Prisoners (WOFPP) of Tel Aviv, dated 20 December 1988, provided the following information:

Detention of minors: An increasing number of young girls, mostly fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds have been recently arrested and held in the Russian Compound [in Jerusalem]. A five-year-old boy was kept overnight in the Compound, together with his mother, A’ida ‘Assawi, who was arrested at Allenby Bridge.

“Maltreatment of children: A WOFPP member, visiting the Dehaisha Refugee Camp was witness to the arrest of an eleven-year-old girl by four armed soldiers. The soldiers threatened the girl that if she moved, she would be shot.”142/

Thirdly, families of Palestinian children were intimidated and destabilized, preventing parents from providing a supportive atmosphere for their children. Cruel forms of arrest and detention of family members have a particularly damaging impact on a child. Unsuspecting family members who happened to be present at the time of an arrest were taken away, beaten or subjected to the vandalization of their property so as to frighten them and their family subsequently left behind.143/ Children are particularly susceptible to threats and easily assaulted emotionally by forms of arrest that are designed to instil fear. Family visits to arrested relatives have become difficult, humiliating or even virtually non-existent as at the Ansar III/Ketziot mass detention facility located outside the occupied Palestinian territory.144/ Any form of communication between family members and detainees was severely limited, if not made impossible, leaving children uninformed about the fate of their elders.

Towards the end of 1988, troops and police were permitted to enter courtyards of residential buildings;145/ This further restricted the private sphere of children and their families, rendering them defenceless in virtually all places that ought to provide children with a minimum of physical protection. The sanctity of the home was suspended.

During the intifadah, family members were increasingly forced by the occupation authorities to police their children in order to prevent the arrest of a child or to bring about the release of a child from detention. For instance, policies were adopted whereby an arrested child was released only after guardians paid money or signed a statement indicating that the child would not commit an offence in the future.146/ As the definition as to what constituted an offence was steadily widened, families faced an ever-increasing burden to police and discipline their children. The following was suggested by a high-ranking official in the Israeli Government, as quoted recently in Le Monde diplomatique: “‘One has to get parents so angry at their children that the parents feel like beating them to death.'”147/ When Palestinian families were compelled to carry out police functions, important emotional ties were also broken, making children suffer.

Fourthly, the use of collective punishment was a principal way in which family and community life was attacked during the intifadah to the detriment of Palestinian children. The large-scale, simultaneous and repeated use of collective punishments witnessed during the first year of the intifadah was particularly damaging to the social and economic environment of Palestinian children. Collective punishments relating to alleged security offences included, by December 1988, the demolition or sealing of over 130 homes as well as restriction of utility services, telephone lines, food supplies and financial transactions.148/ Regarding the interference with food supplies, the Israeli newspaper Al-Hamishmar published a news item, translated into English by the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights in its report on human rights violations during the Palestinian uprising and partly reproduced below:

“MK Grossman: Blocking Food [Supplies]

Reminds Me of Horrible Scenes;

Al-Hamishmar, 29 March 1988; By: Motti Basok and Yaron Zelig;

“‘Preventing food supplies from reaching villages that have been sealed off is intolerable. It has nothing to do with security problems in the territories,’ the chairperson of the Mapam Knesset faction, MK Haika Grossman, wrote to Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin yesterday.

“‘I have learnt from both Jewish and Arab informants that IDF soldiers prevent labourers returning from work in Israel from taking home food their Israeli employers gave them for their families,’ wrote Grossman. ‘This form of collective punishment reminds me of horrible methods that I witnessed elsewhere. These measures do not appear to stem from the evil designs of the soldiers. They are simply implementing mean-spirited orders.’ Concluding her letter, Grossman asked Minister Rabin to change the orders.

“Knesset members Yossi Sarid and Dedi Zucker have demanded that Defence Minister Rabin call an immediate halt to the policy of collective punishment, which they termed cruel. They issued a call for removing [the supply of] basic foodstuffs necessary for survival from the struggle for control in the territories.

“They allege that the extension and intensification of collective punishments in the territories since last week have now come to encompass the de facto closure of pharmacies, bakeries and grocery stores in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”149/

Collective punishments affecting directly Palestinian children also included long curfews, the blockading of villages and the designation of areas as closed military areas.150/ In its account of human rights violations during the Palestinian uprising between December 1987 and December 1988, entitled “Punishing a Nation”, Al-Haq: Law in Service of Man, the West Bank affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists, detailed that during the indicated period a minimum of 1,600 curfews had been imposed by the military authorities in the occupied Palestinian territory; at least a quarter of these curfews had been prolonged curfews lasting from 3 to 40 days.151/ In this regard the United States Government report on human rights practices for 1988 stated the following:

“Durations of curfews ranged from a few hours to several weeks. During prolonged curfews, with one week-long exception, people were usually allowed to leave their houses to obtain food and medical care for short, defined periods. Curfews caused severe hardship.”152/

The serious deterioration of living conditions of Palestinian children during the first year of the intifadah has led to a more self-reliant local provision of goods and services by “Palestinians for Palestinians”, often through banned popular committees.153/ A resistance and survival economy was organized by Palestinians to meet very basic, subsistence-level needs through family and community agriculture. In its 1989 report of the Director-General, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) noted a purported response by the occupation authorities to the economic survival strategies developed by Palestinians:

“In the opinion of a number of Palestinians interviewed by the Director-General’s representatives, the military authorities seize any excuse to undermine this agricultural subsistence economy.”154/

The immense efforts to promote self-reliance could not prevent the economic paralysis of families and communities pursued by the occupation authorities.155/ In the above-mentioned report, ILO transmitted the following estimates indicating the decline of the Palestinian economy:

“Some observers estimate that living standards have fallen by 50 per cent since the start of the intifadah. According to Palestinian economists, consumer spending in the territories has fallen by 40 per cent. According to official sources in Israel’s Ministry of Defence, economic activity in the territories has fallen by 30 per cent.”156/

Shortages of fresh food and milk for infants were recorded towards the end of the first year of the intifadah.157/ Economic destitution compounded the grave social and psychological damage inflicted on Palestinian children through the use of collective punishment.

The impact of punitive collective measures was heightened when these were applied simultaneously. Collective punishment undermined the very foundations of the social and economic fabric of family and community life devoted to the care of Palestinian children.

Fifthly, the continued promotion of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and authorization of settlers to carry firearms seriously endangered the lives of Palestinian children, damaged Palestinian community life and interfered with the inalienable rights of Palestinian children.158/ The debilitating consequences for children when settlers populate Palestinian communities, such as violence, harassment and humiliation, increased during the intifadah. The presence of armed settlers fuelled the climate of confrontation.

Sixthly, the rights of Palestinian children to education, health, worship and association were violated during the first year of the intifadah on a massive scale in the occupied territories. Virtually all schools, including kindergarten, were closed or inoperative for almost the full school year, preventing hundreds of thousands of school children from learning basic skills and completing a year’s education cycle;159/ school premises were turned into army camps, detention centres and interrogation facilities, damaged and, at times, left in vandalized, filthy and dangerous conditions;160/ improvised, private educational activities at home or in the community were prohibited;161/ welfare payments and services as well as medical care, including emergency health services, were reduced or terminated;162/ hospitals were attacked by troops, medical equipment and supplies damaged and patients arrested;163/worship was interfered with and prevented;164/ finally, community associations and charitable organizations, providing basic local welfare services for children, and clubs of youth movements were ordered closed.165/ These measures contributed to the paralysis and destruction of the education, health and social sectors of Palestinian society and entailed debilitating and often traumatic consequences for Palestinian children. As a result, the universally accepted right to education was denied to several hundreds of thousands of pupils and thousands of children suffered from the lack of adequate medical services and welfare provisions. An entire generation of young Palestinian children was kept illiterate, poorly fed and left without proper medical care.

Seventhly, the suffering and torment of the very young child deserves special mention. Infants and very young Palestinian children have frequently become victims of violence during the intifadah. Most of the children under 10 years of age who were reportedly killed during the first year of the intifadah, as listed in annex II, had not even reached one year of age. After a visit in early 1988 to the occupied Palestinian territory, the psychological impact of widespread violence on small children was noted by Physicians for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization from the United States, in the following terms:

“When parents are unable to protect their small children, and children are repeatedly exposed to scenes of beatings and bloodshed, the consequences may be profound and long-term. On one level, children try to adapt: in the villages, we saw five-year-olds playing with their collections of rubber bullets and shell casings, and older children, their hands protected with pieces of paper, gleefully carrying expended tear-gas cannisters. In a refugee camp, we noticed a two-year-old carefully clutching an onion wherever she went. Asked why, her mother explained: ‘It’s for protection when she goes outside, she thinks it helps when there’s tear gas.’ Thousands of small children are at risk of chronic anxiety and irritability, childhood depression, sleeplessness and nightmares, and disturbances of maturation.

“We heard reliable reports (and the press and television screens have repeatedly carried the images) of 8, 9 and 10-year-old children being clubbed, shot with rubber bullets and teargassed. For each such case, hundreds of others must have been terrorized. In a very real sense, for these children, today’s blood and tears are the least of the consequences. When children perceive that their parents are powerless against violence and that they themselves are therefore vulnerable, fundamental attitudes toward the world are shaped, defining it as a very dangerous place – and one that is divided, furthermore, into good (‘my tribe’) and evil (‘the others’). These can be lifelong effects, distorting the perceptions of a whole generation, with consequences not only for their own lives but for the political future and the lives of a next generation as well.”166/

The Palestinian popular uprising which began in December 1987 has been described by commentators as the natural outcome of more than 20 years of military occupation.167/ During that period, Palestinian children have had to cope with a growing number of grave human rights violations. Since the beginning of the intifadah, the earlier violations have increased manifold in scope and frequency as a result of the adoption by the occupation authorities of extremely harsh repressive policies involving the deliberate and systematic injuring of Palestinians, including the brutal beating of children, the arrest of children and the imposition of siege conditions on Palestinian society.

In its 1988 and 1989 annual reports to the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People expressed its concern regarding the violent repression of the intifadah. The Committee’s 1989 report stated the following:

“The Committee noted that the intifadah, the uprising of the Palestinian people against military occupation and gradual annexation by Israel of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, had continued despite overwhelming odds since 9 December 1987. Palestinians, often children and youths, have continued to challenge the Israeli occupying forces with stones, barricades, burning tyres, and other means. In order to suppress the intifadah, the Israeli troops have resorted to excessive and indiscriminate use of force which was reported to have been condoned and even encouraged at the highest level of government, with the apparent intent to punish and intimidate the population, resulting in an extensive and unprecedented range of human rights violations. … The Committee was particularly alarmed at what appeared to be the deliberate targeting of children in such attacks …”168/

In paragraph 30 of the same report, the Committee reiterated its most urgent appeal to the Security Council of the United Nations and the international community as a whole to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety and protection of the Palestinian population, half of which are children.

VII. Conclusion

Over three quarters of a million children under 15 years of age, approximately 50 per cent of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, continue to suffer under increasingly difficult and dangerous living conditions. The most important causes of the plight of these Palestinian children can be traced to the tragic consequences of military occupation and the effects of the protracted political situation, stemming from the continuing lack of progress towards a just solution of the question of Palestine. Severe psychological and physical hardships have been endured by the Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem, since 1967 and no end of military occupation is in sight. Indeed, the threat of the permanent annexation of these territories by Israel, the occupying Power, and of the loss of Palestinian identity has generated among Palestinians, especially among the young ones, ever increasing feelings of helplessness, despair and defiance.

The Palestinian children of 1967, when the military occupation by Israel began, have grown up into adults under debilitating living conditions and now have to rear their children in an even harsher environment. Expanding settlements and appropriation of land and precious water resources for the benefit of the occupying Power, and the contracting and discriminatory provisions of public services for the Palestinians serve as constant reminders to the Palestinians of their inferior status and of an uncertain future under the prevailing dual system of governance applied to Palestinians and foreign settlers transferred into the occupied territories. Palestinians have been subjected since 1967 to a variety of restrictions on residence, re-entry and family reunification, including the denial of the universally recognized right of refugees to return. During more than 20 years of military rule, two generations of Palestinian children have suffered from serious limitations imposed on their basic rights to education, effective protection of the family, health and worship as well as sustained attempts to alienate them from their rich history, customs and tradition. The violent death and physical injury, the destruction of homes, disregard for nationality, collective punishments, the detention and cruel treatment of children under arrest, and an all-pervasive climate of oppression, suspicion and fear continue to shape the lives of Palestinian children. Every day and in nearly every aspect of life, they are dependent on the policies of the occupation authorities. Whether in the street, at school or at home, Palestinian children live in the shadow of mounting repression, violence and grief. Their condition could at least be described as “especially difficult circumstances”.169/

The grave situation in the occupied territories led since 1967 to frequent expressions of protest among the Palestinian population which were met with harsh repressive measures. The accumulation across generations of personal distress, the traumatic feeling of having been foresaken and adoption by the occupation authorities of oppressive measures such as the “iron-fist” policy and other unprecedented acts of violence against Palestinians in the mid-1980s provoked them increasingly to defy the occupation authorities. Popular outrage erupted during December 1987 in the Palestinian uprising, the intifadah, which could be regarded, inter alia, as an eloquent reminder of the continuing desire of Palestinian children for a childhood in peace and security, free from the dangers and humiliation of military occupation.

It has been universally acknowledged that all Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory, especially children, de jure, are protected by the relevant provisions of international conventional law, in particular the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, commonly referred to as the fourth Geneva Convention. Despite world-wide protests against the repressive measures taken by the occupying Power since 1967, and in particular the Israeli policy of “might, force and beatings” to quell the intifadah, the international community has not yet succeeded in persuading the occupying Power, a signatory to the fourth Geneva Convention, to accept the applicability of that Convention and other relevant norms of international law and morality. For the most vulnerable segment of the Palestinians under military occupation, the children, the need to be treated at least basically in conformity with the relevant provisions of international law is paramount. It is the responsibility of the international community, in particular the contracting parties to the fourth Geneva Convention, to ensure the application of the provisions of the Convention by the occupying Power. In addition, ensuring the urgently required application of the relevant provisions of international conventional law would have to be followed by the early termination of military occupation and the achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the question of Palestine.

* * *

Notes

1/ See General Assembly resolutions 1386 (XIV), “Declaration of the Rights of the Child”, adopted on 20 November 1959 (text reproduced in annex I below); 31/169, “International Year of the Child”, adopted on 21 December 1976, proclaiming 1979 International Year of the Child; and 44/25, “Convention on the Rights of the Child”, adopted on 20 November 1989.

2/ See annex I below.

3/ This study follows the format of “Palestinian children in the occupied territories”, 1981, which was prepared for, and under the guidance of, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

4/ See table 1 reproduced from Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1988 (No. 39), Jerusalem, Central Bureau of Statistics, 1988, tables XXVII/2 and II/5; Palestinian Statistical Abstract 1984/1985 (No. 6), Damascus, PLO, Economic Department, Central Bureau of Statistics, 1986, tables II/2, II/3, III/2 and III/3; Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1983 (No. 34), Jerusalem, Central Bureau of Statistics, 1983, table II/4; Census of Population and Housing 1967: East Jerusalem, Part II, (Jerusalem, Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Israel, 1970), table 8; Census of Population and Housing 1967: East Jerusalem, Part I, (Jerusalem, Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Israel, 1968), table 2; and “Health conditions of the Arab population in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine”, WHO document A41/INF.DOC./7 of 6 May 1988, annex, p. 6. It should be noted that the size and composition of the Palestinian population have not been officially determined for decades. The last reference contains a population estimate of 1,300,000 for 1967; the estimate was established by the Palestine Red Crescent Society and made available at the forty-first World Health Assembly by the Permanent Observer for the PLO to the United Nations Office at Geneva; the estimate exceeds by some 300,000 persons figures published in the above-mentioned Palestinian Statistical Abstract. The latter is used in this study.

5/ See Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1988, table XXVII/5.

6/ Estimates are based on sources indicated in note 4 above, on the report of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA for the period 1 July 1985-30 June 1986, (Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-first Session, Supplement No. 13 (A/41/13)), annex I, table 2; and on the report of the Group of Experts on the Social and Economic Impact of the Israeli Occupation on the Living Conditions of the Palestinian People in the Occupied Arab Territories of 17 October 1980 (document A/35/533, annex I), para. 15. See also the report of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA for the period 1 July 1988-30 June 1989, (Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 13 (A/44/13)), annex I, table 2.

7/ See table 1 above; Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1987, table XXVII/25; and Palestinian Statistical Abstract 1984/1985, tables II/8 and III/8.

8/ See Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1987, table XXVII/1; Palestinian Statistical Abstract 1984/1985, tables II/7 and III/7; Report of the Director-General, ILO, International Labour Conference, sixty-ninth session, 1983, appendix III, pp. 23 and 4; “Living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Arab territories”, report of the Secretary-General of 17 October 1980 (document A/35/533, annex I), para. 49; and WHO document A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, p. 6.

9/ “Children in situations of armed conflict”, document E/ICEF/1986/CRP.2 of 10 March 1986 of the 1986 session of the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), para. 23.

10/ Ibid., para. 25.

11/ D. Plattner, “Protection of children in international humanitarian law”, in International Review of the Red Cross, May-June 1984, No. 240, p. 141.

12/ See “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, reports submitted to the Committee on Foreign Relations (United States Senate) and Committee on Foreign Affairs (United States House of Representatives) by the Department of State, United States Government (Washington, D.C., Department of State, February 1989), p. 1381; The New York Times, 18 January 1989, p. A6; “Children of the stones”, (Washington, D.C., American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), [1988], p. 4; and “Report submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations by the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States pursuant to the recommendation of the Permanent Arab Committee for Human Rights, adopted by the Council of the League at its ninety-first session under resolution 4907 of 30 March 1989, transmitted by the letter dated 27 June 1989 from the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General (document A/44/364-S/20706), pp. 10 and 12.

13/ Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, (United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, No. 973), p. 320.

14/ Ibid., p. 308.

15/ Ibid., p. 336.

16/ See annex I below.

17/ See M. H. Darwish, “Status of the Palestinian child in and outside the occupied territories”, (Beirut, UNICEF Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, May 1982), pp. 31f. and 87f.; and document A/35/533, annex I, para. 51.

18/ See United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1384; the reports of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories of 4 October 1985 (document A/40/702), paras. 238-267; document A/41/680 of 20 October 1986, annex III, paras. 319-344 and 378-425; document A/42/650 of 15 October 1987, paras. 162-184; and “Investigation of suspicions against Israelis in Judea and Samaria” in The Karp Report), (Washington, D.C., Institute of Palestine Studies, 1984).

19/ United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1384.

20/ See the report of the team of consultants on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories (document A/39/233-E/1984/79, annex), p. 65.

21/ D. Peretz, “Intifadah: The Palestinian Uprising”, in Foreign Affairs, vol. 66, No. 5, summer 1988, p. 971.

22/ See Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1987, tables XXVII/7, XXVII/8 and XXVII/18; Palestinian Statistical Abstract 1984/1985, tables II/9 and III/9; document A/39/233-E/1984/79, annex, para. 99; “Health conditions of the Arab population in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine”, report of the Special Committee of Experts appointed to study the health conditions of the inhabitants of the occupied territories, WHO document A36/14 of 28 April 1983, p. 8; Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1987, tables XXVII/16 and XXVII/17; and Selected statistical tables on theeconomy of the occupied Palestinian territory (West Bank and Gaza Strip), (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 1989).

23/ See National Accounts of Judea, Samaria and Gaza Area, 1988-1986, Special Series, No. 818, (Jerusalem, Central Bureau of Statistics, 1988), tables 32 and 43; and WHO document A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, p. 18f.

24/ See note 22 above; and document A/35/533, annex I, paras. 77-79.

25/ See document A/39/233-E/1984/79, annex I, para. 81; Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1987, tables XXVII/21, XXVII/22 and XXVII/25; Palestinian Statistical Abstract 1984/1985, tables II/14, II/15, III/14 and III/15; WHO document A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, pp. 11 and 18; S. Graham-Brown, “Impact on the social structure of Palestinian society”, in Occupation: Israel over Palestine (Belmont, Massachusetts, 1983), N. H. Aruri (ed.), p. 249f.; “Occupation generation”, in The Middle East, 1982, p. 12; document A/35/533, annex I, para. 50.

26/ See “Health conditions of the Arab population in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine”, report of the Special Committee of Experts appointed to study the health conditions of the inhabitants of the occupied territories, WHO document A34/17 of 1 May 1981, p. 8 and “Arab women and children under Israel’s administration: a paper in rebuttal of document A/CONF.116/6”, transmitted by the letter dated 19 March 1985 from the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General (document A/40/188-E/1985/60, annex), para. 87.

27/ See “Occupation generation”, p. 14.

28/ See “Report of the Director-General”, ILO, 1983, appendix III, p. 8f.

29/ See Report of the Director-General, ILO, International Labour Conference, seventieth session, 1984, appendix III, p. 42; for information on child labour in the 1980s, see ILO, International Labour Conference, seventy-second session, 1986, appendix III, p. 48f.; document A/39/233-E/1984/79, annex, para. 87 and United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1387.

30/ Ibid.

31/ See note 22 above; and M. Benvenisti, 1986 Report (Jerusalem, The West Bank Data Base Project, 1986), p. 17.

32/ See Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1987, tables XXVII/1 and XXVII/19; and M. Benvenisti, 1987 Report (Jerusalem, The West Bank Data Base Project, 1987), pp. 8 and 18-24.

33/ See Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1987, table XXVII/18 and document A/42/650, paras. 30, 78 and 79.

34/ See National Accounts, tables 35 and 44; Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1987, table XXVII/1; document A/39/233-E/1984/79, annex, paras. 12-14 and 55-66; “Health conditions of the Arab population in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine”, report of the Special Committee of Experts appointed to study the health conditions of the inhabitants of the occupied territories, WHO document A35/16 of 30 April 1982), p. 14; WHO document A36/14, p. 8; and the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories of 24 October 1988 (document A/43/694), para. 249

35/ See Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1987, table XXVII/14; National Accounts, tables 32 and 43; WHO document A34/17, pp. 8 and 15; “Health conditions of the Arab population in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine”, report of the Special Committee of Experts appointed to study the health conditions of the inhabitants of the occupied territories, WHO document A37/13 of 7 May 1984, notes (p. 7 of the report) an adequate stocking of markets and inflation as a factor limiting access to essential foods such as animal protein.

36/ See WHO documents A36/14, p. 15 and A37/13, p. 7.

37/ See S. Ryan, “Economic dimensions of the uprising”, in Middle East Report, November-December 1988, No. 155, p. 40f.

38/ See United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1373.

39/ See document A/42/650, para. 78 and Benvenisti, op.cit., 1987, p. 8.

40/ See document A/43/694, para. 248.

41/ Benvenisti, op.cit., 1986, p. 16.

42/ See document A/41/680, annex III, para. 72 and Benvenisti, op.cit., 1987, p. 37.

43/ See I. Shahak, “Diplomacy must not obscure the realities of Israeli occupation”, in Middle East International, No. 351, 26 May 1989, p. 16; and H. Awartani, “The territories’ economic collapse – more than the intifadah at work”, in The Jerusalem Post, 29 March 1989.

44/ See Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1988, table II/6; document A/39/233-E/1984/79, annex, paras. 25-43 and 107-126 and Benvenisti, op.cit., 1986, p. 46f.:

“The number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank for the years 1975-1985 (end of years) is as follows:

1975 – 2,581	1979 – 10,001	1983 – 27,500
1976 – 3,176	1980 – 12,424	1984 – 42,600
1977 – 5,023	1981 – 16,119	1985 – 52,000
1978 – 7,361	1982 – 20,600

“…

“By the end of 1985, the demand pattern in the West Bank housing market had changed considerably. The land speculation scandal and the collapse of the Emmanuel Development Corporation deterred many potential buyers. The stock of unsold apartments increased markedly in some urban centres, and smaller developers experienced financial difficulties. The slack demand at the end of 1985 may result in further slowing down of settler movement to the West Bank in 1986.”

45/ The estimate is based on United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1385f. and Benvenisti, op.cit., 1986, p. 49.

46/ Quoted in document A/41/680, annex III, p. 53.

47/ See Benvenisti, op.cit., 1987, p. 61f.

48/ See note 18 above.

49/ Benvenisti, op.cit., 1987, p. 65.

50/ Document A/41/680, annex III, p. 72.

51/ Benvenisti, op.cit., 1986, p. 39 and 42; document A/42/650, para. 46; J. Schechla, “The past as prologue to the intifadah“, in Without Prejudice, vol. I, No. 2, 1988, p. 89; and E. Sahliyeh, “The West Bank pragmatic elite: the uncertain future”, in Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. XV, No. 4, Issue 60, pp. 34-45.

52/ See Benvenisti, op.cit., 1986, p. 43; and op.cit., 1987, p. 43; and J. Abu Shakrah, “The ‘Iron Fist’, October 1985 to January 1986”, in Journal of Palestine Studies, vol. XV, No. 4, Issue 60, pp. 120-126.

53/ See document A/41/680, annex III, p. 67.

54/ See tables 2 and 3 reflecting information contained in the Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1988, tables XXVII/47 and XXVII/48; Palestinian Statistical Abstract 1984/1985, tables II/21, II/22, III/21 and III/22; and the report of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA for the period 1 July 1987-30 June 1988 (Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-third Session, Supplement No. 13 (A/43/13), annex I, table 5. It should be noted that the number of educational institutions, classes and pupils in the occupied Palestinian territory has not been conclusively determined for decades.

55/ See W. Scott, Measurement and Analysis of Progress at the Local Level, volume I, An Overview (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva, 1978), p. 79f.

56/ See Darwish, op.cit., p. 45f.

57/ Ibid.

58/ See Palestinian Statistical Abstract 1984/1985, tables II/21 and III/21; and document A/40/188-E/1985/60, annex, paras. 61 and 62.

59/ Ibid.

60/ See table 3 above.

61/ See Darwish, op.cit., p. 49 and table 55.

62/ See table 3 above; and Palestinian Statistical Abstract 1984/1985, tables II/21 and III/21.

63/ Ibid.

64/ See “Blocking the brain drain”, The Middle East, February 1988, pp. 37-38.

65/ See document A/40/188-E/1985/60, annex, para. 64.

66/ Report of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA for the period 1 July 1983-30 June 1984, (Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 13 (A/39/13)), paras. 55 and 56.

67/ See E.W. Said and others, “A profile of the Palestinian people”, in Blaming the Victims, E. W. Said and Ch. Hitchens (eds.), (London/New York, 1988), p. 290.

68/ See document A/41/680, annex III, paras. 37 and 281-296.

69/ Ibid., para. 43 and 314; and document A/40/702, para. 138.

70/ See documents A/40/702, paras. 143 and 145; and A/42/650, paras. 103, 105, 112 and 212; and “Monthly report on Israeli settlement operations and acts of aggression against Arab citizens and their property during November 1987”, transmitted by the letter dated 22 December 1987 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General (document A/43/63-S/19376, annex), p. 3.

71/ Ibid.; and “Occupation generation”, p. 11f.

72/ See document A/41/680, annex III, paras. 43 and 82; “Occupation generation”, p. 13f.; and “Blocking the brain drain”, pp. 37-38.

73/ See WHO document A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, p. 13.

74/ See “Health conditions of the Arab population in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine”, WHO document A40/INF.DOC./3 of 3 May 1987, annex 2, p. 12 and Palestine Statistical Abstract 1984/1985, tables II/22 and III/22.

75/ See Palestinian Statistical Abstract 1984/1985, table II/22; and M. Benvenisti and S. Khayat, The West Bank and Gaza Atlas (Jerusalem, 1988), table 1.

76/ Ibid.

77/ See “Blocking the brain drain”, p. 38.

78/ See document A/40/188-E/1985/60, annex, para. 70; and Benvenisti and Khayat, op.cit., p. 39.

79/ See Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1988, table XXVII/49.

80/ Ibid.; and Benvenisti, op.cit., 1986, p. 16.

81/ See WHO document A37/13, p. 4f.; document A/42/650, para. 54; and “The casualties of conflict: Medical care and human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip”, report of a medical fact-finding mission by Physicians for Human Rights (Somerville, Massachusetts, Physicians for Human Rights, 30 March 1988), p. 33.

82/ See E. Pallis, “No pity for the children”, in Middle East International, No. 343, 3 February 1989, p. 8.

83/ See WHO document A40/INF.DOC./3, annex 2, p. 7, table 1 and p. 13; document A/35/533, annex I, para. 94; and WHO documents A34/17, p. 9; A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, p. 18; A36/14, p. 13; and A37/13, p. 8.

84/ See WHO documents A37/13, p. 4; A34/17, pp. 7-9; and A36/14, p. 6.

85/ See WHO document A34/17, p. 6; Darwish, op.cit., p. 62; and document A/40/188-E/1985/60, annex, paras. 90 and 91.

86/ See Darwish, op.cit., p. 62.

87/ See WHO document A35/16, p. 5; document A/40/188-E/1985/60, annex, para. 90; “Health conditions of the Arab population in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine”, report of the Special Committee of Experts appointed to study the health conditions of the inhabitants of the occupied territories, WHO document A38/10 of 15 April 1985, p. 7; and WHO documents A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, p. 18 and A40/INF.DOC./3, annex 2, p. 26.

88/ See WHO document A35/16, p. 5f. and Darwish, op.cit., p. 70f.

89/ See Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1988, table XXVII/5; and WHO document A38/10, p. 3f.

90/ See document A/40/188-E/1985/60, annex, paras. 70-73; “Health assistance to refugees and displaced persons in the Middle East: Physical and mental health of the population of the occupied territories and of populations served by UNRWA in the Middle East”, WHO document A26/21 of 2 May 1973, para. 27; WHO document A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, p. 18; Darwish, op.cit., pp. 22-27 and 70f.; and the report of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA for the period 1 July 1986-30 June 1987 (Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-second Session, Supplement No. 13 (A/42/13)), charts 2 and 3.

91/ See Darwish, op.cit., pp. 62 and 70f.; document A/42/13, chart 3; and WHO documents A37/13, p. 7; A40/INF.DOC./3, annex 2, tables 1 and 2; and A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, p. 18f.

92/ See WHO documents A37/13, p. 7; and A40/INF.DOC./3, annex 2, p. 19. In 1982, approximately 9.3 per cent and, in 1983, some 6.8 per cent of children born in hospitals in the West Bank had a birth weight below 2500 grams.

93/ See WHO documents A37/13, p. 8f.; A40/INF.DOC./3, annex 2, figure 5 and tables 4 and 5; and A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, p. 19.

94/ See WHO document A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, p. 18f.; Pallis, op.cit., p. 8; The New York Times, 14 August 1989, p. A6; and Statistical Abstract of Israel, 1988, table III/14.

95/ See WHO documents A40/INF.DOC./3, annex 2, p. 15 and A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, p. 18f.

96/ Ibid.

97/ Ibid., p. 16.

98/ See WHO documents A35/16, p. 9 and A40/INF.DOC./3, annex 2, p. 19.

99/ See document A/40/188-E/1985/60, annex, paras. 75-80.

100/ See WHO documents A38/10, p. 7 and A37/13, p. 9.

101/ See WHO document A41/INF.DOC./7, annex, p. 18.

102/ See WHO document A34/17 p. 9; and documents A/40/188-E/1985/60, annex, paras. 87-89 and A/43/694, para. 249.

103/ See WHO document A38/10, p. 6.

104/ WHO document A26/21, paras. 28 and 29.

105/ “Implementation of 21 C/Resolution 14.1 concerning educational and cultural institutions in the occupied Arab territories: Report of the Director-General”, UNESCO document of the twenty-second session of the General Conference (22C/18) of 30 August 1983, addendum (116 EX/16 Add.) of 9 June 1983, annex V (116 EX/16) of 13 May 1983, p. 17.

106/ See document E/ICEF/1986/CRP.2, para. 21.

107/ See United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1385.

108/ See documents A/41/680, annex III, para. 192 and A/43/63-S/19376, annex, p. 13; and relevant information reported in documents A/40/702, A/42/650 and A/43/694.

109/ See documents A/40/702, para. 173 and A/43/63-S/19376, p. 8; and “Children of the stones”, (ADC), p. 13f.

110/ “ENDpapers Nine: Israel and Palestine”, K. Coates (ed.), ENDpapers, winter 1984-85, p. 26.

111/ See documents A/40/702, pp. 66ff; A/43/694, para. 264 and A/44/364 -S/20706, annex, pp. 10 and 12.

112/ See document A/43/694, para. 538.

113/ See D. Lawrence and K. Nasr, Children of Palestinian Refugees vs. the Israeli Military: Personal Accounts of Arrest, Detention and Torture (Lafayette, California, 1987), p. 23; “Children of the stones”, (ADC), p. 10; and documents A/41/680, para. 352 and A/40/188-E/1985/60, annex, para. 9.

114/ See documents A/40/702, para. 293 and A/41/680/ annex III, paras. 56 and 357.

115/ Document A/43/694, para. 539.

116/ See document A/40/702, paras. 51 and 206; “Children of the stones“, (Occupied Jerusalem, Palestinian Center for the Study of Non-Violence [1988]), pp. 23 and 25; and document A/43/694, para. 530.

117/ See document A/41/680, annex III, para. 366.

118/ Benvenisti, op.cit., 1987, p. 70.

119/ See documents A/41/680, annex III, para. 200 and Benvenisti, op.cit., 1986, p. 43.

120/ See documents A/43/63-S/19376, annex, p. 8, A/41/680, annex III, paras. 279 and 280; and A/40/702, para. 155.

121/ See documents A/39/233-E/1984/79, annex, para. 65, and appendix III; A/40/702, para. 202; A/41/680, annex III, pp. 9f. and 59-64; and A/42/650, paras. 63 and 65.

122/ See United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1381; and notes 20 above and 148 below.

123/ See documents A/41/680, annex III, para. 11, A/43/63-S/19376, annex, p. 13; A/42/650, paras. 60 and 209; Benvenisti, op.cit., 1986, p. 45; and United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1384.

124/ See document A/40/702, para. 237 and p. 80, table “Incidents”.

125/ United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1377.

126/ See document A/43/694, paras. 31 and 612.

127/ See document A/41/680, annex III, para. 67.

128/ See Benvenisti, op.cit., 1987, p. 40.

129/ Ibid., p. 41.

130/ See the report submitted by the Secretary-General to the Security Council in accordance with resolution 605 (1987) of 21 January 1988 (document S/19443), para. 12.

131/ See The New York Times, 9 December 1988, p. A10; “Uprising update: December 8, 1988”, (Chicago Database Project on Palestinian Human Rights, [December 1988]; [p. 2]; “The children of stones”, No. 2, [Geneva, Office of the International Co-ordinating Committee for Non-Governmental Organizations on the Question of Palestine (ICCP), June 1988], p. 5f.; “The children of stones”, No. 3, [Geneva, ICCP, August 1988], pp. 5-9; “The children of stones”, No. 4 (Geneva, ICCP, 15 October 1988), pp. 6-8; and document A/43/694, paras. 33-78.

132/ “The casualties of conflict…”, p. 4; and see the report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories of 21 November 1988 (document A/43/806), para. 20.

133/ Document A/43/694, para. 370.

134/ Ibid., paras. 336, 353, 365 and 613; and “The casualties of conflict…”, p. 19.

135/ See document A/43/694, para. 357.

136/ See “Report prepared by the Social Affairs Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization on the brutal measures being taken against children and women in the occupied Palestinian territories”, transmitted by the letter dated 2 May 1988 from the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General (document A/43/347-S/19857, annex), p. 4; and J. A. Graff and M. Boulby, Palestinian Children and Israeli State Violence (Toronto, Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation of Canada, April 198[9]), pp. 1 and 5.

137/ See “The casualties of conflict…”, pp. 9-14 and 18-20; documents A/43/694, paras. 339, 342 and 353; and A/44/364-S/20706, annex, pp. 13-15; and Graff and Boulby, op.cit., pp. 4-6. The policy of beatings was declared illegal by the Attorney General of Israel (see, for example, United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1379).

138/ P. Lancaster, “Children of the Middle East – the innocent victims of political turmoil”, in The Middle East, June 1989, p. 9.

139/ See documents A/43/694, paras. 264 and 275; and S/19443, para. 11.

140/ See document A/43/694, para. 550.

141/ Ibid., para. 294; documents A/43/347-S/19857, annex, p. 5 and A/44/364- S/20706, annex, p. 12; and Graff and Boulby, op.cit., p. 7.

142/ Women’s Organization for Women Political Prisoners (WOFPP), Newsletter, Tel Aviv, 20 December 1988, p. 2.

143/ See document A/43/694, paras. 531 and 370.

144/ See documents A/43/806, para. 5 and A/43/694, para. 552; and An Examination of the Detention of Human Rights Workers and Lawyers from the West Bank and Gaza and Conditions of Detention at Ketziot, New York/Jerusalem, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, December 1988, p. 72.

145/ See “Monthly report on Israeli settlement and acts of aggression against Arab citizens and their property during the months of July and August 1988”, transmitted by the letter dated 4 November 1988 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General (document A/43/784-S/20261, annex), p. 4; and document A/43/694, para. 60.

146/ See document A/43/694, para. 294.

147/ Ch. de Brie, “Enfants dans la cible“, in Le Monde diplomatique, July 1989, p. 12 (in French the quote reads as follows: “Il faut créer une telle colère des parents contre leurs enfants qu’ils aient envie de les battre à mort“).

148/ See document A/43/806, annex, paras. 9 and 38; document A/43/694, paras. 51, 386, 397 and 419; “Uprising Update: December 8, 1988”, p. 2; United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, pp. 1381-1382 and 1386; Punishing a Nation: Human Rights Violations during the Palestinian Uprising: December 1987-1988, [The West Bank], Al-Haq: Law in Service of Man, December 1988, p. 218f.; and Report: Human rights violations during the Palestinian uprising:1988-1989 (Tel Aviv, Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights, [1989], pp. 10f. and 54f.

149/ Ibid.

150/ See document A/43/694, paras. 387, 432 and 435; and United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1384.

151/ See Punishing a Nation…, p. 254.

152/ United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1383.

153/ See The New York Times, 9 December 1988, p. A10; Ryan, op.cit., p. 40f; and documents A/43/694, paras. 60, 77 and 78; and A/44/13, para. 97.

154/ “Report of the Director-General, ILO, International Labour Conference, seventy-sixth session, 1989, appendix III, p. 11.

155/ See document A/43/694, para. 430.

156/ Report of the Director-General, ILO, 1989, Appendix III, p. 11.

157/ See document A/43/806, annex, para. 9.

158/ See documents S/19443, para. 15 and A/43/694, paras. 499-527 and 582-599; and The New York Times, 13 April 1989, p. A12.

159/ See documents A/43/694, paras. 476-497; A/43/806, annex, para. 24; A/44/13, paras. 86-89 and 102-104; and United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1382.

160/ See document A/43/694, para. 489 and A/43/806, annex, para. 9; the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People of 27 October 1988 (Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-third Session, Supplement No. 35 (A/43/35)) para. 26; and “Uprising Update: December 8, 1988”, [p. 15].

161/ See documents A/43/694, para. 61 and A/43/806, para. 11.

162/ See document A/43/694, paras. 78 and 429; and United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, pp. 1383 and 1386. As regards medical attention, The DataBase Project on Palestinian Human Rights states on page 77 that reports continued to be heard that Israeli soldiers were not allowing Red Crescent ambulances to evacuate the injured from scenes of clashes:

“The supervisor of Nablus’ Red Crescent, Dr. Yaqoub Aloul, said in an interview that not only are ambulances regularly denied access to scenes of clashes, but that the ambulances are often hijacked by the army and drivers and nurses beaten”;

The following information was also given there:

“According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, February 8 [1989], the number of patients from the West Bank and Gaza receiving treatment in Israeli hospitals has shrunk dramatically since last June. Especially serious is the plight of seriously ill children: the 2000-2500 hours previously alloted to children from the occupied territories has been slashed, affecting 65% of West Bank cases and 30% in Gaza”.

163/ See document A/43/694, paras. 334 and 342.

164/ See A/43/694, paras. 433-439; and “Communiqué adopted at the urgent meeting of the members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference at the United Nations, held in New York on 19 January 1988, concerning the desecration of Al-Masjed Al-Aqsa on 15 January 1988 during Friday prayers”, transmitted by the letter dated 20 January 1988 from the Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General (document A/43/94-S/19439), annex, p. 2).

165/ See document A/43/694, paras. 55, 78 and 466; and United States Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 1988”, p. 1383.

166/ “The casualties of conflict…”, p. 37.

167/ See R. I. Khalidi, “The uprising and the Palestine question”, in World Policy Journal, vol. V, No. 3, p. 500.

168/ Report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People of 8 November 1989 (Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 35 (A/44/35)), para. 22.

169/ See UNICEF, “Overview: Children in especially difficult circumstances”, document E/ICEF/1986/L.6 of 28 February 1986 of the 1986 session of the Executive Board of UNICEF, para. 31; and “Children in especially difficult circumstances”, document E/ICEF/1986/L.3 of 27 February 1986 of the 1986 session of the Executive Board of UNICEF, p. 5.

Annex I

Declaration of the Rights of the Child

Proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations

on 20 November 1959 (resolution 1386 (XIV))

PREAMBLE

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have, in the Charter, reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person, and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas the United Nations has, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status,

Whereas the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth,

Whereas the need for such special safeguards has been stated in the Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 1924, and recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the statutes of specialized agencies and international organizations concerned with the welfare of children,

Whereas mankind owes to the child the best it has to give,

Now therefore,

The General Assembly

Proclaims this Declaration of the Rights of the Child to the end that he may have a happy childhood and enjoy for his own good and for the good of society the rights and freedoms herein set forth, and calls upon parent, upon men and women as individuals, and upon voluntary organizations, local authorities and national Governments to recognize these rights and strive for their observance by legislative and other measures progressively taken in accordance with the following principles:

Principle 1

The child shall enjoy all the rights set forth in this Declaration. Every child, without any exception whatsoever, shall be entitled to these rights, without distinction or discrimination on account of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, whether of himself or of his family.

Principle 2

The child shall enjoy special protection, and shall be given opportunities and facilities, by law and by other means, to enable him to develop physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and socially in a healthy and normal manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. In the enactment of laws for this purpose, the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration.

Principle 3

The child shall be entitled from his birth to a name and a nationality.

Principle 4

The child shall enjoy the benefits of social security. He shall be entitled to grow and develop in health; to this end, special care and protection shall be provided both to him and to his mother, including adequate prenatal and postnatal care. The child shall have the right to adequate nutrition, housing, recreation and medical services.

Principle 5

The child who is physically, mentally or socially handicapped shall be given the special treatment, education and care required by his particular condition.

Principle 6

The child, for the full and harmonious development of his personality, needs love and understanding. He shall, wherever possible, grow up in the care and under the responsibility of his parent, and, in any case, in an atmosphere of affection and of moral and material security; a child of tender years shall not, save in exceptional circumstances, be separated from his mother. Society and the public authorities shall have the duty to extend particular care to children without a family and to those without adequate means of support. Payment of State and other assistance towards the maintenance of children of large families is desirable.

Principle 7

The child is entitled to receive education, which shall be free and compulsory, at least in the elementary stages. He shall be given an education which will promote his general culture and enable him, on a basis of equal opportunity, to develop his abilities, his individual judgement, and his sense of moral and social responsibility, and to become a useful member of society.

The best interests of the child shall be the guiding principle of those responsible for his education and guidance; that responsibility lies in the first place with his parents.

The child shall have full opportunity for play and recreation, which should be directed to the same purposes as education; society and the public authorities shall endeavour to promote the enjoyment of this right.

Principle 8

The child shall in all circumstances be among the first to receive protection and relief.

Principle 9

The child shall be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation. He shall not be the subject of traffic, in any form.

The child shall not be admitted to employment before an appropriate minimum age; he shall in no case be caused or permitted to engage in any occupation or employment which would prejudice his health or education, or interfere with his physical, mental or moral development.

Principle 10

The child shall be protected from practices which may foster racial, religious and any other form of discrimination. He shall be brought up in a spirit of understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples, peace and universal brotherhood, and in full consciousness that his energy and talents should be devoted to the service of his fellow men.

Annex II

Palestinian children under 10 years of age who

reportedly died as a result of acts of violence,

December 1987 – December 1988

I. Died as a result of gunshots

Name	Age	Date	Place
Mohammad Abu Zeid	4 yrs.	25 Feb. 1988	Qabatya, West Bank
Rasha Hatem Argawi	9 yrs.	17 Aug. 1988	Jenin, West Bank
Dia’ Jihad Fayez Moh’d	5 yrs.	18 Oct. 1988	Nablus, West Bank
Usama Abu Ghanirneh	3 yrs.	9 Nov. 1988	Shaja’iyeh, Gaza

II. Died as a result of tear gas

Name	Age	Date	Place
Khaled al Qidri	14 dys.	23 Dec. 1987	Khan Yunis, Gaza
Amal Qseisa	5 dys.	23 Dec. 1987	Jabalya, Gaza
Raed Obeid	3 mos.	1 Jan. 1988	Jabalya, Gaza
Moh’d Shanin	75 dys.	14 Jan. 1988	Zeitun, Gaza
Imad Abu Asi	15 dys.	14 Jan. 1988	Zeitun, Gaza
Samer Badaha	5 mos.	14 Jan. 1988	Deir Amaar, W. Bank
Abdul Fatah Miskawi	2 mos.	16 Jan. 1988	Qalqilya, West Bank
Haithum Shqerio	4 mos.	16 Jan. 1988	Qalqilya, West Bank
Arafat Moh’d Rous	6 mos.	17 Feb. 1988	Rafah, Gaza
Rana Adwan	3 mos.	17 Feb. 1988	Rafah, Gaza
Ranin Sfair	3 mos.	21 Feb. 1988	Rafah, Gaza
Khitam ‘Aram	8 yrs.	3 Mar. 1988	Rafah, Gaza
Salim Musa Amer	10 mos.	7 Mar. 1988	Khan Yunis, Gaza
Sherin Elayan	4 mos.	8 Mar. 1988	Deir Balah, Gaza
Khaled Hawajreh	3 mos.	8 Mar. 1988	Breij, Gaza
Husef Hassuna	3 mos.	8 Mar. 1988	Deir Balah, Gaza
Sanaa Ebeid	40 dys.	9 Mar. 1988	Khan Yunis, Gaza
Yahia Maghrabi	2 mos.	13 Mar. 1988	Zeitun, Gaza
Ola Abu Sharifa	4 mos.	19 Mar. 1988	Shati, Gaza
Sherin Maniarawi	1 mo.	29 Mar. 1988	Rafah, Gaza
Hawid Asmadi	20 dys.	2 Apr. 1988	Jenin, West Bank
Dina Sawafri	3 yrs.	27 May 1988	Zeitun, Gaza
Maisa Jaffal	40 dys.	8 June 1988	Dhahiriyeh, W. Bank
Thaer Badr	25 dys.	24 July 1988	Jabalya, Gaza
Moh’ Aza	2 yrs.	7 Sept.1988	Qadoura, West Bank
Nasreen Nawajhah	3 yrs.	26 Oct. 1988	Khan Yunis, Gaza

III. Died as a result of other or unknown acts of violence

Name	Age	Date	Place
Mohammad Skafi	4 yrs.	12 Mar. 1988	Shaja’iyeh, Gaza
Ziya Muhammed	5 yrs.	18 Oct. 1988	Nablus, West Bank

Sources: “Uprising Update: December 8, 1988: Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces, settlers and civilians during the first year of the Uprising” [9 pages], (Chicago, The Database Project on Palestinian Human Rights, [December 1988]); document A/43/806, para. 52; Graff and Boulby, op.cit., pp. 21-39; and document A/44/364-S/20706, annex, tables “martyrs by age group”, “martyrs, October [1988]” and “martyrs, November 1988”.

– – – – –

Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

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