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Photos:
Screenshot of the B'Tselem video.

Israel detained Wadi Maswadeh after accusing him of throwing a rock. published by Maan News Service

Wadi Maswadeh, close-up, published by 972Mag

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Video shot by activist from Israeli rights organization B'Tselem shows soldiers circling child; another video shows boy alongside his handcuffed and blindfolded father; army to investigate.

By Gili Cohen for Haaretz

Israel Defense Forces soldiers earlier this week were videotaped detaining a five-year-old Palestinian boy in Hebron, after he allegedly threw a stone at an Israeli car on Tuesday.

The video, shot by Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, shows soldiers from the Givati Brigade stationed in the West Bank city detaining Wa’adi Maswada, aged five years and nine months.

In the video, one of the soldiers is heard asking the boy, “Where is Daddy?” Several local residents try to speak to the soldiers and deter them from proceeding with the arrest. One of the soldiers then tells them [in English], “He’s a child, eh?… No, but he threw it.” Another soldier says to the boy and the crowd, “Get over here, don’t set me off.” A Palestinian teenager takes the child by his hand and leads him off to the side. The whole time the 5-year-old can be heard crying.

Six soldiers can be seen gathering around the two, as the teenager stars telling the commanding officer from the Givati Brigade where the child lives. The child is led to a military Jeep, and the officer tells the child, “Climb in with me.” The child starts to flail and tries to run away, still crying, while residents start to gather around. An older person arrives and takes the child’s hand and they climb up together, as the boy continues to weep and is eventually dragged into the Jeep.

According to reports by B’Tselem, the soldiers arrived at the home of the Maswada family together with the boy. The mother was home at the time, according to B'Tselem, and the officer told the mother he was going to turn the child over to Palestinian police, but that they refused to take him before his father, Karem, arrived. Half an hour later the father came home, and the officer told him he was arresting the boy and turning him over to the Palestinian police.

“I asked the officer, ‘Why would you arrest a five-year old?’" the father said in his testimony to B'Tselem. "A soldier standing next to the officer showed me a stone and claimed my son threw it and that it hit the tire of a Jewish settler’s car driving north near the Abed checkpoint."

The father said he tried to persuade the officer not to take the boy to the District Coordination and Liaison Administration. The officer told him he would be arrested as well if he didn’t let the boy go.

"I went inside and brought Wa’adi out," the father said. "He was hiding inside, crying.” According to testimony from the family, the two were taken to a military base where they were detained for about half an hour. Afterward the two were brought to the police checkpoint in Hebron.

Another video shows the father, his eyes covered with a piece of flannel, handcuffed, with the boy standing next to him. At the same time, one of the soldiers pulls out a digital camera and documents the B’Tselem field worker who is filming the events. According to the family, about half an hour later, a lieutenant colonel shows up, apparently from the local District Coordination and Liaison headquarters. Only after he arrives are the father’s blindfold and handcuffs removed, and the officer starts to interrogate the man. Relatives report that a Palestinian liaison officer later arrived accompanied by several policemen. The father and son were handed over and taken to the Palestinian police station. After a brief interrogation they were released.

In a letter to the legal counsel for the Judea and Samaria Division, Jessica Montell, executive director of B’Tselem wrote, “The video shows clearly that this was not the error of a lone soldier but rather conduct that, appallingly, is seen as reasonable by all involved, including senior commanding officers. It is especially astonishing that, at no point during this incident, were any red flags raised: not by the fact that they terrified a 5-year-old, threatened him and his parents about turning them over to the Palestinian police, threatening to arrest the father, which has no legal basis whatsoever, and not his handcuffing or blindfolding in the presence of his young child.”

Two days ago, the website of Hakol Hayehudi reported that a week ago, soldiers handcuffed two Jewish children, aged 10 and 13, using plasticuffs, after the two showed up at a construction site between the village of Assira A-Kabilla and the Jewish settlement of Yitzhar where reservoirs are being dug. According to the website, the soldiers who were securing the location detained the two children for several minutes and released them only after warning them never to come back to the site.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit responded to the report by saying: We regret that B'Tselem has chosen – on a regular basis – to distribute videos of this kind to the media before clarifying the issue with the army first. The incident involved a minor who threw stones at a road in Hebron. IDF soldiers detained the minor, transferred him to his parents and then to Palestinian police for further handling."

Another army official said the child was not arrested at any point, and that "it is unnecessary to point out that a stone thrown by a minor can harm a person. The military prosecutor is not yet familiar with the incident. It will be investigated by the relevant authorities."

Regarding the incident in Yitzhar, an IDF official said that forces tried to prevent the youths from acting out in the area where the soldiers were and from damaging their personal equipment. "At no point in time were the youths handcuffed or arrested," the IDF Spokesperson said.

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HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces briefly detained a five-year-old Palestinian boy in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, drawing condemnation Thursday from rights activists.

Footage shot by the Jerusalem-based B'Tselem group showed soldiers dragging the distraught toddler into an army jeep after accusing him of throwing a rock in the Palestinian city.

B'Tselem denounced Wadi Maswadeh's detention as "illegal" and a "grave incident" in a letter to a legal advisor for the Israeli army, which defended the detention on security grounds.

Under Israeli law, children under age of 12 cannot be held criminally liable, B'Tselem director Jessica Montell said in a statement.

"The security forces are not allowed to arrest or detain children under that age, even when they are suspected of having committed criminal offenses, and the authorities must deal with the law-breaking in other ways," Montell said.

The military defended the detention as necessary to protect Israeli civilians living in the city in settlements, which are broadly viewed as illegal under international law.

"The child was not arrested and no charges were filed," the Israeli army said in an emailed statement.

The military said the minor had been "caught in the act of hurling rocks towards a public street in Hebron and, by doing so, endangering passers-by in the area.

"IDF soldiers intervened on the spot and accompanied the minor to his parents. From there he was passed on to the care of the Palestinian Security Forces, all the while accompanied by his parents."

The statement added that it was "critical to bear in mind that even rocks thrown by children can pose a lethal threat to people," adding that 150 Israelis had been injured in rock attacks since January.

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IDF legal adviser: Detention of 5-year-old Palestinian boy was legitimate

Detention of child in Hebron meant to 'thwart a security threat,’ IDF's legal adviser says, but adds that soldiers erred in detaining boy’s father; B'Tselem: Soldiers committed 'grave errors.
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By Gili Cohen | Jul. 31, 2013 | 7:11 PM

The Israel Defense Forces' detention of a five-year-old Palestinian boy in Hebron earlier this month was a legitimate step in order to “thwart the threat posed by the activities of a minor,” the IDF’s legal adviser in the West Bank has ruled.

Earlier in July, IDF soldiers were videotaped detaining five-year-old Wa’adi Maswada and his father in Hebron, after the boy allegedly threw a stone at an Israeli car. The IDF opened an investigation into the incident following a demand by the Israeli human rights watchdog B’Tselem.

In a letter that legal adviser Col. Ben Barak sent last week to B’Tselem's executive director, Jessica Montell, he explains that “IDF soldiers and Israeli security personnel sometimes encounter situations where children under the age of 12, without any parental supervision, hurl stones at civilians, vehicles and members of the security forces and participate in actions that disrupt public order."

The letter, a response to B'Tselem's complaint, stated that, "It should be pointed out that such incidents create a significant hazard for passersby and for members of the security forces and can even pose a danger for the children themselves, who are not at the time under the supervision of the adults who are responsible for their welfare.”

The IDF’s legal adviser makes it clear in his letter that minors under the age of 12 are not criminally responsible for their actions and therefore they cannot be arrested or placed on trial.

“However,” he emphasizes, “that does not mean that IDF soldiers are not authorized to deal with incidents where a minor is endangering the safety of the public, and is even endangering himself or herself. In our view, the security forces have the authority to undertake action in order to remove the hazard posed by the activities of these minors to themselves and to others. Such action can include removing the minors from the area and placing them in the custody of their parents or the Palestinian authorities, which, in accordance with the interim agreement, are responsible for social services.”

Col. Ben Barak adds that, “In situations where IDF soldiers see children performing dangerous actions, such as hurling stones at passing vehicles, it would be totally irresponsible on the part of these soldiers to ignore what is happening and to allow the children to persist in their actions without any interference and to continue with their hazardous behavior.”

It is the perception of the IDF, says Ben Barak, that the “removal of the hazard through the distancing of the children from the area and through their immediate transfer to their parents’ custody or, alternatively, to the care of the Palestinian authorities, so that they can continue the treatment process as they see fit, is legitimate, as would be similar measures undertaken to deal with a minor involved in such activities in Israel.”

The IDF legal adviser defines the incident in Hebron as a “complex dilemma” and clearly states that, in such cases, IDF soldiers must behave “with the required measure of sensitivity, while continually protecting the welfare of the children and guarding to the optimal level their dignity and their needs as minors.”

In his letter, Ben Barak states categorically that the soldiers involved in the incident sought to act in this spirit after the boy hurled stones, thereby significantly endangering himself as well as passersby.” He adds that the soldiers sought to “locate the boys’ parents and to transfer the child to the care of the Palestinian authorities.” He also notes that the soldiers erred in detaining the father, whom they handcuffed and whose eyes they covered “before the two were released to the custody of the Palestinian police and in the absence of any suspicion justifying the above measures.”

Ben Barak also refers to the reaction of GOC Central Command Major General Nitzan Alon to the incident, and to the claim that the soldiers took inappropriate actions in the Hebron episode. Ben Barak emphasizes in his letter that Maj. Gen. Alon wanted “to make it crystal clear to his soldiers that the above actions were unworthy, especially since the child was very young and especially since the father had already been found.”

B’Tselem’s Montell responded to Col. Ben Barak’s statements with a letter sent in copy to Military Advocate General Danny Efroni. In the letter, Montell states that, in the actions undertaken by the soldiers, there were “fundamental and grave errors indicating total failure in the manner of their dealing with the child, whose young age was so obvious. Thus, I was surprised to discover that you are justifying the soldiers’ actions in this incident.”