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Palestinian 14-year-old schoolgirl Malak al-Khatib is greeted by relatives after her release from an Israeli jail on February 13, 2015, in the West Bank Palestinian town of Tulkarem. Photo by AFP
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RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities on Friday released 14-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl Malak al-Khatib after a two month prison sentence.

Al-Khatib, from the town of Beitin near Ramallah, was arrested last December and sentenced to two months in jail on the charge of stone-throwing and possession of a knife.

The Palestinian Prisoner's Society said al-Khatib was also fined 6,000 shekels ($1,500).

Israeli forces arrest about 1,000 children every year in the occupied West Bank, often on charges of stone-throwing, according to rights group Defense for Children International Palestine.

But the case of Malak has brought countless media organizations flocking to her family's door and attracted more public attention than most.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Club estimates that 200 Palestinian minors are held in Israeli prisons, but only four are girls, and Malak was the youngest.

In a report released in February 2013, the UN children's agency UNICEF criticized Israel for its treatment of arrested Palestinian children, saying their interrogation mixes "intimidation, threats and physical violence, with the clear purpose of forcing the child to confess."

"Children have been threatened with death, physical violence, solitary confinement and sexual assault, against themselves or a family member," the report said.
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By Haaretz | Feb. 13, 2015 | 6:57 PM

Israel released a 14-year-old Palestinian girl from prison on Friday, according to AFP.

Malak al-Khatib from the village of Beitin, near Ramallah, was arrested on her way home from school on December 31. The Israeli army charged her with stone-throwing, attempted stone-throwing and possession of a knife.

Al-Khatib was sentenced to two months in prison, and also given a suspended sentence of three months and fined 6,000 shekels (about $1,500). She was convicted on three counts: “attempting to throw objects at a transportation route, possessing a knife and throwing objects at a person or at property.”

Out of a total of more than 5,500 Palestinians held by Israel, about 150 are minors, the vast majority of them male, according to official figures from November, provided by Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.
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by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Israeli Authorities released, on Friday noon, the youngest Palestinian detainee, Malak al-Khatib, after holding her captive since December 31, 2014

The child was moved to the Jabara Israeli military roadblock, south of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, where her family and dozens of residents received her.

Malak was held in the HaSharon Israeli prison for women, and faced very difficult conditions during her imprisonment, in addition to being interrogated without a lawyer or the presence of any family member.

Last month, the ‘Ofer Israeli military court sentenced Khatib to two-month imprisonment, and 6000 NIS New Israeli Shekels fine. She was sent to court four times facing three charges of “throwing stones at the soldiers.”

Her family was never allowed to see her, and were prevented from talking to her during the court session. http://www.imemc.org/article/70324

Israel is holding captive 213 children in Majeddo, HaSharon and ‘Ofer prisons.