Hundreds of Palestinian children in the West Bank are arrested by the Israeli military every year. Many of those arrests are done in terrifying nightime raids on Palestinian homes. Others during the daytime. Under special rules, the children can be interrogated without the right to help from lawyers. Often their parents don’t even know where they are held. A Canadian campaign has been launched to promote awareness among Canadians. One of the first events of the campaign was a webinar with experts from Ramallah and Jerusalem. Watch the webinar. It is disturbing.

Across North America, church and other humanitarian organizations have been campaigning for several years against the treatment of Palestinian Children by Israeli military officials. In the United States, one campaign is being led by the American Friends Service Committee (commonly called “Quakers”). A related campaign is called “No way to Treat a Child – Canada”.

Recently a webinar was organized by the “Canada, Stand Up for Palestinian Children’s Rights campaign” to report on this issue and launch a Canadian campaign with the assistance of Military Court Watch, a Palestinian human rights organization based in Ramallah, and HaMoked an Israeli human rights organization.

Experts from Ramallah and Jerusalem were interviewed by Canadians Rev. Marianna Harris, Rev. Dr. Dorcas Gordon and Kathy Bergen. After their presentations, the experts entertained questions from the audience. Watch the 90 minute interview here:

The Canada, Stand up for Palestinian Children’s Rights Campaign is sponsored by the United Network for Justice and Peace in Israel and Palestine (UNJPPI). More information can be found here.

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Canada Talks Israel Palestine (CTIP) is the weekly newsletter of Peter Larson, Chair of the Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine (OFIP). It aims to promote a serious discussion in Canada about Canada’s response to the complicated and emotional Israel/Palestine issue with a focus on the truth, clear analysis and human rights for all. Readers with different points of view are invited to make comment.

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