Product Description

Stolen Youth is the first book to explore Israel's incarceration of Palestinian children. Based on first-hand information from international human rights groups and NGO workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it also features interviews with children who have been imprisoned. The result is a disturbing and often shocking account of the abuses that are being carried out by Israel, and that have been widely documented by human rights groups such as Amnesty, but yet have never been addressed by the international community. The book presents a critical analysis of the international legal framework and the UN system, arguing that a major failure of these instuitutions is their appeal to neutrality while ignoring the reality of power. The book attempts to address the inadequacy of these institutions by placing the issue of Palestinian child prisoners within the framework of Israeli strategy and the overall system of control. The book is divided into three main sections: the first chapters introduce the major issues, and propose a framework for understanding Israel's policy towards Palestinian detainees, particularly children. The second section examines the actual experience of children from the moment of arrest until their release from prison based on hundreds of affidavits collected from children released from prison. The final section of the book analyses in detail the reasons underlying Israel's incarceration of children and the impact on Palestinian society. It outlines Israel's system of institutionalized discrimination and state torture, challenges the legitimacy of Israel's 'security' argument, and argues that Israel's treatment of Palestinian detainees forms one pillar of a policy designed to quash resistance to the occupation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1139799 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

About the Author
Adah Kay is senior consultant with CVS, a policy & consultancy unit specialising in social welfare, health care & housing. She is Honorary Professor at City University Business School & Assistant Director of Volprof (Centre for not for profit management). Adam Hanieh was Research Co-ordinator for Defence for Children International/Palestine Section in Ramallah on the West Bank (2000-2002) where Catherine Cook has worked as International Advocacy Co-ordinator. She lives in Washington DC.

Customer Reviews

In-depth Critique of Israel's Treatment of Child Prisoners
Although various human rights groups have documented and examined the practices used by Israel against Palestinian political detainees, including child prisoners, this book is the first to be published which also provides an in-depth critical analysis of the political motivations behind these actions.

Separated in to three sections - Framework and Context, Arrest through Incarceration and Analysis and Conclusions - this book sets out not only to tell the complete story of what happens to Palestinian children when they are arrested and detained by the Israeli authorities, but also scrutinizes the framework established by Israel to enforce the occupation, and how child prisoners fit in to this system of discrimination.

In addition to the testimonies of child prisoners presented, accounts which on their own are deeply disturbing, the authors provide a detailed examination of Israel's political incentive for incarcerating these minors. A clear picture emerges of methodical and systematic abuse being used against the most vulnerable members of Palestinian society, its purpose being to subjugate the population as a whole.

Whilst the majority of testimony used focuses on the past three years of the current Intifada, it is clear that the actions of Israel are not a response. Debunking the myth of 'security' so often cited as justification for their actions against Palestinians, they reveal these are practices that have evolved over the decades of occupation, and are very much part of a wider strategy.

The role of international organizations and nation states do not escape their scrutiny either. They demonstrate that despite Israel's persistent violations of various human rights treaties and international law, there is clearly little political will to challenge Israel. This failure of the international community to act only serves to assist Israel and prolong the suffering of the Palestinian people.

The authors have produced a detailed and incisive examination of Israel's policy in respect of child prisoners as part of the control mechanism employed against Palestinians, as well as placing them in to the much wider issue of Israeli political aspirations. No other book has concentrated so clearly on the issue of Palestinian children in this context and it provides a chilling insight in to childhood as experienced by Palestinians.

Georgina Reeves