*STOP ISRAELI ABUSES OF CHILDREN

January 26, 2001

On January 21, Su'ad Ghazal a 17-year old Palestinian girl from Sebastia village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank was sentenced by an Israeli court to six and a half years in prison allegedly for attempting to stab an Israeli settler.

The extreme injustice of this sentence is underscored by the fact that on the very same day another Israeli court allowed Nahum Korman, the settler who pistol-whipped and kicked to death 11-year old Hilmi Shusheh in 1996, to walk free with only a fine and six months of community service. An unrepentant Korman told the media "I take no responsibility for the boy's death...I admit to nothing, and I continue to regard myself as innocent."

These two sentences, along with countless other grave violations of Palestinian children's rights once again highlight the urgent need for international intervention and protection for Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation.

WE URGE YOU TO WRITE LETTERS TO THE U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, TO THE U.N. HIGH COMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, TO THE EUROPEAN UNION OR THE GOVERNMENT WHERE YOU LIVE, ASKING THEM TO HOLD ISRAEL TO ACCOUNT AND DEMAND THE RELEASE SU'AD GHAZAL:

TALKING POINTS:

*Su'ad Ghazal, who was arrested when she was only 15, has spent most of the past two years in an Israeli prison.

*During her detention, Su'ad has suffered severe physical and psychological abuse; and the violation of most of her rights under the Fourth Geneva Conventions and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

*The abuses include physical and psychological abuse; detention without trial for an extended period; denial of education; detention of a minor with adults; and illegal transfer from, and detention outside the Occupied Territories.

*Palestinians cannot get justice in the Israeli legal system, as documented by numerous human rights organizations, and again underlined by the fact that Nahum Korman an Israeli settler who beat to death an 11-year old Palestinian child was just freed with only fine and community service.

WE CALL ON:

*All governments to demand that Israel release Su'ad Ghazal and hold Israel to account for abuses of human rights;

*Ms. Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to immediately intervene in the case of Su'ad Ghazal and investigate Israel's systematic abuses of the rights of Palestinian children.

PLEASE SEND YOUR EMAILS TO:

*U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Email: secretary@state.gov Fax: 202-261-8577

*Ms. Mary Robinson United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Emails: webmaster@unhcr.ch AND areca@unhcr.ch

*Mr. Romano Prodi President of the European Union Email: romano.prodi@cec.eu.int

Please cc your letters to: child_rights@mail.com

Information provided by Defence for Children International/Palestine Section and LAW--The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment was used to prepare this action alert.

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Action alert prepared by: Ali Abunimah, USA Arjan El Fassed, Netherlands Zahi Damuni, USA