“Israel detains hundreds of underage children who are much younger than Ahed Tamimi. So this Israeli violation of child rights is rather systematic, not just a single case like Ahed,” Dr. Ibrahim Fraihat told the Tasnim News Agency.
He added, “Ahed should not be tried or imprisoned in the first place and to do so by itself does not reflect international legal standards.”
Ibrahim Fraihat was a senior fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, and an affiliate scholar at Georgetown University. He previously taught international conflict resolution at George Washington University and George Mason University. Fraihat has published extensively on Middle East politics, with articles appearing in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Financial Times, and the Christian Science Monitor, on the CNN and Al Jazeera websites, and elsewhere.
Following is the full text of the interview.
Tasnim: Do you believe that Israel is violating the international Convention on the Rights of the Child by detaining a Palestinian teenager for slapping an Israeli soldier?
Fraihat: Israel detains hundreds of underage children who are much younger than Ahed Tamimi. So this Israeli violation of child rights is rather systematic, not just a single case like Ahed.
Tasnim: Ahed Tamimi’s trial is being held behind closed doors. What is your take on this based on international legal standards?
Fraihat: Ahed should not be tried or imprisoned in the first place and to do so by itself does not reflect international legal standards.
Tasnim: According to experts, figures from Palestine show that Israel detains and prosecutes between 500 to 700 Palestinian children in military courts annually. What’s your take on this?
Fraihat: This reflects the systematic violation of international legal standards.
Tasnim: Do you believe that Palestinian children are commonly mistreated while in Israel’s detention and subjected to both physical and psychological abuse?
Fraihat: The fact that the Israeli authorities are not transparent about the conditions of the imprisoned children leaves the door open for violations whether psychological or physical against them.