INTRODUCTION

Due to the long-standing Israeli occupation as well as ingrained discriminatory social norms and
traditions, women and girls in Palestine continue to face various forms of violence. Domestic
abuse, sexual harassment, forced marriage, and femicide are the most prevalent forms of
violence against women in Palestine. These crimes can occur in both public and private settings,
such as streets, workplaces, homes, and densely populated areas like refugee camps, especially in
Gaza. In Palestine, antiquated and biased legislation makes it difficult for victims of abuse to get
justice and access services that are tailored to their needs. Furthermore, victims of violence
frequently experience social stigma and are held accountable for the violence that happened to
them.

According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, children have a special need for
support and care. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which outlines the
global norms for children's rights, confirms this.

In addition to other rights denials inherent in an ongoing, decades-long Israeli military

occupation, Palestinian children living under Israeli military occupation in the occupied West
Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip are routinely denied access to healthcare,
education, and adequate housing. With the situation in occupied Palestinian territories and Israel
deteriorating by the hour, we cannot be silent.

Human rights featured prominently in the UN Charter. The Charter begins with a series of
pledges: to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to maintain compliance with
international law, to promote social progress and to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,
in the dignity and worth of the human person, in equal rights of men and women and of nations
large and small”. This strong commitment to human rights and the dignity of each individual
came after the devastating loss of tens of millions of lives and human abuses during the Second
World War1

1
Harms, G., & Ferry, T. M. on “Palestine. In The Palestine-Israel Conflict - Fourth Edition: A Basic Introduction”
2009 available at: [Link] (last visited 26 November,2023).
Since the unconscionable attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023, including against
children, the already extensive child rights violations faced by children in Gaza and elsewhere in
the occupied Palestinian territories have worsened immeasurably. There is a clear risk of
genocide in Gaza. It is being announced to the world every day, in no uncertain terms. Armed
conflict and political violence are among the most disruptive obstacles to children’s healthy
development (Maslen 1996: 332). Over the past few years, Palestinian children in Occupied East
Jerusalem (OEJ) have been targeted by the Israeli criminal justice system. A severe escalation in
violence, which worsened in July 2014 following the kidnapping and murder of 16-year-old
Mohammed Abu Khdir against the backdrop of the fighting in Gaza, was dubbed in 2015 as “the
Jerusalem Intifada” (Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) 2015: 12).2

2
On 7 July 2014, humanitarian emergency was declared in the Gaza Strip, following a severe
escalation in hostilities involving intense Israeli aerial and navy bombardment and Palestinian
rocket fire. Hostilities de-escalated following an open-ended ceasefire, which entered into force
on August 26 (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – Occupied
Palestinian Territory [UNOCHA OPT] 2014).
 Background

One of the longest-lasting international conflicts in modern politics is that between Israel and the
Palestinians. Because both Israelis and Palestinians want to rule the Gaza Strip, they are at war
right now. The Gaza Strip was a part of Egypt for a very long time. The Gaza Strip is now
situated closer to Israel's east than it is to the West Bank, and it is situated far from Palestinian
settlements. After Israel seized the strip from Egypt during the 1967 war, they have owned it
since then. Since then, the strip has been a heavily populated area, and Israeli militants actually
call it home. In 2005, though, the Israeli After leaving Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Arien Sharon
changed the situation; El-Hassan, a unified Palestinian authority, took control of the strip (New
York Times, 2009).3 Later, the international Islamic movement Hamas—which rejects Israel—
took control of Gaza. It is determined to use violence to further its goals and refuses to recognize
Israel as a legitimate nation. It also wants the Palestinian people to be allowed to return to their
ancestral homeland. Israeli and Palestinian forces have been engaged in ceaseless fighting since
2005 over control of the Gaza Strip. Israel controls the Gaza Strip's borders, dictating who is
allowed in and who is not (BBC, 2015).4 The major world powers are attempting to find a long-
term solution as a result of the wars attracting attention from around the globe. The entry of other
countries is due to the fact that the war's aftermath affects more than just Israel and Palestine.
The question of who the true owner of the land should be emerges as a pressing concern. Arabs
and Palestinians claim that they were humiliated by European colonialism and were made to pay
for it with their land, which is why they are at war with Israel. Conversely, the Israelis contend
that years of anti-Semitism, during which they were expelled from their country, served as the
impetus for the war (AbuZayyad, 2019). According to history, the British government was given
the authority to rule over Palestine following the First World War, which led to the start of the
conflict. It was promised that the Jewish people, who now make up Israel, would share in the
3
A Brief History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,2009, New York Times, available at
[Link] (last visited on November
2023).
4
Guide: Why are Israel and the Palestinians fighting over Gaza? - BBC
Newsround, 2013, BBC, available at [Link] (last visited on November 26,
2023).
land. By establishing an Arab state on Jewish territory, the Arabs (Palestine) betrayed that
promise. Conflict resulted from this. The West Bank is currently occupied by Israel and governed
by the Palestinians.5 These are the Israeli soldiers enforcing the security measures imposed on
the activities and movement of the Palestinian people. Despite the Israeli blockade, Hamas
controls the Gaza Strip, although its forces do not actually occupy the area (Beauchamp, 2018).
According to Beauchamp (2018), the only way to end the conflict is to give Israel the rest of the
land and recognise Palestine as an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza. The "two-state
solution" has not yet been determined how to implement it. Alternatively, create a single large
nation that is either Israel or Palestine, as this could potentially lead to more issues than it would
solve. 6

ABUSE OF CHILD RIGHTS

The child begins life with a wail, uttering the woes of his existence before he has discovered that
there are joys in store for him. He is promptly salted down (literally salt being rubbed over his
whole body) and tied securely into his cradle, where he stays for hours and even days at a time,
taking his food in that position, and becoming so accustomed to it that he rather likes it. At least
he is philosophical enough not to cry over it or over the fact that the back of his head becomes
flattened by lying on it so constantly. Most of the babies are wrapped in swaddling clothes, the
arms fastened down to the sides and the whole baby looking like a funny doll. Baths to these
children are not even a luxury-they are unknown. This, of course, does not apply to the children
of the young women educated in the boarding schools. They bathe their babies and take pride in
keeping them fresh and clean. But the average baby does not have to be troubled with too much
attention to toilet, as you can see for yourself in the picture of the two Over the past two decades,
the dominant form of war has shifted to include the targeting of civilian populations. M. G.
Wessells (1998: 635) argues that fighting increasingly occurs not on well-defined battlefields but
in and around communities, often involving personalized acts of violence. Overall, such fighting

5
What are Israel and Palestine? Why are they fighting? 2018, BeauChamp, available at:
[Link] (last visited on November 26, 2023).
6
Berger, A., Cox, H., Kelman, H., & Martin, L. (2010). Israel And Palestine Two States for Two Peoples If Not
Now, When? Dissent, 57(3), 5-11. Available at [Link] (last visited on November 26, 2023).
and oppression affect children and youth in different ways, depending on the nature of the
conflict and their direct or indirect involvement.7

To protect the rights of children in conflict zones, Article 38 of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child (CRC)8 states that parties/nations are “to respect and to ensure respect for rules of
international humanitarian law applicable to them in armed conflicts which are relevant to the
child”. The second protocol applies to non-international conflicts and provides that “children
who have not attained the age of fifteen shall neither be recruited in the armed forces or groups
nor allowed to take part in hostilities” 9. The CRC not only defines “child” but also urges states to
respect and ensure the rights set forth in the Convention without discrimination. The applicability
of the CRC in situations of armed conflict demonstrates that children’s rights are not merely
commodities of good intentions; they remain binding legal obligations of the state

Along with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and UN independent experts, Child
Rights Connect vehemently denounces the egregious human rights breaches occurring in the
backdrop of the armed conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.

Israeli and Palestinian children have suffered greatly as a result of the past two weeks' surge in
violence between armed groups and de facto authorities in Israel and the occupied Palestinian
territory. Israel's attacks and siege on Gaza have resulted in over a thousand child deaths, tens of
thousands of injuries, and severe consequences for thousands more 10. International humanitarian
law (IHL) lays forth precise guidelines intended to prevent harm to children and to minimize the
suffering that results from armed conflict.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have claimed the lives of over a thousand Palestinian children and
destroyed entire multigenerational families. The fact that more children remain missing and
unaccounted for beneath the debris of the demolished buildings suggests that the actual death toll
is much higher. Child Rights Connect is extremely disturbed by the effects of Israel's siege,
which is a war crime that is being committed against the entire Gaza population, as well as the

7
Jessup, A. H. on “Children in Palestine. The Biblical World”, 10(6), 401–413 (1897).
8
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Art. 38.
9
The accepted definition of children, detailed in Article 1 of the CRC, is “Every human being below the age of 18
years unless, under the law applicable to the child, the majority is attained earlier.” For the purpose of this article,
Palestinian children are youth aged 10 to 18 in the area designated as East Jerusalem
10
International Crisis Group on “Gaza and Israel: New Obstacles, New Solutions, 2014,
[Link]
bombing of the Al-Ahli hospital and airstrikes on children. The 2.3 million residents of Gaza are
made up almost entirely of children. Children need to have access to basic necessities like food,
water, and medications.11

The ongoing manifestation of grave violations by parties to the conflict is an underlying causal
factor, and includes killing and maiming, attacks against schools and health facilities, denial of
humanitarian access, and child recruitment for armed conflict, in the context of ongoing clashes,
settler violence and stabbings. In the West Bank including in East Jerusalem, adolescent boys
(and increasingly girls) are becoming caught up in occupation related violence.

Worsening socio-economic hardships, poverty, early school drop-outs especially at secondary

school level, youth and adult unemployment, ongoing tensions between Palestinians and Israeli
Forces, settler violence, threats and actual demolitions, and ongoing harassment by Israeli Forces
create a downward cycle which erodes the resilience and coping mechanisms of families and
fuels ongoing despondency and violence.

In Gaza the protracted humanitarian protection crisis continues to have a significant impact on
the well-being of children and families. Successive conflicts have resulted in thousands of
deaths, created high levels of psychosocial distress, and eroded public infrastructure. This
situation has been exacerbated by violence linked to the Great March of Return demonstrations
at the Israel/Gaza fence. Children and families’ resilience capacities continue to be eroded, as the
needs in the population have exhausted family coping mechanisms, which provided forms of
support that households have historically relied upon.12

11
Krause, K., & Sharples,” Thriving in the face of severe adversity: Understanding and fostering resilience in
children affected by war and displacement” (1897).
12
Kwame Anthony Appiah, ‘The Politics of Identity’, Daedalus, Fall 2006, pp. 15–22.
 INTERVIEW OF YOUNG CHILDREN

Medina (female, 16, US born, national identity: Arab American) said that

she was from Jenin in Palestine and her town was generally safe. But she felt intimidated when
she went near the border where she saw jeeps full of Israeli soldiers. Medina said: If I want to
visit my family, and they’re a little far away, it’s going to take us twice the time, plus we have to
stop at checkpoints and there’s always things like soldiers who have these big guns . . . Once I
was visiting my relatives in a taxi with my mother, brothers and sisters. So, on the way sometimes
the Israeli soldiers, they take the paths that people usually take and they bulldoze huge rocks
onto them so that they [our cars and taxis] can’t pass, just like to annoy us, to cause trouble for
us. So, there was a long line of taxis of other people waiting; it was a main route but it was
closed off. So, some men had shovels in their taxis and cleared the road. But all of a sudden,
maybe ten jeeps came out of nowhere and the children started running out and they [the jeeps]
started stopping all the cars; some cars got away, other cars were stopped; we were at the
beginning of the line so we were stuck there of course. And then they started opening the taxis to
see if there were any young men in there because they wanted to see who was helping to do that
[clear the road]. They opened our taxi boot and my brother, he was like sixteen, he looked like he
could go and help out with that so they pulled him out of the car and one of the soldiers started
talking to him in Hebrew. My brother couldn’t understand, and the soldier, he started pointing
the gun at his head, saying ‘Did you do this, did you do this?’ and then the taxi driver came out
of the car and tried to explain to him [the Israeli soldier] that he didn’t do it, that he was too
young, and then they let him go. But it was very, very scary. I thought my brother was going to
die. (Interview, New York, November 2009)

Naved (male, 17, US born, national identity: American) said:

I am from Silwad, it’s a small city [in Palestine]. I have been there three times in my life . . . I
hated it. They [the Palestinians] thought I was a Jew . . . When I went to school over there, they
hurt me and stuff, they threw rocks. Yeah, that’s why I don’t like going there anymore. I took it
like a man and I didn’t hit them back. I went home . . . I didn’t cry! Oh, yeah, they do that ’cos
you come from America, then they start going crazy, they ask you all these questions, ‘Oh, enter
from America’, this and that . . . they go crazy. If they ask in Arabic if you like Bush and if you
say ‘Yes’, then they won’t like you, they’ll be cool with you but they won’t like you. (Interview,
Florida, March 2010)13

Main problems faced by children in Palestine:

Abusive Arrests of Children

Human Rights Watch decided to focus on the issue of abusive arrests of children because reports
by local human rights organizations and news media indicated, and follow up research
confirmed, that there appeared to be a pattern of such arrests. Human Rights Watch initially
identified the cases for documentation based on these reports, where preliminary information
indicated the likelihood of abuses

according to a UNICEF update, reports of alleged ill-treatment of children by Israeli forces

“have not significantly decreased in 2013 and 2014.” UNICEF reported that from September
2013 to September 2014, it received affidavits from 171 children stating that Israeli forces had
subjected them to “physical violence during arrest, interrogation and/or detention.”

The Israeli military conducts nighttime arrest raids on children’s family homes. In 2013, it
arrested 162 children during such raids, according to the military. In February 2014, the military
introduced a “pilot project” of issuing summonses to the families of children wanted for
questioning in two areas of the West Bank, but it cancelled the project in January 2015 due to an
increase in violence during the summer, and said it did not keep statistics on the project.

The Israeli military had classified 163 Palestinian children from the West Bank as “security
detainees” – including children convicted for offenses like throwing stones, but not including
other “criminal detainees” – in Israeli detention at the end of January 2015, according to Israel’s
prison service. Palestinian children from East Jerusalem, occupied territory that Israel has
purported to annex to its territory, in violation of international law, are detained under Israeli
domestic law rather than military orders. Figures for children from East Jerusalem in detention
were not available.

13
KABIR, N. A. on “THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION. In Young American Muslims: Dynamics of Identity” (pp.
178–205). Edinburgh University Pres, 2014 [Link] (last visited on 26
November,2023).
Armed conflict harms children first and foremost and has lifelong effects on their physical and
mental health, their development and ultimately the enjoyment of all their rights. Children are
also harmed when they survive but lose parents and other family members and friends and
witness catastrophic events.

Despite the protection that should be provided to all children by international law, during the first
month of this war, there have been devastating reports of acts that are forbidden by international
humanitarian law, including maiming, injury, abduction, forcible displacement, deprivation of
medical care, food, and water. According to article 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child, States have an obligation to respect and ensure respect for the rules of international
humanitarian law, and to take all feasible measures to ensure the protection and care of children
affected by armed conflict.

In the Gaza Strip where Israel declared war against Hamas, various Israeli confrontations and
raids have resulted in the deaths of numerous children. The attacks often target public places that
have turned into refuges for civilians, like schools, hospitals, etc. In addition to the lost lives,
tens of thousands of children are injured and some are left disabled for life.

“Flashbacks, nightmares, agoraphobia:

Even children are not spared from the repercussions of war,” UNICEF lamented after conducting
a study about children living in the Gaza Strip. They are traumatized, with 88% afflicted by fear.
Hamas no longer hesitates to use Palestinian children from the Gaza Strip in active roles in its
battle against Israel. For example, on one website, Hamas glorifies and persuades children to
commit suicide to defend the Palestinian cause. With the slogan “death for God is victory,”
children are encouraged to actively engage in conflict at the cost of their protection and right to
life.

Child victims of occupation

Additionally, the Palestinian occupation by Israel impacts children’s everyday lives. Palestinian
authorities are greatly dependent on international aid, financial resources are limited and public
services are not up to standard. The wall – or fence in some places – zigzags through the West
Bank, greatly affecting accessibility to education, water, health care and economic development
for the country (see subsequent sections). Moreover, reports from non-governmental
organizations show that Israel has used force to suppress pro-Palestinian demonstrations, using
tear gas and shooting into the crowd without hesitation, even where there are children. The Israel
army has defined a stone as a dangerous projectile in the same category as a real bullet. So if a
child throws a stone at an Israeli soldier, the latter can respond in force and the child can be
sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

Poverty

Israeli restrictions on the free movement of people and goods are major obstacles for the
Palestinian economy. In 2012, the unemployment rate was 27% and according to recent statistics,
26% of Palestinians live below the poverty line. In Gaza – the most impoverished area – one in
two adolescents has the chance to work. The effects of poverty on children’s lives are numerous:
their schooling often remains incomplete because they leave school at a very early age, usually to
work and provide for the needs of their families. Early marriages of young girls and adolescent
crime are both consequences of poverty

Right to education

In Palestine, approximately 70% of children go to primary school. Access to education is

difficult for children who live in refugee camps and villages that do not have a school. According
to a 2013 UNICEF study, more than 2,500 children within educated communities travel through
at least one checkpoint per day to go to school – a situation that contributes to school dropouts
and child labor. Furthermore, the number of classes offered is insufficient, which leads to
overcrowding, teaching is of the poorest quality and the schools lack resources and [Link]
Gaza, following Operation Cast Lead in 2012, many schools were damaged or destroyed. In
2013, more than 123,000 children had to discontinue their schooling according to UNICEF.

Access to high-quality education and attending school gives children opportunities to succeed,
and skills, competencies, and choices about the direction of their future life. An accessible and
high-quality education system also encourages child participation, stimulates economic
development and reduces poverty levels. Pre-school education Ensuring children are ready to
learn when they start primary school allows them to make the most of their schooling when they
start. This, in turn, improves children’s long-term educational outcomes. Attendance at
Kindergarten for 3–4-year-olds Across the State of Palestine over a third of children aged 3–4
years attend Kindergarten (34.2%). For 3-year-olds the figure is 11%. For 4-year-olds it is
60.7%. 39.5% of children with no functional difficulties attend, compared to 21.9% with
functional difficulties. Only 26% of children from the poorest households attend Kindergarten
compared to 44.5% of those from the wealthiest households.

Right to health care

In Palestine, the infant mortality rate is seven times higher than that of Israel. Indeed, 22 ‰ of
Palestinian children die before the age of five. The causes of this high infant mortality rate are
varied: anemia, nutritional deficiencies or even severe malnutrition. Access to health care
services can prove extremely problematic in Palestine due to the presence of the wall and
checkpoints. Testimonies have been recorded of cases where families found themselves blocked
by the Israeli army when they wanted to go to a hospital for treatment of their sick children.
Sometimes, if medical treatment is delayed, the outcome can be fatal. During the conflict, many
hospitals or clinics were also destroyed, depriving children of their right to health

Right to water

With water resources being very limited, hygiene is often marginalized in favor of satisfying
vital necessities (eating and drinking). Otherwise, the consumption of non-potable water also
leads to severe sicknesses in children (diarrhea, hepatitis, etc.).

In 2013 in the West Bank, more than one million Palestinians had to manage with approximately
60 liters of water per day per person, which is well below the 100 liters per day per person
recommended by the United Nations. In Gaza, 95% of the water is unsuitable for human
consumption. It is so polluted that it is estimated the territory will have no more drinkable water
by 2016, an effect that will be irreversible by 2020. The high level of nitrate (notably due to poor
management of wastewater) is the source of many sicknesses that affect babies and children.

22.6% of households in the West Bank use water sources that were found to contain E. coli. This
is higher than the figure for the Gaza Strip (15.2%). In total across the State of Palestine 19.4%
of households use water sources that were found to contain E. coli. That represents almost one in
five households. 79% of households that use rainwater collection as their main source of
drinking water have E. coli contamination and 51% use protected wells or springs that have E.
coli contamination.
  ARTICLE 25 OF UDHR14 STATES-

1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of
himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and
necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment,
sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances
beyond his control.

2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children,
whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

 Article 24 OF ICCPR15 STATES-

1. Every child shall have, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language,
religion, national or social origin, property or birth, the right to such measures of
protection as are required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and
the State.
2. Every child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have a name.
3. Every child has the right to acquire a nationality
 Geneva Declaration16
stated that humanity “owes to the Child the best that it has to give.” However, although the
document addressed certain fundamental rights, it was not legally binding.

In 1934, the General Assembly of the League of Nations again approved the Geneva
Declaration. The signatories promised to incorporate the principles of the document into their
national laws, but they were not legally bound to do so.

Nonetheless, the Geneva Declaration remains the first international Human Rights document
in history to specifically address children’s rights.

14
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Ar. 25.
15
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, Ar. 24.
16
Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1924).
 CONCLUSION

The State of Palestine acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 1 April 2014, as
an expression of its respect for the principles and the spirit of the [Link] is political
factors that weigh most heavily upon the capacity of UN and international organisations to
develop effective child protection strategies that are preventative, and not just ameliorative, in
nature. The lack of political will to address Israel’s violations of International Humanitarian Law
(IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL), including the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child (UNCRC), is abundantly evident on the ground. Western donor governments –
including the EU – generally choose not to challenge Israel on practices that clearly put the lives
of Palestinian children at risk, preferring to support ad hoc efforts to improve conditions or equip
families to cope with the intolerable. Furthermore, in some cases, most notably the US
government, pressure is clearly applied to agencies in receipt of funds to limit any public
advocacy that might embarrass Israel. Thus, organisations such as Save the Children US and
UNICEF are placed in a challenging position where they must balance accountability to the
population, they are there to serve with the demands of donors and the anxieties of their
superiors at headquarters. Too often, it seems, downwards accountability is severely
compromised, if not abandoned. In such a context, the allure of a child protection model that
focuses on therapeutic measures and on the development of referral networks for children at risk
of domestic abuse is understandably great. Meanwhile, children continue to be beaten up by
settlers on their way to school, to be denied access to water sources even within their own
communities, to have their environment polluted by waste dumped by settlements, to be
prevented from moving freely in order to access services or to visit friends and family, to have
their homes invaded by the Israeli army in the middle of the night, and to be arrested, tried and
imprisoned in ways that confound international law. An approach to child protection focused on
response to harm rather than prevention currently prevails in the oPt. This is clearly the product
of pragmatism rather than principle. However, such an approach entails risk not only for young
Palestinians but for UN and international organisations themselves. By failing to pursue
children’s protection on the basis of international law and human / child rights, and in a manner
fully engaged with Palestinian children and their families, organisations are at risk of
invalidating their own claims of neutrality and accountability. Moreover, they should not be
surprised if questions are raised about the primacy of their commitment to children’s safety and
wellbeing.

Recommendations

 In developing a locally meaningful understanding of child protection the following issues

should be considered:
 the risks to children arising from occupation and appropriation of land and resources
(rather than generic armed conflict);
 the need for security of children’s movement and access as well as of their space.
 A wider array of expertise – in addition to mental health and social work – should be drawn
upon in the analysis and development of child protection measures. 17 In particular, expertise
in the Palestinian context from international relations, anthropological and political-economy
perspectives should be utilized.
 A mechanism is needed to ensure that the CPWG functions in an accountable, egalitarian and
inclusive manner.
 • Advocacy and awareness-raising measures should be pursued in a more concerted way
involving headquarters staff and partner organisations in Europe, North America and across
the Arab World. The aim of such efforts should be to influence public opinion and build the
political will for donor governments to pursue a principled approach to child protection in the
oPt.
 The potential to address the illegality of Israel’s actions should be explored in other
countries, for example by highlighting the link between the settlement produce exported to
Europe and the harm inflicted upon Palestinian children by settlers and their appropriation of
land and natural resources.
 Funding sources should be reviewed from the perspective of ensuring maximum potential to
pursue a principled approach to children’s protection. Organisations that seek to be identified

17
) Under Attack: Settler Violence Against Palestinian Children in the Occupied Territory, Ramallah: Defence for
Children International / Palestine Section DCI/PS (2008).
 as part of civil society should consider carefully the implications of accepting large funds
from highly restrictive donors such as USAID.
 The work of child protection organisations should be evaluated in terms of their impact in
mitigating and preventing harm to Palestinian children arising from political violence –
especially the effects of occupation-related violence – according to clear principles of IHL
and IHRL; Conversely, the unwillingness to go beyond ameliorative measures – such as
psychosocial interventions – should become the focus of critical discussion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRIMARY SOURCES

 The constitution of India

 The Universal declaration on human rights
 The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
 Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1924)

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Edition: A Basic Introduction”, 2014, (4th ed., pp. 57–64). Pluto Press.
[Link]
 Vincent P.J. on ISRAELI OCCUPATION AND ITS IMPACT ON PALESTINIAN
CHILDREN, 2017, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 67, 894–900.
[Link]
 Krause, K., & Sharples, E. on “Thriving in the face of severe adversity:
Understanding and fostering resilience in children affected by war and displacement.
In E. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (Ed.), Refuge in a Moving World: Tracing refugee and
migrant journeys across disciplines”, 2020, (pp. 306–322).
[Link]
 DCI/PS Under Attack: Settler Violence Against Palestinian Children in the Occupied
Territory, Ramallah: Defence for Children International / Palestine Section, 2008.
 Machel, G. on Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, New York: United Nations and
UNICEF, 1996.
 UNDP Inside Gaza: Attitudes and Perceptions of the Gaza Strip Residents in the
Aftermath of the Israeli Military Operations, Jerusalem: 2009, UNDP.
 UNICEF Child Protection Information Sheet. What is Child Protection? New York:
UNICEF, 2006.