Message from Louise, 27\/9\/19
\nI\u2019m so sorry that I can\u2019t be with you this evening; due to turbulent events in
\nWestminster I have to be down in London but as ever I send solidarity to the
\ncampaign and to all that you are trying to achieve.
\nMany things struck me on my visit to Palestine last year but one thing that will never
\nleave me is my experience in the military courts in Ofer.
\nGuided by Military Court Watch, our group attended sessions of the Israeli Military
\nCourt where we met with families of defendants, many of them children, and saw
\nclose up many of the well-documented ways in which the system abuses the rights
\nof juveniles and others.
\nWe saw first-hand children being tried without an interpreter, not understanding what
\nwas going on around them, we saw the sheer numbers of children being processed
\nthrough the courts, we met with families who had to travel for many hours, leaving
\ntheir livelihoods on hold to wait for the trial of their children only to be told the trial
\nwouldn\u2019t take place that day and over and over again we saw children passed
\nsentences of six months for throwing stones.
\nSeveral people told us that child and other defendants would \u201cconfess\u201d to offences
\nthey had not committed and for which no evidence was often provided, knowing that
\nthe system works against them and to seek to challenge invariably leads to a longer
\ntime in prison.
\nBut the one thing that will never leave me and which still brings tears to my eyes
\neven when writing to this message to you now is the moment when a 13 year old boy
\nwas sentenced to prison for throwing stones, his parents had travelled from Hebron
\nat the back of the room only six or so feet behind him. Upon sentencing the young
\nboy asked if he could shake his father\u2019s hand before he was sent to prison, he\u2019d
\nalready been on remand for several weeks and hadn\u2019t seen him, but he was simply
\ntold no and dragged out of the courtroom. This was under the eye of international
\nobservers.
\nThat simple action demonstrated to me the cruelty and inhumanity of the system
\nthey have created to collectively punish the Palestinians, to wear them down and to
\ncomplete the occupation. We know that the Israeli Government breaches
\ninternational human rights law and the laws of war and we know that every day they
\nare pushing at the boundaries still further in their attempts to annex the Jordan
\nValley.
\nAnything that we can do to offer solidarity and to challenge the actions of the Israeli
\nGovernment will help expose and hold to account the casual cruelty at the heart of
\nthe child detention system and the illegal occupation of Palestine.
\nThank you again for coming out to support this important cause, I\u2019m sorry I can\u2019t be
\nwith you but I look forward to standing by your side in this crucial fight for human
\nrights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Message from Louise, 27\/9\/19 I\u2019m so sorry that I can\u2019t be with you this evening; due to turbulent events in Westminster I have to be down in London but as ever I send solidarity to the campaign and to all that you are trying to achieve. Many things struck me on my visit to Palestine … Continue reading Message From Louise Haigh<\/span>