Channels

Photo: Knesset Communications
Joint List leader Ayman Odeh
Photo: Knesset Communications

Knesset to host 'children under occupation' conference

First-of-its-kind event initiated by left-wing parties to discuss Israeli-Palestinian conflict's ramifications on children living in West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem; conference to be attended by heads of left-wing organizations, foreign diplomats and children from east Jerusalem.

The Knesset will host an unusual conference on Monday with a great potential for volatility, titled "children under occupation." 

 

 

The first-of-its-kind event was initiated by Knesset Members Michal Rozin of Meretz, Ayman Odeh and Dov Khenin of the Joint List and Ksenia Svetlova of the Zionist Union, who said it would discuss "the different aspects of the lives of children under the Israeli occupation—poverty, movement restrictions, lack of electricity, water and education facilities, as well as children's detentions under discriminative laws that make it difficult for families to reunite, and the influence of the blockade in the Gaza Strip."

 

MK Michal Rozin
MK Michal Rozin

 

Heads of left-wing organizations such as B'Tselem, Breaking the Silence, Combatants for Peace, Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, HaMoked and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel have been invited to attend the conference.

 

Foreign diplomats stationed in Israel, including the European Union's ambassador, Holland's ambassador and the deputy UK ambassador, will also attend.

 

The most prominent attendees will be children from east Jerusalem who will talk about their lives "under the occupation," while videos produced by the conference's organizers will depict the lives of children in the West Bank and Gaza in comparison the lives of children in Tel Aviv.

 

Children in Gaza   (Photo: EPA)
Children in Gaza (Photo: EPA)

 

Statistics on the detention of children in east Jerusalem in comparison to the rest of the country will be also presented.

 

According to the joint statement issued by the conference's organizers, "Fifty-one years of occupation left a whole generation of kids futureless. The governments are creating a screen of smoke blurring the occupation's direct influence over the civil population in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza.

 

"Children from both sides of the conflicts did not choose to be born to a bloody reality, and we will not be able to create a different future for them without dialogue. The only way to break the cycle of violence is to end the occupation."

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.01.18, 10:42
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment