LONDON: Britain called on Israel to improve the treatment of Palestinian children in military detention on Friday and said Israel should do more to safeguard vulnerable people in its care.
The Foreign Office issued a statement in the wake of the sentencing of Palestinian teenage girl Ahed Tamimi, who was arrested after kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank in December.
Tamimi, who was 16 at the time of the incident, accepted a plea deal this week under which she will be sentenced to eight months in prison, her lawyer said.
Alistair Burt, Britain’s Minister for the Middle East, said in the statement: “The conviction and sentencing of Ahed Tamimi is emblematic of how the unresolved (Israeli-Palestinian) conflict is blighting the lives of a new generation who should be growing up together in peace, but continue to be divided.”
“The treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention remains a human rights priority for the UK. We will continue to call upon Israel to improve its practices in line with international law and obligations,” he said.
Burt said Britain had offered to help the Israeli authorities through expert-to-expert talks with British officials. Israel had made some improvements but needed to do much more to safeguard vulnerable people in its care, he said.
Tamimi became a hero to Palestinians after the incident outside her home in the village of Nabi Saleh was streamed live on Facebook by her mother and went viral.
The soldiers had deployed during a a weekly Palestinian protest in the village against Israeli policy on settlements in the West Bank, one of the most heated issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Palestinians want the West Bank for a future state, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Most countries consider as illegal the Israeli settlements, built on territory which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Israel disputes that its settlements are illegal and says their future should be determined in talks with the Palestinians, although the peace process has collapsed.
Amnesty International said after Tamimi’s conviction that her sentence was at odds with international law and showed that Israel had no regard for the rights of Palestinian children.
About 350 Palestinian children were currently in Israeli detention, the human rights group said.
Britain urges Israel to improve treatment of detained Palestinian children
Britain urges Israel to improve treatment of detained Palestinian children
North Korea test-fires long-range, high-altitude missile on Christmas Eve
- KCNA says Kim Jong Un oversaw the new tests at an undisclosed location
- Putin sent a message to Kim to celebrate New Year’s Day, KCNA says
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing on Wednesday of a long-range surface-to-air missile at a launch site near its east coast, state media KCNA reported on Thursday.
The test, aimed at assessing the country’s strategic technology for developing a new type of high-altitude missile, destroyed targets in the air from 200 km (124 miles) away, KCNA said.
Kim also observed construction work at a separate site on an 8,700-ton nuclear-powered submarine capable of launching surface-to-air missiles, KCNA said. It did not identify the location or the date of his visit.
The submarine project is part of the North Korean ruling party’s effort to modernize the country’s Navy, one of five key policies the party is pushing to develop its defense capabilities, KCNA said.
Kim was quoted as saying that the all-out development of nuclear capabilities and modernization of the Navy are essential and inevitable, while “the present world is by no means peaceful.”
Kim also said South Korea’s plan for developing a nuclear submarine, agreed with Washington, would further inflame tensions on the Korean Peninsula and poses a risk to national security that requires him to take action.
Message from Putin
in another report, KCNA said Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message on December 18 to Kim to celebrate New Year’s Day.
The year 2025 had a “special meaning” for the relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang, Putin said in the message to Kim, according to KCNA.
The message said “heroic” participation of North Korean soldiers in the war in Russia’s western Kursk region “clearly proved the invincible friendship” between the two countries, according to KCNA.
