A two-minute video uploaded to YouTube yesterday by the International Solidarity Movement shows a blindfolded Palestinian boy being led away by two heavily-armed Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron that same day.

Israeli soldiers demand to see the passports of internationals observing the arrest of the child. The soldiers tear the passports from the internationals' hands and soon they are flanked by persons who appear to be Jewish settlers.

"Go today!" a soldier repeatedly shouts at the woman holding the video camera. A man, presumably a settler, approaches and the woman asks the soldier, "Who is this man?" The man answers in English with a North American accent, "Who are you? I live here."

Another man in civilian clothes carrying a large gun approaches the woman in an aggressive manner. Soon more settlers come to the scene, as if they were backing up the Israeli army.

Image
© FlickrHuman rights volunteers say the boy, 14, was arrested by Israeli soldiers at his home

An email from Christian Peacemaker Teams sent to The Electronic Intifada today says that the boy shown blindfolded in the video is fourteen years old and was arrested at his home.

The email adds that after the home arrest:
The soldiers then walked him, still blindfolded and handcuffed, to another checkpoint a block away and shut him into that checkpoint box. After about 15 minutes they walked him to an Israeli Army Base. Internationals who tried to follow were stopped by soldiers who called them "nazi pigs." Several adult armed settlers were also present and were aggressive and threatening.

After another 15 minutes soldiers put the boy in a military jeep and drove him to checkpoint 56, and released him to Palestinian officials on the other side.
Last week Christian Peacemaker Teams released a report titled "Occupied Childhoods: Impact of the actions of Israeli soldiers on Palestinian children in H2 (Occupied Hebron) during February, March and April 2013," focusing on the violations of rights of Palestinian children in Hebron.

"Human rights workers in H2, the portion of the city under Israeli military control, have witnessed 47 detentions or arrests of children age 15 and under by soldiers since the start of February," according to Christian Peacemaker Teams.

"Other violations documented in the report include conducting war training when children are present, delaying children and teachers as they pass checkpoints to access schools, detaining children in adult facilities, questioning children without the presence of an adult, and blindfolding children in detention."

Israeli forces arrested 27 children outside an Hebron elementary school during a single incident last month, according to the group.