BACKGROUND

According to Israeli police, 1200 Palestinian children have been arrested, interrogated and imprisoned in the occupied city of Jerusalem alone this year. The youngest of these children was seven-years old. Children and teen-agers were often dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night, taken in handcuffs for questioning, threatened, humiliated and many were subjected to physical violence while under arrest as part of an ongoing campaign against the children of Palestine. Since the year 2000, more than 8000 have been arrested by Israel, and reports of mistreatment are commonplace. Further, based on sworn affidavits collected in 2009 from 100 of these children, lawyers working in the occupied West Bank with Defense Children International, a Geneva-based non governmental organization, found that 69% were beaten and kicked, 49% were threatened, 14% were held in solitary confinement, 12% were threatened with sexual assault, including rape, and 32% were forced to sign confessions written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand. Minors were often asked to give names and incriminate friends and relatives as a condition of their release. Such institutionalized and systematic mistreatment of Palestinian children by the state of Israel is a violation international law and specifically contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Israel is supposedly a signatory.

ACTION

Please write to First Lady Mrs. Michelle Obama to request that she intervene to help stop the systematic and institutionalized abuse of Palestinian Children. A sample letter that you may use is posted below.

Sample letter to First Lady Mrs. Michelle Obama

Dear First Lady Mrs. Michelle Obama,

As the loving mother of two beautiful daughters, I am sure that you would be concerned about any systematic and institutionalized abuse of children anywhere in the world. Therefore, I am sure also that you would not only be shocked and disturbed to learn about the systematic arrests and abuse that Palestinian children are experiencing at the hands of the Israeli state, but that you would do all in your power to convince the president, your husband and father of your children, to demand an end to their torment forthwith.

According to Israeli police, 1200 Palestinian children have been arrested, interrogated and imprisoned in the occupied city of Jerusalem alone this year. The youngest of these children was seven-years old. Children were often dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night, taken in handcuffs for questioning, threatened, humiliated and many were subjected to physical violence while under arrest as part of an ongoing campaign against the children of Palestine. Since the year 2000, more than 8000 have now been arrested by Israel. Further, based on sworn affidavits of 100 of these children, lawyers working in the occupied West Bank with Defense Children International, a Geneva-based non governmental organization, found that 69% were beaten and kicked, 49% were threatened, 14% were held in solitary confinement, 12% were threatened with sexual assault, including rape, and 32% were forced to sign confessions written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand. Such institutionalized and systematic mistreatment of Palestinian children by the state of Israel is contrary to international law and specifically contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Israel is supposedly a signatory.

First Lady Obama, I appeal to you to ask the president to direct Israel to release all Palestinian children immediately from their torment of being kidnapped at gunpoint from their homes and beds in the middle of the night, and to the systematic and institutionalized abuse that it is directing against them. Ask him to demand an end to the torment that the children's parents are also suffering of having their children wrenched from their families, and every single day not knowing what their children must endure. No person of conscience can live with this stain on their lives. What the Israeli state is doing to Palestinian children amounts to psychological terrorism. I hope you can help end these terrible deeds that are being inflicted on the Palestinian people, especially the children, with the intention of breaking their spirits, and to shatter and fragment the very basis of their family life.

I thank you for your kind attention to this urgent matter. I realize this burden may weigh heavily on you. The Palestinian people are steadfast in their determination to achieve their freedom. I hope you can assist by bringing freedom to their children.

Sincerely

Your name
Address
Phone number
Email Address

Please contact the first lady by:

Fax: 1-202-456-2461

Mail:

Attn: First Lady, Mrs. Michelle Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

The White House online form: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Please be sure to keep the size of your letter below 2500 characters when using this form to contact the first Lady.