Santa (AKA Alexei Sayle) delivers #3wishes for Palestinian children to the Foreign Office – Friday 21st December
On Friday 21st December Santa Claus (AKA Alexei Sayle) delivered sacks of people’s 3 wishes for Palestinian children.
More than 900 people from all over Britain wrote to ask the Middle East Minister and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to put pressure on Israel to abide by international and humanitarian law and put an end to this inhumane and illegal treatment of children. Their three wishes are:
- An end to Israel’s night time raids and shackling of Palestinian children
- Lawyers, parents and video cameras in all interrogations of Palestinian children
- An end to transferring children to prisons inside Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention
This follows an FCO-funded, independent report, (‘Children in Military Custody’) published in June 2012 on the plight of Palestinian children arrested and detained by Israel made 40 recommendations.
FCO accepted the report’s findings and promised to take them up with the government of Israel. In response to a question in the House of Commons Alastair Burt said the UK government had raised the matter on a number of occasions urging action. Despite this, nearly six months later, not one of these recommendations has been implemented.
Santa Claus (AKA Alexei Sayle) said:
“It is unbelievable to me that the UK Government think their disapproval is going to have any effect on the Israeli Government. It hasn’t so far. To protect the human rights of Palestinian children and adults alike we need solid action not words.”
Kiri Tunks, from Action for Palestinian Children, said:
“What we are demanding is a commitment to basic human rights for Palestinian child prisoners. Israel must abide by international law and our government must do all in its power to bring this about.”