Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have shot dead two Palestinians at the Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank.
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The personnel said she was detained after she tried to stab them with a knife at the entrance to an Israeli settlement near the southern West Bank town of Halhoul where she lives.
Court documents provided by the military says she was ordered her to stop, drop to the ground and give up the knife, which she did. Details on the couple’s condition were not immediately available.
Wednesday’s incident came after a period of significant decline in Palestinian terrorist attacks. After greeting Al-Wawi, the head of the Prisoners’ Affairs Committee Issa Qaraqe said that “Israel is a savage state that uses the ugliest forms of repression, abuse and torture on Palestinian children”.
Her sentence was met with an global backlash due to the fact that she was the youngest ever Palestinian detainee in Israel, where laws that prohibit prosecuting and jailing Israeli citizens under the age of 14 do not stretch to Palestinians.
“Inserting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into unrelated American political discourse serves only one objective, to encourage those who are narrowly focused on assailing Israel for any shortcomings [or] failings by the Palestinian Authority”.
Dima Al-Wawi was accused of plotting a stabbing attack on Israelis. She was freed early after an appeal. She pleaded guilty to the charges in court.
The Jewish advocacy group AJC: Global Jewish Advocacy has criticized Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders for remarks comparing Baltimore’s socioeconomic conditions to the situation of Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Israeli officials said: “Since October, Palestinians have launched scores of knife attacks against Israelis, protesting the ongoing occupation, as well as perceived violations”.
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Not only do these arrests violate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – to which Israel is a signatory – cases like that of al-Wiwi’s also exposes the double standards of the Israeli justice system.
