The police report a decrease in the phenomenon of children collecting alms at intersections, in the field the situation is different

The phenomenon of Palestinian children collecting alms at intersections in Israel has not diminished, according to a group of activists that monitors children’s activities in the north. The Israel Police claim that there has been a significant decrease in the phenomenon, but even when information and evidence on the subject was forwarded to them, enforcement was scant and reflected very little of the extent of the trafficking and begging activities that were revealed.

According to police spokesmen, the organization carried out enforcement actions on the issue, but they accept a lack of cooperation on the part of the Palestinian Authority in returning the children to its territories. This indeed makes it difficult for the enforcement authorities in Israel to end the phenomenon, but it also does not seem that actions are being taken by the police and the Ministry of Justice to change the situation, which could lead to the flooding of the roads with an increasing number of Palestinian children.

According to senior officials in the Ministry of Justice, who are in charge of combating the phenomenon of child trafficking for profit, in the Israel Police They say in recent months that the phenomenon has almost stopped, but A test in the field and with citizens following the issue proves the opposite. “The police know very well that the phenomenon exists,” Andrey from the Wadi Ara area, director of the “Jersey Children’s Group”, whose members monitor the phenomenon, provide food aid to the children and report the matter to the police, tells ‘Daver’.

The phenomenon is striking, and did not stop with the war

Driving on the northern roads and passing through the Ableiim intersection, on Route 65, at the Achihud intersection, in front of the Iron police station, at the Kfar Kasem intersection and at intersections in the Karmiel area, reveals the striking phenomenon of small children collecting alms, at all hours of the day and in every season. Last summer, a special project on the site examined the phenomenon in depth in a series of articleswhich revealed the phenomenon that exists in several places in the north, alongside the legal and social aspects of human trafficking that exists within the State of Israel.

With the start of the ‘Iron Swords’ war, and the application of the segOn the territories of Judea and Samaria, there was a period when the junctions were abandoned. The child traffickers were unable to transport the children to Israel or did not want to, and in any case public and police attention was not focused on the phenomenon. However, very quickly the merchants returned to employ the children, who generate a steady and high income for them.

“The phenomenon has not stopped for even one day,” says Andrey, a key activist in the group fighting the phenomenon, “in the area of ​​Wadi Ara, I have seen children from the first days of the war until today. They are standing A few meters from the city police, And mobility passes while frustrating children in the face“.

Also other activists in the WhatsApp group Shandrei Mavitri, which decided to reduce its operations during the war months, claims that the children gather at the intersections without any disturbance, “I see children every day at the Ebalin intersection, and at the Somek intersection there are 1 or 2 children,” writes a member of the group. “On Thursday night, there were small children at the intersection mourning. The owner of Lachion Harish has slightly older children standing at the intersection,” writes another friend. “I saw children collecting alms on Route 65″, in the last few weeks I have seen the children of Ablaim Junction and Ahihud Junction several times. At least in Babylon these are the same children who were there even before the war,” claims another member of the group.

The activists report, it is not clear if the police are acting

“On Purim, the Achihud and Ebalin intersections were full of children,” writes another friend to Andrei, after he asked, “As usual, I called the police at the intersection, and while talking to the operator I saw a car parked right next to it at the Ebalin intersection There was a mobile several tens of meters away. The operator took location details and said it would be taken care of.” So not only do the citizens see the ongoing phenomenon in the field, but the police are aware of it after repeated complaints.

The treatment of this phenomenon, one of the most serious in Israel in terms of human rights, is not only in the hands of the police, whose hands are very busy in routine and certainly in times of war. It seems that even in implementing the practice of returning the children to the Palestinian Authority, the state encounters difficulty with the relevant parties in the Palestinian Authority. The government bodies relevant to handling the phenomenon such as welfare and education, the Population and Immigration Authority, the Ministry of Defense, the local Arab authorities and a long list of other bodies fail to prevent the phenomenon, it is doubtful that they are trying. But if the information that is with the law enforcement agencies does not reach them, the ability of the problem to be solved is decreasing.

The Israel Police responded: “Since the outbreak of the war, there has been a significant decrease in this phenomenon as a result of the security situation and security activities that make it difficult for Palestinians to enter Israel. We note that in the recent activities carried out in the northern district of the police regarding this phenomenon, we encountered a lack of cooperation on the part of the Palestinian Authority to transfer the minors to its territory.”