Watchdog: Release 7 girls arrested at outpost - Haaretz

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Mon., January 14, 2008 Shvat 7, 5768

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Last update - 01:23 13/01/2008

Watchdog: Release 7 girls arrested at outpost

By Nadav Shragai

The director of the National Council for the Child, Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, has asked the State Attorney's Office to find a "creative solution" that will allow the release from prison of seven minors arrested at the outpost of Givat Ha'Or.

The seven minors were arrested three weeks ago and are refusing to identify themselves. They are also refusing legal representation and have declared they do not recognize the authority of the courts.

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The minors, teenage girls aged 13-15, could be released if they heed the demands of the court to identify themselves. For their part, the girls insist that they want to be brought before a "Jewish court," practicing Jewish law.

In a letter to Jerusalem District Attorney Eli Abarbanel, Kadman emphasizes that the National Council for the Child does not support any kind of violation of the law - "yet, we cannot agree with an inconceivable situation in which seven minors are continuously and indefinitely detained ... when the reason for their protracted detention is not linked to the seriousness of their violation."

The head of the education department at the Bet El local council issued a similar demand to Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, as did the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel.

The parents of the girls released a statement over the weekend accusing the establishment "of trying to break the girls ... keeping food from them ... preventing them from receiving educational materials, despite repeated requests by both their teachers and their parents."

The parents also expressed their support for their daughters, describing their stance as being part of previous precedents of "few against many. They are waiting for the day when there will be a Jewish state with Jewish laws, and God willing, this is not a myth."

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