US lawmaker reintroduces bill banning Israel from using aid to detain Palestinian children

A US lawmaker put forward a bill on Friday that would ban Israel from using American taxpayers' money in the occupied West Bank to hold Palestinian children in military detention.

The proposed legislation was reintroduced by Democratic Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota, with cosponsors including Rashida Tlaib – a Palestinian American – as well as Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowan, Ayanna Pressley and Cori Bush.

It would also prohibit US money from being used to support the torture of Palestinian children or destruction of Palestinian property or to help "facilitate or support further unilateral annexation" of West Bank territory.

"Not $1 of US aid should be used to commit human rights violations, demolish families' homes, or permanently annex Palestinian lands," McCollum said in a statement.

"The United States provides billions in assistance for Israel's government each year – and those dollars should go toward Israel's security, not toward actions that violate international law and cause harm."

In 2016, the US pledged Israel $38 billion in military aid over a 10-year period.

"Peace can only be achieved when everyone's human rights are respected, and Congress has a responsibility to not ignore the well-documented mistreatment of Palestinian children and families living under Israeli military occupation," McCollum said.

"Prominent civil society groups, as well as Christian, Jewish, and Muslim organisations, have signed on in support of this bill – because we all agree that no Palestinian child and no Jewish child should go to bed at night fearing ongoing violence."

The Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act has the backing of over 75 groups.

These include Amnesty International USA, Defense for Children International – Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Churches for Middle East Peace, according to McCollum's congressional website.

The legislation is largely symbolic. It's almost certain that, like the versions put forward by McCollum in previous US Congresses, the bill will not become law.

Its reintroduction comes, however, amid a significant rise in global support for Palestine, with the European cities of Barcelona and Liège, a Belgian provincial capital, recently deciding to cut ties with Israel.

Oslo told The New Arab last month that in May it would tell businesses it deals with not to trade in goods and services produced in areas under illegal occupation.

The Norwegian capital's decision, while applying to all illegally occupied territories – not just those controlled by Israel – nevertheless drew praise from the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee, a Palestinian coalition seeking justice through economic sanctions.