[IMRA: Yes. The Government of Israel has gone off the deep end. The message
from the top is to push hard to suppress opposition to the retreat from the
Gaza Strip and northern Samaria - and if pushing hard doesn't work to push
even harder. The sick joke of two days ago becomes the rumor yesterday and
policy today. It would surprise few if in a few weeks the State argues that
any settler who doesn't send their children out by a deadline set before the
retreat is guilty of reckless endangerment and their children should be
immediately seized and placed in foster homes.]

State: Parents of underage activists may lose guardianship
By Zvi Zerahia, Haaretz Correspondent 7 June 2005
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/585555.html

The State Prosecution is considering the use of the Juvenile Law against
parents of minors who have been arrested repeatedly for blocking highways,
said a senior source at the State Prosecution on Tuesday. Such a move would
allow courts to monitor parental supervision of their children and in
extreme cases to strip the parents off their guardianship.

Senior officials at the State Prosecution held two meetings with welfare
authority officials in order to examine the possibility of using the
Juvenile Law against minors whose parents do not prevent them or
systematically encourage them to engage in blocking highways. Should such an
interpretation of the Juvenile Law be employed those parents would be
considered to have encouraged their children to engage in criminal activity.

Under such circumstances welfare workers would be able to request the court
to employ various measures, the harshest of which is stripping the minor's
parents off their guardianship. This measure is reserved for extreme cases
only however.

The court may also monitor and instruct parental supervision of such minors.

The initiative came in response to the high number of minors arrested in
mass road blockages by anti-disengagement activists three weeks ago. Most of
the 409 activists arrested that day in dozens of crossroads across Israel
were minors. Out of the 14 activists still in custody, 7 are minors.

Throughout their arrest many minors refused to identify themselves to
authorities. Five of the last female minors to remain in custody who refused
to disclose their identity finally consented to give their names early this
week, but have not yet been released due to their refusal to sign on the
restrictive conditions of their release.

According to a senior prosecution official, it is state policy to object to
the release of any suspect refusing to identify to the authorities while
solid evidence tie them to criminal offences.