Palestinian ‘Children of the Junction’: Contested Borders and Representations

Constructing Impossibility: Israeli State Discourses about Palestinian Child Labour

“…The CotJ's families’ economic hardships are often coupled by additional factors, such as a sick or dead parent (Agbareeya, ; Mishor and Peled‐Keinan, ). The children are thus perceived as the family's only chance of financial survival, due to their physical ability to cross the separation wall and checkpoints, and the relative ease with which they can avoid the scrutiny of Israeli security forces monitoring checkpoints and governing border areas (Badran, ; Bornstein, ; Gal, ; Grinberg, , ).…”

“…There is very little formal information available about the CotJ. I analysed some of the few main sources of information about the CotJ as part of my own research about the CotJ in a traffic junction in North‐East Jerusalem in 2006–2008 (see Grinberg, , ). These include a short documentary (Agbareeya, ), a journalistic text (Levy, ) and the minutes from the two Knesset meetings from 2005 and 2006.…”

“…The number, ages and working conditions of the CotJ are therefore unknown. Specifically, the number of CotJ has been estimated (including Meeting IV; Mishor and Peled‐Keinan, ) as anywhere between a few dozen, to over 100 in Jerusalem alone and somewhere around 500 in general (Grinberg, , ).…”

“…They are, therefore, without the freedom to do and act as they wish, instead obeying their parents’ instructions. Though often forced to work in the junctions, the children still tend to display empathy and understanding of the hardships their parents face (see Grinberg, , ).…”

Children, Young People and Borders: A Multidisciplinary Outlook

“…Thus far, research has focused on two major themes: children and young people living in and experiencing borderlands (past and present) and children and young people encountering voluntary or forced migration. Studies in the first group have examined the cross-border practices, perceptions, and identities of children and young people in borderlands (Jukarainen 2001;Bejarano 2010;Mendoza Inzunza and Fernandez Huerta 2010;Ongay 2010;da Silva 2014;Christou and Spyrou 2014;Sandberg 2016;Venken 2017;Kaisto and Brednikova 2019;Brambilla 2021) and at contested borders and urban spaces (Akesson 2014;Grinberg 2014;McKnight and Leonard 2014;Christou and Spyrou 2017;Lundgren 2018); the activism and political work of borderland children and young people (Bosco 2010;Burrigde 2010;Fickers 2017); and ethnic minority youth's experiences and perceptions of the state and the nation in borderlands (TrầnThị and Huijsmans 2014;Wung-Sung 2017). Studies in the second group have explored how unaccompanied minors experience border crossings (Aitken, Swanson, and Kennedy 2014;Buil and Siegel 2014;Clacherty 2019); how migrant children and youth negotiate practicalities, identities and belonging in new societies (Aitken 2010;Kim and Dorner 2014;Halicka 2017;Assmuth and Siim 2018;Hakkarainen 2018); and how they and their families experience transnational life (Pratt 2010;Kutsar, Darmody, and Lahesoo 2014;Ruiz Marrujo 2014).…”