Chapter 8 delves into the legal construction of Israeli settlers’ childhood, revisiting in the process key themes and insights from the previous chapters. The greater rights and preferential treatment enjoyed by settlers aged under 18, compared with those of same-age Palestinians, are explored in this chapter, with a focus on two test cases: stone throwing by settler youth, and the question of whether to detain settlers aged under 18 separately from their elders. In the process, the chapter sheds light on the lax law enforcement on settler youth; on their lenient sentencing; on soldiers’ abuse of Palestinian victims of settler violence; on the courts’ consideration of settlers’ military service as a mitigating factor; on convictions only where Palestinian complaints are corroborated by Israeli witnesses; and on the rejection of Palestinians’ selective enforcement claims. Next, the chapter interrogates what critics have described as Israel’s childish response to the refusal of detained settler girls to disclose their ages. This dynamic offers broader lessons about age, voice, and infantilization. Finally, the chapter casts light on two central modes of representation in parliamentary debates on the impact of the Gaza pullout on young Jewish evacuees: a mental health language of trauma and loss, and visual imagery.

Chapter 4 focuses on reforms in the first two decades of this century, which represented, for both Israel and the human rights community, fixing childhood’s spatial and age boundaries in line with legal standards. Key among them were the separation of incarcerated Palestinians under 18 from their elders; the establishment of the world’s only “military youth court”; raising the age of majority under military law; and assessment of the rehabilitation chances of Palestinian youth. Contrary to claims by Israeli officials and their human rights critics, this chapter reveals that some reforms have made no actual difference while others have served to fragment, monitor, and suppress Palestinians. Five broader issues exemplified by these reforms are discussed: the blind spots of human rights actors; the complicity of child law and children’s rights in the oppression of disempowered communities around the world; the growing convergence between military and nonmilitary Israeli law; the multiple forms of separation Israel imposes on Palestinians, which operate to divide and conquer them; and Israel’s attempts at confining Palestinian minds beyond the prison walls. Also examined are Palestinian acts of resistance: running study groups in prison, smuggling sperm of incarcerated men, and conducting readings and discussions in public protests.