JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces have been holding a Palestinian-American teenager in a military lockup for nearly a week after bursting into his family home and arresting him in an overnight raid for allegedly hurling rocks at Israeli motorists in the West Bank, his father said on Thursday.

The case highlights Israel's system of military detention for Palestinian minors, which has been frequently criticized, most recently by the U.N. which said in March that an in-depth study showed it systematically and gravely violated their rights.

The Palestinian-American boy's father, Abdelwahab Khalek, said his 14-year-old son Mohammad was taken into custody early last Friday morning by eight assault-rifle wielding soldiers. They shackled and blindfolded his son as his five siblings watched, he said.

The military said Mohammad hurled rocks at Israeli vehicles that were speeding down a nearby highway and at military jeeps on several occasions. The military said there has been a spike in rock-throwing attacks on drivers, including an incident in early April, when rocks thrown at a civilian car next to a Jewish settlement injured seven, including an infant who was critically wounded.

The military confirmed the arrest and said his detention was extended until Sunday.

Khalek, a car dealer who splits his time between the West Bank and New Orleans, hasn't been allowed to visit his son in jail. But he has spoken to him at three court hearings, most recently when Mohammad was officially charged on Thursday.

Mohammad's lawyer, Randa Wahbe, said he told her in court that he was interrogated for hours and at one stage, was pushed so hard that his dental braces were broken. She says he was told by interrogators that if he confessed to rock throwing quickly, he would be released. A military spokesman said no complaints of abuse were filed.

"He appears okay, he's a strong kid," said his 46-year-old father. "But there is no law in the world that justifies the way (Israeli forces) acted."

American consular officials declined comment.

"Unfortunately this case is symptomatic of the Israeli military's abusive treatment of Palestinian children in detention," said Bill Van Esveld of the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch.

Rights group Defense of Children International says there were 236 minors in Israel military detention in February, 39 of them between the ages of 12 to 15. The group said it receives its numbers from Israel's prison authority.

Also Thursday, a Palestinian prisoner who has been refusing food for the past eight months to protest his detention dictated a letter urging Israelis to try to visit him in hospital — a rare plea from a man who was initially jailed for his militant activities.

Samer Issawi, a frail 33-year-old hunger-striker monitored under guard, pleaded with Israelis for the visits as a way to promote reconciliation.

Parts of the letter were published in liberal daily Haaretz, in a column written by an Israeli considered sympathetic to Palestinians. The columnist, Gideon Levy, said Issawi dictated the letter to his lawyer, who then gave it to Israeli women sympathetic to Issawi's cause who were trying to visit him.

"I invite you to visit me in hospital and see me, a skeleton cuffed and bound to the bed," the letter said. "My spirit that refuses to give in ... maybe now you'll understand that a sense of freedom is stronger than a sense of death ... History is not measured only in battles, massacres and prisons, but in stretching out a hand in peace, to yourselves and to the other," the letter said, according to published excerpts.

Issawi's sister Shireen confirmed the letter's contents.

Issawi was sentenced to 26 years prison for his involvement in a series of shooting attacks at Israeli police cars and students at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.

He was released from prison as part of a 2011 exchange that released hundreds of Palestinians, many of them militants involved in deadly attacks, in exchange for an Israeli soldier held by Hamas-backed militants.

But the Jerusalem resident was rearrested for violating his release conditions by entering the nearbyWest Bank, and is expected to carry out his entire sentence as a result.

Issawi receives infusions from time to time and drinks water, which has kept him alive despite his dramatically weakened state. His sister said some Israelis had contacted the family since the letter was published.

"It shows there is humanity out there. He wants Israelis to understand why he is a hunger strike," she said. "He doesn't want to die, he is on a hunger strike to he can be released and live in dignity."

From The Chronicle Herald:

Parsons said she was unhappy with what she saw of the investigation.

“They didn’t even interview the boys until much, much later. To me, I’d think you’d get the boys right away, separate them.”

When it came to the photo or photos taken that night, “nothing was done about that because they couldn’t prove who had pressed the photo button on the phone,” she said.

She was told that the distribution of the photos is “not really a criminal issue, it’s more of a community issue,” she said.

“Even though she was 15 at the time, which is child pornography.”

Isn’t child pornography enough of a reason to continue the investigation?

(More on this here in this same thread)

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North Korean children hold up red scarves to be tied around their necks during an induction ceremony into the Korean Children's Union, the first political organization for North Koreans, held at a stadium in Pyongyang on Friday, April 12, 2013. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

Retired North Korean military members stand at attention during an induction ceremony for children into the Korean Children's Union, the first political organization for North Koreans, held at a stadium in Pyongyang on Friday, April 12, 2013. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — As the world watches to see what North Korea's next move will be in a high-stakes game of brinksmanship with the United States, residents of its capital aren't hunkering down in bunkers and preparing for the worst. Instead, they are out on the streets en masse getting ready for the birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung — the biggest holiday of the year.

The festivities leading up to Kim's birthday come amid fears that North Korea may be planning to test launch a new missile in retaliation for what it claims are provocative war games by U.S. and South Korean troops just across the Korean border. Even at such a seemingly innocuous setting as a flower show in Kim's honor, North Korea's warning that it is prepared to strike back if pushed too far is on prominent display.

This year's exhibition of "Kimilsungia" flowers — which North Koreans claim their scientists have bred into the most beautiful orchids in the world — is built around mockups of red-tipped missiles, slogans hailing the military and reminders of the threats that North Koreans feel are all around them.

"It is because we have a nuclear deterrent like nuclear weapons that we are able to live our normal lives and have a beautiful flower exhibition like this," said Kim Sung Sim, a Pyongyang greenhouse worker who contributed to the display, which opened Friday.

The escalation of tensions comes as North Korea is also celebrating a slew of anniversaries for its young leader, Kim Jong Un, who took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, longtime leader Kim Jong Il. He was named head of the Workers' Party a year ago Thursday, and marks his first year as head of the National Defense Commission, the top government body, on Saturday. The birthday of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on Monday is the most important of the national holidays designed to cement loyalty to the ruling Kim family.

Whether this year's celebrations will include a missile launch or some other action that could escalate the tensions remains to be seen.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Seoul on Friday for talks with South Korean officials, warned the North not to test fire a missile.

"If Kim Jong Un decides to launch a missile, whether it's across the Sea of Japan or some other direction, he will be choosing willfully to ignore the entire international community," Kerry told reporters.

He said the test would be a "huge mistake" for Kim.

A senior U.S military official told reporters there was no sign of military movements in the North and no real prospect of war. He spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about military intelligence.

But that doesn't mean North Korea won't put on some sort of a military show.

During last year's celebrations, North Korea failed in an attempt to send a satellite into space aboard a long-range rocket. The U.S. and its allies criticized the launch as a covert test of ballistic missile technology. North Korea tried again in December and succeeded. That was followed by the country's third underground nuclear test on Feb. 12.

Officials in Seoul and Washington say Pyongyang appears to be preparing to test fire a medium-range missile designed to be capable of reaching Guam. Foreign experts have dubbed the missile the "Musudan" after the northeastern village where North Korea has a launch pad, and say it has a range of 3,500 kilometers (2,180 miles).

A medium- or long-range missile test would be particularly significant because North Korea may now be capable of arming a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency concluded in an assessment revealed Thursday. Kerry refused to comment specifically Friday on that intelligence report, but said the North is still some time away from having a nuclear bomb that is "small, light and diversified."

South Korean officials have said they do not believe Pyongyang can place a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile yet, but have put their military on high alert. Japan has also deployed PAC-3 missile interceptor units around Tokyo to protect its capital.

A Chinese city near the border with North Korea staged an air raid drill on Thursday amid the tensions, state media said. Authorities in Huichen, a city of 250,000 people in Jilin province, sounded alarms in residential areas and led participants to underground shelters, the China News Service reported.

It wasn't clear how long the drill had been planned or how many people took part. Calls to the city's spokesman and civil air defense office rang unanswered.

Kerry, who is also visiting China and Japan, is hoping to get Beijing to join the United States in pressuring Pyongyang.

China backed North Korea with troops during the 1950-53 Korean War and has been a major economic pipeline for the impoverished country. With little arable land, North Korea has struggled to feed its people, with two-thirds of the population of 24 million grappling with chronic food shortages, according to the World Food Program.

In Pyongyang on Friday, thousands of schoolchildren were amassed at Kim Il Sung Stadium for the induction of second-graders from around the country into the Korean Children's Union, one of the first steps into North Korea's political structure. They pledged to study hard and to build up strength to defend their nation. Retired military officers helped them tie on red scarves to complete the ritual.

"The U.S is our sworn enemy," said Ri So Hyang, a 13-year-old taking part in the ceremony. She said her brother had just enlisted. "I hope he'll fight well against the U.S. imperialists since I cannot."

Elsewhere around the city, workers tidied up buildings and roads alongside banners that read "Defend to the death" and called on citizens to become "human bombs" for leader Kim Jong Un.

Though few North Koreans have access to international media, and instead get their news from state media, they said they were aware of the tensions with the U.S.

At the flower exhibition, a guide called the current political situation "complicated."

"I don't know whether there will be a missile launch test, but if we do I think it will be just for national defense," Kim Jong Gum said. "And I think there's no need for other countries to try to tell us what to do and what not to do."

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Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee and Jon Chol Jin in Pyongyang; Bradley Klapper in Seoul, South Korea; and Kimberly Dozier and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.