Khaled Fanun, construction worker

Until the beginning of February 2006, I worked at the Elazar settlement. When the project there ended, I looked for work but couldn't find anything nearby. It was a hard time for me: during the day, I looked for work, and at night, I couldn't fall asleep. I was in terrible shape mentally because I am the sole breadwinner in my family – my parents and six sisters, who range in age from six to twenty-five. At the end of March, somebody from the village suggested that I join him working in El'ad, but only if I would sleep there. I wanted to sleep at home, but I had no choice, and I agreed.

Last Saturday [1 April], I left Nahhalin with seven men from the village and one man from Husan. We traveled to Deir Ballut, a village near Ramallah, from which we could get to El'ad. We reached Deir Ballut about six in the evening and waited in the center of the village until 6:30. Then we walked to woods located in the western part of the village, a distance of about 500 meters from the village center. We waited there until it got dark.

At about 7:30, we checked to make sure that no army patrols were in the area, then proceeded on foot about one kilometer west, to a barbed-wire fence that had a small opening. On the other side was a paved path for use by the security forces. One after the other, we went through the opening, crossed the path and descended to a trench that ran parallel to the road. We knew that the barbed-wire fence on the other side also had an opening through which we could cross. From there, it was an hour's walk to El'ad.

I went down into the trench. Some of the workers had already gone down before me and some were still behind. Suddenly, I heard intense gunfire and lost my concentration. I began to go from side to side in the trench and looked for an opening in the fence to go through. I couldn't find an opening and couldn't get to the other side. I lay down in the trench to take cover. This all happened in a few seconds time. The gunfire was very intense. After a few seconds passed, I heard shouts and calls for help coming from 15-20 meters from me.

The soldiers aimed lights, which were attached to their rifles, at us. I saw two soldiers standing on the road overlooking the trench we were in. I saw Nasser lying along the trench and realized that he had been wounded. I stood up and shouted to the soldiers, in Arabic, "Why are you firing? We are just laborers who want to get to work." The soldiers shouted at me in Hebrew and ordered me to shut up.

One of the soldiers went over to Nasser , and another stayed up top, his rifle aimed at us. I moved toward the soldiers and Nasser. I saw a large stain of blood on the ground under Nasser . I saw that he had been hit in the leg, that the muscle below the knee had been badly damaged, and that he was losing lots of blood. The soldier brought a thin cord and wound it around his right leg near the knee. He tightened it by using a small stick, but the bleeding continued. I put my hand under his head because the severe pain made him keep banging his head on the ground.

The soldier asked me to talk to Nasser all the time and not to let him doze off or lose consciousness, and to get him to breathe deeply. It was eight o'clock at night by then. About 8:30, an army patrol pulled up. I think it had been summoned to the area; earlier, I heard the soldier next to me ask the soldier standing on the road to call for reinforcements. A soldier or two came down to where we were, and after a few minutes passed, they went back up top, and I remained with the soldier who had been with Nasser from the beginning. As far as I recall, he was of medium height, had straight hair, and a dark-brown complexion. He kept asking the soldier standing up top what was happening with the ambulance, and why it was taking so long. The other soldier kept repeating, "Another five or ten minutes" or something like that. While waiting, the soldier and I made sure that Nasser's head was held sideways so that he could get rid of the mucous and saliva, which made it difficult for him to breathe. I cleaned his mouth with a piece of cloth.

Around 9:30, some more soldiers arrived. The soldier asked me to move aside and let the doctors and medical team treat Nasser . I moved a few meters away, from where I saw ambulances parked on the road. One was a white GMC civilian ambulance, and the other was a big army ambulance. The team gave Nasser first-aid for about half an hour, and then the soldiers picked him up and took him to the white ambulance. Soldiers carried Maher 'Abd al-Hamid, who had been wounded when he fell into one of the drainage holes in the trench. Then the soldiers ordered the other workers and me to get into the army ambulance. The others in the ambulance were, in addition to Maher, Na'el Muhammad, Fadel 'Abd al-Hamid, Maher 'Issa, and 'Abdallah. Two others managed to flee and get back to Deir Ballut after the shooting started.

After riding for about twenty minutes in the ambulance, we got to the Kufor Qassem checkpoint, where we got out, except for the injured Maher. About forty Palestinian workers were standing in the rain at the checkpoint. We were told to join them. It was now around 10:30. After twenty minutes passed, we were told to cross the checkpoint and get onto an army bus. In twenty minutes, the bus filled up with Palestinian workers. Four soldiers were on the bus, in addition to the driver.

The bus started moving. I had no idea where we were gong. We rode for about an hour, and then the bus stopped at the entrance to a police station that I am not familiar with and don't know where it is. The bus parked there for about forty minutes before it started to go again. As we were riding, one of the soldiers read out the names of the people in the bus as they appeared on the identity cards he had. He gave us our ID cards. After about twenty minutes, the bus stopped in an open area. We did not know where we were. It was raining very hard. The soldiers ordered us to get out, but we refused because we didn't know where we were. After an argument with the soldiers that lasted fifteen minutes or so, the driver closed the door. One of the soldiers asked us to agree among ourselves where we should be dropped off. We asked them to take us to the Za'tara checkpoint. We got there about two in the morning. It was still raining and very cold outside.

The workers who lived nearby went home on foot or called and asked somebody to come and get them. I stayed there with a few of my friends and some workers from the area until about 3:30, when we found a car to take us to N'alin. We got there when the call to morning prayers was made. We went into the mosque. Our clothes were wet, we were very cold, and we were hungry. Some of us went to sleep in the mosque. I saw a place with lights on and went over to it. It was a bakery. I went inside and the employees gave me something to eat. Then, at six o'clock, I went to sleep. I slept until nine, and then my friends came. We went together to Nahhalin. We had risked our lives for nothing and still did not have work.

Khaled Ahmad Muhammad Fanun, 25, is a construction worker and a resident of Nahhalin, Bethlehem District. His testimony was given to Kareem Jubran at the witness's home on 7 April 2006.