'Abd a-Rahman Shnaran, father of three

I live with my wife and our three children in a tent about three kilometers west of the Susiya settlement. Our eldest daughter, Hadija, is four years old. My parents live in a tent about twenty meters from my tent, and my brother 'Aziz, 26, lives with his family in a tent next to mine. We all make our livelihood from farming and raising sheep and goats. My family has lived in the area for dozens of years, dating back to the time before the Susiya settlement was founded.

Yesterday [Saturday, 25 March], at about 11:30 P.M., I was asleep in my tent. I awoke when I received a sharp blow to my head. I don't know what hit me. It may have been a very big knife or a stick. Blood started to flow from the top of my head. I raised my head to see what was happening, I was hit in the same place some more times, and once each in my hands and mouth. I saw a group of men, maybe ten. More than one person hit me. When I heard them speak Hebrew, I realized they were settlers.

The tent was totally dark, and I couldn't see the assailants' faces. When they stopped beating me, I felt myself fainting. I regained consciousness when they dragged me outside the tent. I heard my wife and children screaming. They awoke and went out of the tent after me. When I was outside, the settlers beat me again on my arms. One of the sharp blows struck my left elbow, causing it to bleed.

They beat me for more than twenty minutes. During the assault, I saw the settlers beating my brother 'Aziz. They hit my wife in the shoulder, and our two-year-old son Jihad in the front of his head. My wife and son suffered light injuries. When the settlers stopped beating 'Aziz, they fled in an easterly direction. In my opinion, they fled to the Susiya settlement. After they disappeared, my father arrived. He apparently woke to the shouts of my wife and children. He called the police. After an hour and a half passed, an army jeep and army ambulance arrived. Ezra, from the Tayyush organization, also arrived. The soldiers asked us briefly about what had happened and took us by ambulance to the Zif junction, where an ambulance of the civil guard in Yatta was waiting. Ezra drove my father to the junction. The ambulance took 'Aziz and me to the ' Aliyah Government Hospital , in Hebron . My father and Ezra drove with us.

At the hospital, I was examined and X-rayed. I had suffered three injuries to the top of my head, a wound to my lower lip and left elbow, and bruises on both legs. The doctors stitched the wounds. I am currently hospitalized in the hospital's surgery department.

'Abd a-Rahman Musa Muhammad Shnaran, married with three children, is a farmer, and a resident of Susiya, in the Southern Hebron Hills. The testimony was given to Musa Abu Hashhash, at 'Aliyah Hospital, in Hebron, on 26 March.