IDF soldiers fire live ammunition at demonstrators, wounding two persons, Beit Liqya, January 2007

Jihad Atiyyah 'Assi, 18

The villagers have been demonstrating regularly against the road-paving that Israel is doing northeast of the village. There was a demonstration yesterday as well, but nobody was injured.

This afternoon [20 January], at 3:00. I joined the group of demonstrators who had been demonstrating for about an hour. When I arrived, there were 30-40 people, ranging in age from about twelve to twenty-five, and others continued to arrive. The demonstrators threw stones in the direction of the Israeli soldiers, who guard the equipment and the workers building the fence.

Four jeeps, three of them belonging to the Border Police and one to the army, were parked at the edge of the village, about 40-50 meters from the closest house, that of N'uman Bacher 'Aasi. The confrontation between the demonstrators and the army took place one or two kilometers from the work site and where the equipment was. At the time, no work was being done on the road, apparently because it was Saturday.

The soldiers were standing on the farm road leading to a-Sawaneh, where the demonstration was taking place. Just as I arrived, six soldiers got out of the jeeps and spread out. Some of them hid behind rocks and others between the olive trees. They fired live ammunition to disperse the demonstrators. I joined the youths and we threw stones at the soldiers. They fired only live ammunition, single shots, sometimes volleys of shots, in the air. Until 4:30, nobody was injured, neither us nor the soldiers.

At around 4:30, I was standing near the house of N'uman Bacher 'Aasi. N'uman Bacher's sixteen-year-old son, Jihad N'uman, was next to me. I saw two soldiers behind a rock, another two on the farm road, and two more between the olive trees, about 30-40 meters from us. There was also a woman among them, a soldier or policewoman, who had long hair. Gunfire broke out from all directions. I was hit in the left thigh. I felt weak. Jihad N'uman was hit as well, and his right hand was bleeding. We began to run toward the alley in the village. I hopped on one foot because I couldn't run. Nobody chased us. The confrontation with the demonstrators continued. We continued to run until we got out of range of the soldiers' gunfire.

People from the village helped us. They put us into cars that took us to the medical clinic in the village. We were given first-aid, and 5-10 minutes after that, we went by ambulance to Sheikh Zayed Hospital , in Ramallah. They took us to the trauma unit. I was in stable condition and did not lose consciousness. Jihad N'uman was in serious condition and was nauseated. I underwent tests and X-rays, and they found that I had been hit by a live bullet that had entered and exited my left thigh. I was not badly injured. I think I'll be discharged today. I was told that Jihad N'uman was seriously injured and was going to be operated on.

Jihad 'Atiyyha 'Othman 'Assi, 18, is a resident of Beit Liqya, Ramallah District. His testimony was given to Iyad Hadad at Sheikh Zayed Hospital , Ramallah, on 20 January 2007.