'Ali Nassar, father of eight children

I own a stone sawmill and live in the town of Yatta . My three brothers work in the mill and we all live in the same building. I live on the first floor, which has three apartments, one for each of my wives. My mother and my brothers and their families live on the other floors. There are 31 persons in our family, most of them women and small children.

At around 2 A.M. this morning [5 December], I was woken by hard pounding on the door at the entrance to our building. I assumed it was the Israeli army and quickly opened the door so that they wouldn't break it open. The soldiers ordered me to quickly remove all the occupants from the building. I said there were women and small children who were asleep and suggested that only the men go outside, but the soldier refused and ordered me to hurry up and do it. Within minutes, I asked my brothers to go downstairs and take the small children. The soldiers ordered all of us to stand together in the outside yard.

Eight soldiers entered the building, accompanied by my brother Ahmad, 43, and his son Hassan, 19. The soldiers explained that they were looking for weapons. I told them we didn't have any weapons, and that they wouldn't find anything. The soldiers began to search the first floor. I saw them damaging the furniture as they searched. I protested, in Hebrew, and told one of the soldiers that they could search without destroying things. The soldier told me to shut up and said that if I didn't, he would cause more destruction, and that if we didn't hand over the weapons, he would destroy everything. I told him there were no weapons and that if he found any, I would take responsibility.

The Nassar's living room after the search. Photo: Musa Abu Hashhash, B'Tselem.

After about an hour, the soldiers let the women and small children back into the house. The soldiers put them all in one of the rooms on the first floor and closed the door. The soldiers continued to search and destroy things in every room they entered. They also searched in the kitchen and bathroom. During the search, the small children cried. One of the soldiers who was guarding the soldiers doing the searching ordered me to stop the children's crying. I told him that they are small and I can't make them stop. The soldier replied that I was talking nonsense. He threatened, in English, that if I didn't get them to stop, he'd “screw me.” Then he punched me in the chest.

I accompanied the soldiers during their search in another five apartments, and then they took me into the room with the women and small children. My brother Ahmad and his son Hassan accompanied the soldiers in my place. At the end of the search, Hassan told me that the soldiers beat him after he protested the destruction they were causing.

Around 5:30 A.M., one of the soldiers came to the room we were in and gave us back our IDs. The soldiers left the house without finding weapons or detaining any of us.

We went to our apartments and couldn't believe our eyes. Nothing was in place. The closets and beds were destroyed. Televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines were overturned on the floor. I couldn't get from room to room because of the piles of furniture, food, and dishes that were on the floor, blocking the doorways. Everything was destroyed. The women cried a lot.

We are a well-off family. We had quality furniture that we carefully chose piece by piece, which cost tens of thousands of shekels. Within an hour, the soldiers destroyed it. The soldiers also frightened the children a lot.

‘Ali Hassan Muhammad Nassar, 35, married with eight children, is the owner of a stone sawmill, and a resident of Yatta in Hebron district. His testimony was given to Musa Abu Hashhash on 5 December 2007 at the witness’s house.