Bashir a-Tamimi, age 46, resident of a-Nabi Saleh, Ramallah District

I live on the main street in a-Nabi Saleh. I am an office manager in Ramallah and head of the a-Nabi Saleh village council. The village is situated northwest of Ramallah, about one kilometer from the Halamish settlement, and has about 500 residents.

Yesterday [25 January], around 1:45 A.M., I heard the sound of vehicles driving along the street. I got up and looked out the window. I saw four large army jeeps driving toward the center of the village. One of the jeeps had a yellow, blinking light on its roof. A few seconds later, I heard banging on the doors of the houses next to my house, and I realized that the army was making arrests. I telephoned to several residents who live in the center of the village to find out what was happening. I also called my brother-in-law, Hussein a-Tamimi, and spoke with his wife, who told me that the soldiers were gathering all the residents in the village square, about one kilometer from my house.

When I heard this, I got dressed and waited for them to take me. A few minutes later, I heard knocking on the door of my neighbor Abdallah's house. I woke up my children so that they would be ready to go outside before the soldiers broke in. I did not wait for the soldiers, and went outside with my sons Tareq, 22, Ahmad, 18, Bara, 14, and my daughter Athir, 8. My wife stayed inside to keep an eye on the soldiers if they in fact entered the house. On the way to the village square, I met several of the residents, among them relatives of mine. Everybody was headed to the square. One jeep was moving about in the area, apparently to monitor the movement of the residents.

One soldier was waiting for us at the square. I asked him in Hebrew: "Why are you doing this?" I understand Hebrew very well. He said, "We do this when there are problems, and we do not want problems." "What problems?" I asked. "There are children who throw stones and paint at us." I said, "Children may be throwing stones, but why are you forcing two-year-old children to come out of their homes? What have they done? Isn't it a shame to do that?" He replied: "We know what we are doing. We are cold and tired too. We are doing our job." Then he added: "It is none of your business. Shut up." Later, he recorded my name and the names of my children. I think he was the commander, judging from the symbol on the shoulder of his uniform. He was fair-skinned, was of moderate build and height, and appeared to be about 25-30 years old.

When we reached the square, there were already about 150 people there - men, women, children, and elderly persons as well. Others continued to arrive, and the number of residents assembled there ultimately reached around 450. I saw four army jeeps, one in each corner. There were around twelve soldiers standing in the square and more soldiers - I don't know how many - sitting in the jeeps.

After the soldier recorded our names, we went to another soldier, who took a picture of each of us and directed us to a third soldier. The third soldier had a white piece of paper and an ink pad and ordered us to sign the blank paper. I asked him why they were taking our fingerprints on a blank piece of paper. He said, "None of your business. Shut up." Earlier I had seen a group of young men who refused to sign, and the soldiers threatened them with their rifles. They ultimately signed the paper. I decided to sign and told the others to sign too. I had two reasons for doing this: one, not to give the soldiers reason to beat us, because they were waiting for some reason, and two, to get the army's action over with as soon as possible. The residents did as I requested and signed.

After we signed, the soldiers took us to the northern section of the square and ordered us to sit down. We did not sit down, but mulled around in that area. At that time, I saw one of the soldiers take three children away. I know the names of two of the children - Nidal a-Tamimi, 14, and Muhammad 'Atalla, 13. He took them to the far edge of the square. When the children returned, they told me that the soldiers had questioned them. Muhammad was crying. He said that the soldiers had slapped him a few times.

Around 3:45 A.M., about ninety minutes after the whole thing began, the soldiers let the women and children under age ten go home. The commander asked if there was someone among us who speaks Hebrew. Daifallah a-Tamimi went over to him. The commander spoke to us and Daifallah translated. "Somebody has thrown stones and poured paint and oil on the jeeps. So we took your pictures. In any more cases of stone throwing and pouring of paint and oil occur, we will take harsher measures than those we took tonight." At 4:30 A.M., the commander ordered us to leave the square and go home.

Bashir Ahmad Abd al-Hamid a-Tamimi is 46 years old . He married with four children, works as an office manager and resident of a-Nabi Saleh, Ramallah District.
The testimony was taken by Iyad Haddad, on 26 January 2004, in Ramallah.