Rateb Moqdi, merchant

Last Monday [14 January 2008] at around 8:30 A.M., I was driving my car from a-Zawiya in the Salfit area, to ‘Azzun ‘Atmah. I have a house in both places. I got to ‘Azzun ‘Atmah checkpoint.

There were about six soldiers at the checkpoint. One of them motioned me to approach the gate. I said to him, “Good morning,” but he didn't reply. He asked me, in Hebrew, “Are you Fatah or Hamas?” I replied, in Hebrew, that I wasn’t either, and asked him not to ask me questions like that. He was short, heavyset, and dark-skinned. He said, “I’ll ask you what I want. I can also tell you that you are an ass and you’ll agree.” I told the soldier, “I am not an ass, you are the ass!” He opened the car door and pulled me out. He shouted at me and tried to hit me with the butt of his rifle. I shouted that it was forbidden for him to behave like that.

The other soldiers at the checkpoint came and stood around me. An officer swore at me and pushed me. He leaned back and then butted me in the head. Another soldier hit me in my neck from behind. He was behind me, so I don’t know what he hit me with. I fell to the ground. After I fell, I shouted and swore in Hebrew at the soldiers who had beaten me and degraded me.

A Druze officer from the Civil Administration arrived. He apparently had been in the checkpoint’s inspection room and had come out because of the shouting. I got up and he came over to me. He said his name was ‘Abbas and requested that I give him my identity card. He looked at it for a second and handed it to one of the soldiers. He got into a white Civil Administration jeep and drove off.

One of the soldiers ordered me to move my car. Then he told me to sit on the ground with my back to the soldiers. It was very cold. I told one of the soldiers that I was going to file a complaint about them. He said, “Complain all you want. If you continue talking, I’ll shoot you in the head.” Later, I asked him to give me an aspirin [kadur] in Hebrew because my head and stomach hurt. He took a bullet from his rifle’s magazine and said, “This is a kadur.”I felt weak and helpless. They kept me outside in the cold until 12:30 in the afternoon, when a soldier gave me back my identity card and told me to get going.

I got into my car and drove to ‘Azzun ‘Atmah, where I called a taxi driver from Kafr Qassem to take me to the medical center in Kafr Qassem. I arrived at the center with neck, stomach, and head pains. I underwent tests and they referred me to Beilinson Hospital. I went to the police station in Rosh Ha’Ayen and filed a complaint against the soldiers. The following day, I went to Beilinson Hospital, where I underwent tests and was X-rayed. I am still suffering from head, neck, and stomach pains and dizziness.

Rateb Hamdallah Muhammad Moqdi,45, married with seven children, is a seedlings merchant and a resident of 'Azzun 'Atmah in Qalqiliya District and of a-Zawiya in Salfit District. His testimony was given to ‘Abd al-Karim S’adi on 20 January 2008 at the 'Azzun Municipality's offices.