'Ali 'Odeh Allah, truck driver

I work as a truck driver in the Jerusalem area and often cross checkpoints in the area.

At the end of January 2008, I was driving from Jerusalem to Ma'aleh Adumim. As I was approaching the Za'ayem checkpoint, I saw a youth about 16 years old lying on the ground and a border policeman kicking him hard all over his body, as if he were a soccer ball. The policeman was tall, heavyset, bald, and had quite dark skin. I stopped for a moment and took pictures of the assault with my cell phone.

The policeman continued to beat the youth, so I got out of the truck and went over to them. I took a piece of paper and pen with me. When I got to the policeman, I asked him politely in Hebrew for his name and personal [police] number. He stopped beating the youth and said to me, “Get out of here.” As he spoke with me, the youth got up and ran a few steps toward al-‘Eizariya. Then he came back to get his bag, which had been thrown to the ground. The policeman kicked him hard in the behind and he fell down. He got up again, took his bag, and headed toward al-“Eizariya. I asked him his name and telephone number, but he didn't stop and didn't look at me. He just wanted to get away.

The policeman called out to the security guards in civilian clothes and the border policemen who were at the checkpoint, about 4-5 meters from the spot. Five men came over, and the same policeman said to me, “You're under arrest.” He ordered one of the policemen to cuff my hands. I immediately held out my hands so the policeman wouldn't have an excuse to assault me. He cuffed my hands with metal cuffs and took my cell phone from my pocket.
The policeman who beat the youth again told me I was under arrest. I said to him, “Why are you arresting me? I'll file a complaint with the Department for the Investigation of Police and to B'Tselem.” I showed him a business card of a B'Tselem fieldworker, Kareem Jubran. The policeman said, “You'll find out later why you're under arrest. You can be sure that in one phone call, I'll close the DIP file. Go and ask about the complaints that were filed and closed without results. Tell the bastards at B'Tselem to shove their complaints up their ass.”

He put me in a room whose top half was made of glass, in the middle of the checkpoint. He cuffed me to an iron pole in the room and left. I sat down on a chair that was next to the pole. An Arab security guard in civilian clothes stood close to me. It was around 10:00 A.M. After about fifteen minutes passed, the same policeman came into the room, took off his jacket, gave his weapon to another policeman, and asked the security guard, “Why did you let him sit down?” He told the guard that he should have thrown me to the floor and cuffed my hands behind my back. Another policeman told him that it wasn't necessary. The first policeman slapped me, pushed me, and punched me hard in the chest, and then said, “I am going to rape you and screw you, and I'll see how much of a man you are.” He swore at Arabs and Arab women. He said that he would screw all the Arab women and that Israel is a Jewish state and Arabs have no rights.
Afterwards, the policeman left the room and sat in a room across the corridor. I could see through the glass that he was writing something on a few pages. In the meantime, a few security guards in civilian clothes and policemen came into the room. They warned me that the policeman would ruin my future and that I had to apologize and beg him to forget the whole thing, even if I had to kiss his hands and feet.

About fifteen minutes later, the policeman came into the room and read me the charges he intended to accuse me of: assaulting him, assaulting the security guards, helping the escape of a wanted person from Hamas who had been detained, obstructing police in carrying out their duties, humiliating policemen, and other charges that I don't recall. After that, he returned to the other room and continued to write. I understood he was talking about me with all his friends, because they were all pointing at me and laughing. The whole time, he was making indecent motions at me. In the meantime, policemen and security guards kept coming over to frighten me and try to get me to apologize.

Around 11:30 A.M., I asked the security guard next to me to let me go to the bathroom. He went to the policeman and told him my request. The policeman came over to me and said, “I won't let you. If you want to pee, do it in your pants.” After more than an hour and a half later, he finally let me go to the bathroom. My stomach hurt.

He came every hour or so to threaten and humiliate me. One time, he told me he would throw me into jail for many years and force my wife into prostitution.

At 3:00, he came in with some pages in his hand. He released me from the pole, pulled me outside and, said, “You still think DIP or B'Tselem will help you?” I replied: “Nobody can help me. I don't want to complain to anyone. I only want to go home.” “I'll consider your case,” he said. He took me back to the security guard's room. Another policeman came in and asked me if I intended to file a complaint. I convinced him that I didn't.

About ten minutes later, a policeman came and took me to a room in which the policeman who had beaten the youth was. They told me they would release me if I signed the pages and erased the photos I'd taken on the cell phone. I immediately agreed. The policeman gave me the documents, which were written in Hebrew. I tried to read them but he ordered me to stop and said, “Just sign.” I signed. Then he ordered me to erase the pictures from my cell phone. He called to the Arab security guard and asked him to make sure all the pictures had been erased. I begged the guard to save the photos of my family, but he refused. I left the checkpoint at 3:15.

I couldn't function for days afterwards. I couldn't act as usual at home and at work. I felt humiliated. In the end, on 12 March 2008, I went to the office of the Department for the Investigation of Police and filed a complaint, despite my fear. I couldn't stay silent any longer. Silence is cowardice and waiving of my most basic rights as a human being.

'Ali Ahmad 'Odeh Allah, 30, married with three children, is a truck driver and a resident of Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem. His testimony was given to Kareem Jubran at the witness's home on 18 April 2008.