Lubna 'Asseireh, mother of three

I live with my husband, Qassem 'Asseireh, 37, and our three children, aged 7, 10, and 14, in the southeast section of ‘Asira al-Qibliya. Our house is at the edge of the village, about five hundred meters from the Yitzhar settlement. Since the beginning of the current intifada, settlers from Yitzhar have been attacking us.

Last Saturday [13 September], around 6:40 in the morning, our neighbor Ibrahim Makhluf called and told us he heard on the news that a settler in Yizhar had been attacked. He said we should be careful because he thinks settlers will attack our houses. My husband went to his brother’s house, which is close to ours, to update him, and then he returned home. We called all our neighbors and warned them.

Later, my husband went outside to see if something unusual was going on. Around 7:10, I saw about fifty settlers and about twenty soldiers fifty meters or so from our house. Some of the settlers were armed. I immeditely closed the windows and drew the curtains. In the meantime, my children woke up.

I pulled the curtain back a bit and looked outside. Settlers were throwing stones at my husband and shouting at him in Hebrew. My husband shouted back at them and threw stones at them. He was the only villager outside. I saw the settlers aim their weapons at us, and I heard shots. I told the children to sit with me under the kitchen sink because I feared bullets wound fly into the house. I was terrified, and the children were shaking in fear. For more than fifteen minutes, the settlers continued to stones at our house. All that time, we remained under the sink. I was also nervous because I didn't know if something happened to my husband. I was afraid that the settlers grabbed him. I called his cell phone but he didn’t answer.

After twenty minutes, the settlers stopped throwing stones at the house, I looked out the window. I didn't see anybody. I called my husband again, but he still didn't answer. My children were frightened, and they asked me to go to the bathroom with them so they wouldn’t be alone. My young son was so terrified that he had to go to the bathroom constantly.

I saw settlers throwing stones at Ahmad Saleh’s house, which is about two hundred meters from our house, and at his brother’s house. I heard gunshots now and then. I didn't know who fired, the settlers or the soldiers.

Around 8:00, settlers returned and continued throwing stones at our house. It was important to me that they didn't know we were at home. I was afraid that if they knew, they would destroy the bars we had installed in front of the windows to shield us from stones and petrol bombs, and would attack us. I was afraid they would enter the house and kill us.

The settlers were very violent. They turned over our car and pushed it into the wadi. Soldiers stood alongside them and did nothing. I heard the sound of stones hitting the walls and roof of the house. Settlers kicked the doors and I heard the sound of things breaking and shattering in the yard They took a ladder that was lying next to the house and managed to go onto our roof. I felt they were like preying animals about to strike us. They shouted real loud in Hebrew. I didn't understand what they were saying, but somebody from the village later told me that they swore at us and called us to leave the houses because they were theirs.

After that, the settlers left our house, and went and attacked the houses of our neighbors, firing bullets and throwing stones at them. Soldiers standing alongside them did nothing to stop them.
I became exhausted from the fear and couldn’t stand any longer. The children asked me what happened to me. I didn't know what would happen if they realized that I was afraid just like them, maybe worse. I tried to hide my fear and to calm them.

Around 10:30, when I looked out the window, I saw my husband outside in handcuffs. A soldier was with him. My husband called to us from the yard and asked us to go outside to him. Although it was hard for me to see him like that, I was a bit calmer. At least he hadn’t been injured or killed. Earlier, I thought the settlers had killed him. I went outside with the children. Settlers were standing about 50-60 meters from the house. The soldiers apparently decided to restrain them, and didn't let them get any closer. But I was still afraid they would attack us. My husband asked us to go to his sister’s house, which was not far from our house. He remained with the soldiers. In the meantime, the situation calmed down a bit.

At noon, my husband arrived to his sister’s house. He said that the soldiers had detained him and pushed him a few times, and that somebody took his camera and cell phone. We stayed at his sister’s house until 2:00. The settlers had gone away by then. The solders remained in the village. I saw them collecting the empty bullet shells. Afterwards, only eight soldiers remained and the rest left.

When we got home, I saw that the settlers had cut and damaged the water pipes. They dismantled the stone fence that my husband had built around our yard, knocked over and broke our potted plants, and broke asbestos panels we used as a shed. Later, I learned that some residents had been injured by the shooting, among them my husband’s nephew, Radi ‘Asayira, who was hit in the face by a rubber bullet.

We are still afraid that the settlers will return to attack us. The children refuse to leave my side. My youngest son wakes at night and asks to sleep with me, he is so scared. He asks me if the settlers will return, and whether they will kill us. My middle child, Muatem, tells me to be careful every day before he goes to school. He wants me to go to our relatives so I won’t be alone if the settlers attack again. After school ends, he rushes home so I won’t be alone.
This is not the first time that settlers have attacked us. On 10 September 2008, settlers set a fire next to the house of ‘Abd al-Basset Muhammad. We live in constant fear of the settlers and don’t feel safe, especially after the recent events.

Lubna Qassem Mahmoud 'Asseireh, 32, married with three children, is a homemaker and a resident of ‘Asira al-Qibliya, Nablus District. Her testimony was given to Salma a-Deba'i on 17 September 2008 at the witness's home.