Radi 'Asseireh, mechanic

About 7:00 A.M. this morning [13 September], when I was about to leave for work, I heard two gunshots and shouting outside the house. I went out into the yard and saw about thirty settlers throwing stones at Ibrahim Makhluf’s house, which is situated about two hundred meters east of my house. I saw settlers appraoching my neighbors’ houses, throwing stones at the house and damaging their property. I also saw settlers attack Qassem Hasan’s house and push his car into the wadi. His private ca, a Suzuki, that was parked outside his house. While I was watching, many more settlers came from the direction of Yitzhar. They attacked houses on the southeast side of the village.

Radi 'Asseireh in Rafidya hospital in Nablus. Photo: Salma a-Deba'i, B'Tselem, 13 Sept. 2008.

I also saw lots of soldiers. They were standing next to the settlers and didn't separate them from the Palestinians and their houses. They didn't try to move the settlers away or prevent them from vandalizing our property.

I saw about forty settlers who attacked Ahmad Salah’s house, in which he and his wife and their four small children live. It is not far from my house. Soldiers stood alongside the settlers. I went to his house, and Ahmad, his brother, and I went onto the roof and threw stones at the settlers, using the stones they threw at us, to get them to leave. The settlers were about ten meters from the house. While we were on the roof, I saw soldiers and settlers fire at residents and at their houses.

One of the soldiers fired at me, striking me in the chin. It hurt a lot. A neighbor, Da'ud Mahmud, picked me up and took me to his car. My mother went with us. She didn't stop crying.
Army jeeps were parked at the entrance to the village, blocking exit. We had to wait ten minutes before they let us pass. We drove to the village of Madama, where an ambulance was waiting. It took me to Rafidya Hospital, in Nablus. The doctors there told me that I had been hit by a rubber bullet. They cleaned and stitched the wound, and discharged me in the evening.

I learned that two other persons – Nur a-Din and Yassin Wafa Sabah – had been wounded and were taken to the hospital, and that other casualties were treated in the village.

Radi Jamil Taher 'Asseireh, 21, is a mechanic and a resident of 'Asira al-Qibliya in Nablus District. His testimony was given to Salma a-Deba'i on 13 September 2008 at Rafidya Hospital.