Testimonies

Sa'id al-Khatib, delayed paramedic

On Sudnay, November 17, 2002, at around 3:00 P.M., the clerk in charge at the Red Crescent headquarters in Hebron received a call regarding a pregnant woman who had to get to hospital to give birth. The woman was from the Wadi al-Hariya area, which was under curfew. The driver 'Arif Fahmi al-Ja'abri and I left for the address given in a Folkswagen ambulance number 63241/90. On the way there, around Jabel Abu Raman, about two kilometers from our destination, three border police jeeps blocked our way. Some border police officers were searching a few cars that were parked by the side of the road and their drivers. Three of the border police officers came up to the ambulance and demanded us to get out of it. They told us to stand by a wall and searched us. During the search, the border police officers punched and kicked me and the driver, even though we were wearing red crescent uniforms. We tried to explain to them that we were on our way to get a pregnant woman from her house. They pointed their guns at us.

Then the officers demanded we go over to the ambulance with them to search it. The search was thorough. They took out all the equipment and turned the seats upside down. When it was over, they demanded we go back to the wall and swore at us. We tried to contact the red crescent with the communication devices, but the officers wouldn't let us.

At around 4:25 P.M., they gave us the ID cards back and let us go back to the ambulance. But they didn't let us carry on to Wadi al-Hariya to get the woman. They said we were not allowed to move in the area because it was closed and because we didn't have patients in the ambulance.

'Arif al-Ja'abri and I were left with bruises all over our bodies as a result of the beating.

Sa'id Muhammad Mas'ud al-Khatib is 18 years old . He volunteers as a paramedic with the Red Crescent and lives in Hebron. The testimony was taken by Musa Abu Hashhash at the Red Crescent headquarters in Hebron.