Testimonies

Majdi a-Sarouji, age 30, ambulance driver

I live with my family in the Balata refugee camp. I work as an ambulance driver for the Red Crescent in Nablus.

On Monday, September 1, 2003, at around 7:45 A.M., I got to the Beit Ibba checkpoint, north west of Nablus. I was on my way to Sabastiya, about 15 kilometers north of Nablus to pick up a pregnant woman. Sahar Bisharat, a paramedic was with me. We waited in line at the checkpoint for about 15 minutes. Then, a soldier who was standing at the checkpoint came up to us and ordered us to hand over our IDs to be checked. He then searched the ambulance. He ordered me to step out and open the back door. Then he ordered Sahar to join a group of people who were being detained at the checkpoint. I think the people had tried to get into Nablus through the hills and the soldiers caught them. I didn't understand why the soldier detained Sahar. He's a paramedic and he crosses Israeli checkpoints every day.

The soldier told me to leave the checkpoint and carry on without Sahar. I refused. I said I was on my way to pick up a pregnant woman and there was a good chance that she would deliver in the ambulance and I would need Sahar's help. The soldier told me to get the ambulance out of the checkpoint area and wait.

About ten minutes later, the same soldier came back and started yelling at me. He was kicking the ambulance. He was on edge because I hadn't left the checkpoint and was waiting for Sahar. He then demanded my ID again and told me to join the rest of the people who were there. Among those being held there were two people who work at a hospital in Nablus and a man from Tubas who has leukemia.

The soldiers kept us there until 9:30 A.M. While I was being detained, I called the Red Crescent headquarters and told them what had happened. A short time later, they told me that they informed the Red Cross office in Nablus of the incident. Two representatives from the Red Cross, a man and a woman, came to the checkpoint and talked to the soldiers. Then the soldiers gave us our IDs back and let us go. The person in charge at the Red Crescent told me that the woman we were supposed to pick up had already delivered, so we went back to Nablus. I think that the woman had her baby in one of the local medical centers, which don't have the right equipment for delivery.

Majdi 'Ali 'Issa a-Sarouji, age 30, is married and the father of three. He is an ambulance driver and a resident of Nablus. The testimony was taken by 'Ali Daraghmeh at the Red Crescent Headquarters in Nablus on September 3, 2003.