Testimonies

Wael 'Awadallah, garage owner

I live in ‘Attil and work as a mechanic in my garage, which is situated at the ‘Alar - Baka a-Sharqiyah intersection.

I was working at my garage today [Thursday, 3 March 2005]. Four people from ‘Alar who had come to repair their cars were with me: Iyad Yusri ‘Asrawi, Muhammad Nadi, Marwan Taqatqah, and Basel Shahadeh. My brother Tammer, 19, was in the garage too. Around 10:15 A.M., I was working on one of the cars in the area at the entrance to the garage. I looked to the north and saw a Border Police jeep pass by on the main road, in front of the garage. I saw it turn around at the ‘Alar - ‘Attil - Baka a-Sharqiyah intersection, which is about 150 meters from the garage, and drive back along the same road. It stopped in front of my garage and two Border Policemen got out. They came over to me. I stood next to the car I was fixing. One of them told me and the others to give him our ID cards. I understand Hebrew. The policemen had been in the seat next to the driver. He was tall, light-skinned, and was wearing a helmet.

He took the ID cards and gave them to the driver, who was still sitting in the jeep. After that, he came over to me and ordered me to open the glove compartment of the car I was fixing. I opened it and the two policemen looked inside.

Right then, my cell phone rang. The policeman told me not to answer. I pressed the button that silences the ring. A few minutes after that, it rang again, and the policeman took the cell phone, removed the battery, threw it into the garage and gave me back the cell phone without the battery. When I took it from his hand, he slapped me. I asked him why he was hitting me and shouting at me, and I raised my hands to protect myself. The two policemen began to beat me with the barrels of their rifles and their hands, hitting me in the stomach, head, legs, and face. After they beat me for about two minutes, I fell to the floor. I couldn't stand any longer. The policemen stood me up on my feet and continued to beat me.

The policeman sitting in the driver's seat said to me, “You think you're more of a man than the Border Police?” After they beat me for another minute, the pain was so great I fell down again. The two policemen picked me up, grabbed me by my shirt collar, and took me into the garage. They put my back to the wall and beat me all over my body. During this time, the customers and my brother were outside, watching what was happening. The policeman who had been sitting next to the driver grabbed a kitchen knife that was in the garage, put it to my neck and said, “You're making fun of the Border Police?” I didn't respond. He held me like that for about a minute and a half and then the two policemen took me to the entrance of the garage and gave us back our ID cards. The jeep and the two policemen remained in front of the garage.

When they stopped beating me, I asked the second policeman who had beaten me to move the jeep so I could get one of the cars out and drive to the hospital. He moved the jeep, and I drove out in the car of Marwan Taqatqah and went to the hospital in Tulkarm. The doctors X-rayed my chest and gave me a shot and a tranquilizer. I had bruises under my left eye and on my forehead and left leg. My whole body hurts. I remained in the hospital for about an hour and a half. The doctors told me I had to rest at home until I got better.

My brother told me that the jeep and the policemen remained in front of the garage until about 1:00 P.M. They stopped vehicles and checked the ID cards of the people in the cars. My brother wrote down the number of the jeep: 22282.

I want to point out that, over the past ten days, Border Policemen have been assaulting and beating business owners in the  area where I work. Last Monday [28 February], Border Policemen beat Hani Radad and his brother. The two of them live in Saida. Two days before that, Border Policemen beat two men from Nazlat ‘Isa - Muhammad and Riad - who work in a metal working shop.  

Wael Talmi Muhammad 'Ali 'Awadallah, 26, is a garage owner and a resident of 'Attil in Tulkarm District. The testimony was given to 'Abd al-Karim a-Sa'adi at the witness's home on 3 March 2005.