Testimonies

Jihad Nu'man Assi, high school student

Over the past year and a half, the Israeli army has been paving a road north of our village. They have done the work off and on. The last time they stopped work on the road lasted a month, and they started up again a week ago.

Generally, soldiers and Border Police officers in jeeps guard the people working on the road. The children from the village demonstrate there a lot. Our house lies at the edge of the village, about one kilometer from the work site, and the demonstrations take place next to our house. This means we suffer from the soldiers' gunfire when they disperse the demonstrators. There were times that tear-gas canisters fell in our yard. The last time this happened was about three months ago. Also, the solar panel and windowpanes of the house have been shattered by the soldiers' gunfire. There were many times that the army used our roof as a lookout. About a year and a half ago, when the work began, the army posted soldiers on our roof for two and a half months straight. From my house, I saw lots of people being shot by rubber bullets and live ammunition. The last time this occurred was two months ago.

Yesterday [20 January], during the afternoon, I was helping my father plaster our fence. I saw 30-40 demonstrators come to an area near our house. They began to throw stones at the soldiers. Soldiers and Border Police were there. I don't know how many, but I saw four of them chasing the demonstrators. They were spread out between the olive trees, about one kilometer from the work site, and about fifty meters from our house. I ignored what was going on and continued working with my father.

Between 4:00 and 4:30, I don't remember exactly, I was about 20-30 meters from the house. While I was giving my father a bucket of plaster, I saw young people running toward our house. I heard gunshots and saw the soldiers behind them. One of the soldiers fired a volley of bullets from about fifty meters away. A bullet hit me in a muscle of my right arm and on the right side of my chest, which made me nauseated. I ran behind the house to get away from the soldiers. My mother came behind me. It was there that I lost consciousness.

I woke up in Sheikh Zayed Hospital . I was given first-aid and underwent tests, and X-rays were taken. The doctors said that I had been hit by two bullets, one in the right hand and the other on the right side of my chest. The bullets exited my body. The doctors decided to operate because an artery in my hand had been severed. They took me to the operating room at about 7:30 in the evening, and at 10:00 that night they moved me to intensive care. I left intensive care this morning, but I remain hospitalized.

Testimony of Jihad Nu'man Baker 'Aassi, 16, student, resident of Beit Liqya, Ramallah District. The

testimony was given to Iyad Hadad at Sheikh Zayed Hospital , Ramallah, on 21 January.