Testimonies

'Abdallah a-Rushdi, laborer

Four months ago, I began to work at Pinati Restaurant in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem. Two weeks ago, I burned myself at work, and the doctor told me not to work for twelve days.

On Sunday [28 December 2008], I went to the restaurant to give them the doctor's slip for the sick days. After I did that, I went by bus to the Shu'afat refugee camp. I got to the entrance of the camp around 4:30 P.M., and it was closed to vehicles. There were lots of Border Police there, and they didn't let cars cross. I saw people in the camp throwing stones and burning tires.

I got off the bus with the other passengers and crossed the checkpoint by foot along with other people. A border policeman told us to turn left and not continue walking on the main street in the camp, where the stone throwing was taking place.

To keep away from the stone throwing and get home, I walked toward the parking lot next to the checkpoint, which leads to Ras Khamis. After crossing the lot, somebody suddenly grabbed me from behind and started to punch me. He said, in Arabic, “I'm from a special force.” I looked at him and saw he was wearing civilian clothes and had a black mask on. He beat me all over my body, mostly in the face. I tried to resist and run from him because I didn't see any indication he was a policeman. He hurt me, and I felt degraded.

Suddenly, then I felt a blow from the butt of a pistol. Somebody else began to beat me. He, too, had a mask on. The blow stuck me hard in the left eye. It hurt a lot, making me dizzy. One of them sprayed tear gas in my face. I fell to the ground and couldn't move. It felt like my eye had come out of its socket. I couldn't see a thing.

I didn't understand what was happening to me. After a while, I found myself thrown on the floor of a Border Police jeep. Two Ethiopian policemen were sitting there, on each side of me. They both kicked me hard. My left leg in particular hurt. The policeman sitting next to the driver turned around from time to time and hit me in the head and face. Another young man, who I didn't know, was on the floor as well. He had a shirt with the logo “Rami Levy” [a supermarket] on it. He apparently was on his way home from work. He got hit too.

The policemen continued to beat me, and I cried out in pain. Finally, the jeep arrived at the Russian Compound [Jerusalem police headquarters], where they made me get out. I barely managed to stand, my leg hurt so much.

They took me to the yard, where there are iron benches. My hands were cuffed. They sat me down on the bench. There were four men in Prison Service uniforms. I told them my leg hurt a lot. My eye was bleeding and swollen. When I asked them to take me to a doctor, they kept saying, “pretty soon.”

After sitting there for more than two hours, they took me into the interrogation room. The interrogator, who was dressed in civilian clothes, told me I was suspected of throwing stones. I told him what really happened. After an hour of questioning, he asked me to leave the room, and they immediately took me to the jail's doctor. The doctor said they had to take me to the hospital immediately. They took me to the emergency room at Hadassah Hospital, Ein Kerem. It was around midnight. They examined and x-rayed me and said a  bone in my left leg was fractured and my eye was badly injured. I remained in the hospital until 2:30 in the afternoon. Then they took me by patrol car to the Magistrate's Court. The judge ordered my release on personal bond of NIS 10,000.

I am still lying in bed. My leg is in a cast, and my eye, head, and leg hurt.

'Abdallah Jamal Muhammad a-Rushdi, 18, is a laborer and a resident of the Shu'afat refugee camp in East Jerusalem. His testimony was given to Kareem Jubran at the witness's house on 1 January 2009.