Testimonies

Muhammad Abu 'Arqub, high school student

I live with my big brother Majd, 28, in the Wadi a-Shajena. I am in 12th grade at the high school in Dura. Our parents and other siblings live in Jordan. Our house is five kilometers from the center of Dura.

On Sunday [26 April], around 3:00 P.M., four army jeeps and a large soldier-transport vehicle pulled up on our street. I was studying at home, on the second floor of the house. I looked out the window and saw two soldiers get out of one of the jeeps.

My uncle Rajaai Taleb Abu ‘Arqub, 26, arrived in a taxi that stopped next to the jeep. He started walking to the house, when one of the soldiers attacked him, and he fell to the ground. Two other soldiers cuffed his hands, blindfolded him, and put him into a jeep.

I opened the window. The soldier heard it open, and he aimed his rifle at me and shouted, “Come here!” I went outside and over to the soldiers. One of them grabbed me by the neck and another pulled my hands behind my back and handcuffed me. Then he blindfolded me. He did not tie the cloth tightly, so I could see what was happening around me. Two jeeps approached. Two soldiers came over to me and shoved me into one of them. A few minutes later, they removed me. I saw Rajaai and 'Ayesh Ajwa get out of another jeep and soldiers bring three other young men from the street, Saber al-Bustanji, 20, ‘Ali ‘Issa al-Bustanji, 20, and Medhat Ibrahim Shahin, 25. All of them were handcuffed and blindfolded.

The stood us in a line. I was in the front. They said we had to grasp the shirt of the person walking in front of him. Medhat was behind me. The soldiers led us for a distance of about 300 meters and then shoved us into a large vehicle. We sat on the floor. A soldier said he would call us by numbers and gave each of us a number. I was number five.

The vehicle drove fast on a beat-up road, which made us fall over on each other during the ride. In about five minutes, we arrived at the Adurim army base. The soldiers put us into a big room and sat us down on chairs. The door remained open. Soldiers came and went all the time, and they hit us.

Time passed and I got tired and felt weak. I fell asleep. A soldier slapped me and said, “It's forbidden to sleep.” I didn't understand him because I don't speak Hebrew, but Rajaai translated for me.

Hours passed. Every once in a while, 'Ayesh asked what time it was, but the soldiers didn't reply. I heard one of them ask another what time it was, and he said it was 1:30 A.M. The soldiers turned on the TV in the room and played video games and soccer on Play Station. They shouted out the names of the players, like Raul, Messi, Casillas, and Zidan.

Several times, we asked the soldiers to let us go to the bathroom, but they wouldn't let us. I was stubborn, and asked again and again, and they let me go. A soldier took me to the bathroom around 3:30 A.M. I went into the bathroom, and he left the door open and my blindfold on.

While we were sitting in the room, the soldiers slapped ‘Aish, kicked Rajaai, and hit Saber. I heard him cry out. Finally, they brought us water, but no food.

Around 4:30 A.M, the soldiers took Rajaai and Saber from the room, and, half an hour after that, 'Ayesh and ‘Ali. A half an hour later, they called to me and Medhat. They took us from the room and three soldiers beat us with their hands and the butts of their rifles and kicked us. Then they pushed us into a jeep. Three soldiers got into the jeep. I heard one of them say, “Fawwar” and realized they were taking us to the Fawwar refugee camp. During the ride, a soldier sitting in the back beat me. He kicked me hard in the face, striking my nose and eye. My nose started to bleed. He asked me, “Was  that good?” I said it was. I felt degraded and helpless.

The jeep entered the refugee camp and stopped. The soldier who kicked me in the face shoved Medhat out, causing him to fall to the ground. I heard him fall and shout, “For God's sake!” I tried to get out on my own, but when I put a foot on the step of the jeep, the soldier shoved me and I fell out, just like Medhat. The soldier got out and stepped on me. He kicked me. I heard Medhat, who was lying alongside me, getting beaten.

The two soldiers swore at us and hit us. They called us maniacs and bastards. The swearing and the beating lasted about ten minutes. Then the soldier who assaulted me told me to get up. I tried, but I was so weak that I fell. I'm not certain what happened then. I apparently lost consciousness for a minute or two.

I heard one of the soldiers tell Medhat to wake me. He removed his handcuffs and blindfold and then slapped him. Medhat slapped me to wake me up, and I regained consciousness. He helped me get up.

The soldiers beat me again, this time harder. I fell again. One of them kicked me hard in the testicles. They also beat me with their rifle butts, hitting me in the hand, back, and head. The beating lasted for around twenty minutes, and I was lying on the ground all the time. A person passing by in the street said “good morning” to the soldiers, and one of them said to him, “Get out of here!” I later learned he was a teacher from the school. One of the soldiers told me to get up. He cut the handcuffs off my hands. He told me to remove the blindfold. Then he put a knife to my throat, and the other soldier hit me in the back with his rifle butt. A few minutes later, they told me to go.

I walked off. I tried to recall the license number on their jeep. High on the jeep was written, in big white numbers, 327. They had left us at the entrance to al-Fawwar refugee camp, next to the ‘Aza tire-repair shop.

Medhat and I went into the camp, to where the school was. The teacher who had passed by earlier was there. He sat next to a bonfire, and alongside him were laborers and students. He recognized me, and I told him what happened. I used Medhat's cell phone to call my brother Majd. He and Rajaai came in Majd's car and took us to ‘Aliyah Hospital. We arrived at the hospital at 6:15 A.M.

We were examined. They told me I had marks of blows to my arms, head, left eye, nose, and lower abdomen. My hands also hurt because of the handcuffs. While we were there, 'Ayesh arrived with Rajaai's father. We remained at the hospital for about an hour and then returned to the village.

Muhammad Isma'il Khalil Abu 'Arqub, 17, is a high school student and a resident of Wadi a-Shajena in Hebron District. His testimony was given to Musa Abu Hashhash at the witness's house on 29 April 2009.