Testimonies

Shaker Sideh, construction worker

I have been working in Israel now for many years. My employer, ‘Imad ‘Aref, picks up other laborers and me from the village and takes us into Israel. We leave very early in the morning in order not to get stuck in traffic at the checkpoint.


Today (Monday, 1 June), around 4:30 A.M., ‘Imad picked up me and fourteen other men from the village. After the Jit intersection, and before the intersection of the entrance to the Qedumim settlement, suddenly we saw about one hundred settlers throwing stones at us. It was as if it was raining stones from all directions.  I covered my head with my hands to protect myself.

Photo: The minibus attacked by the settlers. Photo: Zakariya Sideh, Rabbis For Human Rights, 1.6.09.

After a few seconds, the car stopped and we got out. When the settlers saw us getting out of the car, they moved back a bit and then we saw an Israeli-army jeep parked twenty meters from us. After the soldiers saw us get out, they immediately got out of the jeep and pointed their rifles at us.


‘Imad tried to ask them for help and said there were injured people. Some other laborers joined in and yelled the same thing, but it seemed as if the soldiers didn't care. They yelled to us in Hebrew, "Get out of here," and then the soldiers resumed throwing stones. My jaw was injured by a big stone; I started bleeding.


We got back in the car; all its windows were shattered. ‘Imad drove away in the opposite direction, to escape the stones and the soldiers who had threatened us with rifles, and told us to leave.

We went to the al-Funduq Medical Center. There, the doctors performed first aid and called for a Red Crescent ambulance. After a few minutes, the ambulance arrived and took us to the Nablus Hospital. I received 3 stitches for my wound and Yihya received 6. They took Ali Hussein into the operating room because he was seriously injured

Shaker 'Atiyyah Hassan Sideh, 41, married with eight children, is a construction worker and a resident of Jit, in Qalqiliya District. His testimony was given to Salma a-Deb'i, at the Nablus Hospital on 1 June 2009.