Border Police attack young Palestinian in Silwan, beat him, and arrest him with his father and brother

On 14 September 2022, around 12:30 P.M., Mu'taz a-Rajabi (27) and his friend Mahdi Jaber (24) were driving back home from work to the Batan al-Hawa neighborhood in the heart of Silwan, East Jerusalem. When they were near the Beit Yonatan settlement point established in the neighborhood, they passed by four Border Police officers who were walking down the street. One of the officers ordered the two men to stop and demanded that a-Rajabi, the driver, get out, accusing him of interfering with his work and of swearing at him. When a-Rajabi got out of the car, the officers pushed him, sprayed pepper spray in his face and started beating him. Jaber tried to film the assault, but then another Border Police officer arrived and pepper-sprayed him in the face, too. A-Rajabi was taken to the police station on Salah a-Din Street.

About two hours later, he was taken to hospital, where he was kept for four hours with his hands and feet tied. At around 6:00 P.M., he was taken back to the police station at Salah a-Din, where he was held for another three hours or so. He was released after his father, Fayez a-Rajabi, signed his bail.

About an hour after a-Rajabi was released, seven police officers arrived at his home. They searched the house, confiscated a DVR his father bought and the cellphones of his mother, his father and his brother Bahaa (25). The officers arrested a-Rajabi, his father and his brother Bahaa, and took the three men to the police station on Salah a-Din Street, where they were held overnight. Early the next morning, officers interrogated Fayez for about five minutes, accusing him and his family of allowing neighborhood residents to throw stones from their roof. The three were given back the cellphones confiscated from their home and released at 6:00 A.M.

The attack against Mu’taz a-Rajabi and his arrest along with family members are not unusual, but a part of the violent routine imposed in Silwan since settlement points were established there. Constant attempts to drive residents from their homes are accompanied by violence at the hands of the Israel Police, the Border Police and private security guards financed by the Ministry of Housing, as well as daily harassment by settlers.

In a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher ‘Amer ‘Aruri, Mu’taz a-Rajabi recounted:

I was brought to the station on Salah a-Din Street. One of the officers gave me soda to wash my face. About two hours later, they took me to the Hadassah Mt. Scopus Medical Center. I was there for about four hours, with my hands and feet cuffed. Then, around 6:00 P.M., they took me back to the police station and put me in a room with an interrogator, who asked me why I was interfering with police work. I explained what happened and told him I hadn’t disturbed them in any way, and that he could check on their cameras. The interrogation lasted about an hour.

At around 9:00 P.M., I was released, after my father and my brother Bahaa came and signed a 5,000 NIS bail. At around 10:00 P.M, Bahaa and I were watching TV when seven Border Police officers came into the house and started searching it. It lasted about half an hour. They took away my parents’ cellphones and my brother’s cellphone, as well as security camera equipment my father was planning to put up around the house.

When they were done, the officers took my father, Bahaa and me to the police station in Salah a-Din. At 4:30 A.M., they took my father away for an interrogation that lasted about five minutes. My father told me the interrogator accused us of letting young guys throw stones off our roof. He said he’d told the interrogator that the door to the roof is locked and no one can get up there without a key. Meanwhile, Bahaa and I were left in the room and no one spoke to us. They let all three of us go at 6:00 A.M., after giving us back the cellphones they took.