A group of special forces from the Israeli army came into our village disguised in a Palestinian vegetable truck. I was on the front porch chatting to my friend when about 20 soldiers showed up in front of our house. They had service dogs and they were all masked and looked terrifying. It was around 4:30 p.m.  I think an informant tipped them that I was home. I estimate that three out of 10 people in our village are informants. 

 

One of soldiers grabbed me and painfully twisted my arm behind my back and banged my head against the wall. Then he yelled at me and told me to hand in the weapons in my possession. I told him I had no weapons. 

 

The soldier then pushed me against the window, stuck his gun to my head and asked me for my birth date. Meanwhile a dog was sniffing me. He then struck me on the head with the helmet he was wearing and then he handcuffed me behind my back with metal handcuffs. The handcuffs were tight and cut my wrists and I was bleeding.

 

The soldiers then entered our house and threatened to shoot anyone who moved. One of them beat my mother and pushed her out of the way. They also pushed my sister-in-law. Our neighbour’s girls (aged 9 and 13) were taking private lessons with my sister and they were terrified to see the masked soldiers in our house. 

 

Suddenly somebody started shooting at the soldiers from the street. The soldiers then forced the girls to sit on the stairs as human shields. The girls were shaking. Then they took me to the kitchen, and one of the soldiers stuck my head inside a cupboard and slammed the door shut. He wanted me to tell him where I hid the weapons they were looking for.

 

The soldiers searched our house and caused damage to the furniture. They threatened to destroy our belongings if I did not say where the weapon was. Then one of the soldiers covered my eyes with a mask, did not allow me to say good bye to my family and dragged me outside. They did not give my parents any documents.

 

Once outside I was taken to the back of a military jeep and forced to lay on the metal floor face down. The dog was on top of me. I was taken to the nearby settlement of Dotan where I was left in a laundry room for a couple of hours. A soldier slapped me and showed me a photograph of someone holding a gun. He told me the person in the photo was me. I denied it was me. Then a doctor examined me. Then one of the soldiers told me he was going to take me "to hell" and then to Al Jalama interrogation centre. 

 

Then I was taken to Al Jalama interrogation centre, inside Israel. I was put in a small cell underground where I spent 70 days. I was in solitary confinement for 45 of the 70 days. The cell measured about 2 x 4 meters, had a mattress on the floor and an open sewer and a sink. There were no windows but there was a noisy ventilator in the wall. I did not know day from night. A yellow dim light was in the room which they sometimes turned off and I could not see. The walls were painted grey.

 

I was miserable in solitary confinement and wanted to kill myself. I lost 20 kilos. I tried to hang myself using the towel they gave me. I tried to tie the towel to the ventilator in the wall and wrapped it around my neck but it did not work. They found out I had attempted to kill myself and as punishment they took me to another room which had CCTV cameras on 24 hours. 

 

My first interrogation was on the second day. The interrogator removed the blindfold but kept me handcuffed and shackled. He did not call a lawyer for me but he gave me a document written in Arabic which said I had the right to remain silent. Then he warned me if I decided to remain silent and did not confess I would be sentenced to six years in prison. 

 

The interrogator made 12 accusations against me which included stone throwing, weapons possession, firing a gun, throwing a Molotov cocktail, throwing pipe bombs and planning a terrorist act. He showed me a video of a person throwing a pipe bomb and said it was me. I denied it. Then he named someone and told me he had testified against me. I later found out this was not true. 

 

The interrogator was aggressive and shouted at me the whole time. He questioned me for two days non-stop. I was sitting on a chair the whole time handcuffed and shackled. He did not allow me to sleep for two days although I begged him to give me some time to sleep. He threatened to leave me in solitary confinement until my brain was severely damaged. In fact, I did lose my mind in solitary confinement. I constantly thought about getting out of that cell. 

 

For a whole week I was denied a shower. Some days they did not bring me food, other days the food was disgusting and had hair in it. One day they did not bring me lunch or dinner. I called to remind them. Ten masked guards came into the cell and beat me up with batons. One of them made me takeoff my trousers and then opened the small window in the door and told me if he heard my voice again he was going to beat me up.  I had difficulty taking a deep breath and felt I was going to die. They gave me a pill which made me sleepy.

 

The first interrogation lasted about 48 hours. I did not confess and I was not asked to sign any documents. The interrogator left the room at times. It was a cold room because the air conditioner was very cold.  When I was taken to a military court later, the judge saw I was shivering uncontrollably from the cold and lack of sleep. The judge ordered them to bring me a jacket. 

 

I was interrogated nine times over this period of time, the shortest session was nine hours. I never spoke to a lawyer, except at the last interrogation which was conducted by a policeman. I was never informed of my right to silence, except during the first interrogation.

 

The interrogations were harsh. Ten people would enter the room and start yelling at me and urging me to confess. Then, one of them would pretend to be the nice one and would speak to me softy implying he cared about me. I was also taken to a cell with informants. I detected them and I was careful. When I refused to cooperate with them they accused me of being a collaborator. They said they had asked about me and were told I was a collaborator and that I caused the death of people from my village. They told me I deserved to be in a cell in solitary confinement.

 

One of the interrogators told me my father had died and my mother was sick with cancer. He also told me my sister was in a cell in solitary confinement. Then he told me he was going to take me for a ride in a jeep and go and assassinate my brother and demolish our house. Then he told me if I worked with him he would help me work in Israel and build a house and travel to Turkey for a holiday. 

 

My first military court hearing was three days after my arrest. It was then that I saw a lawyer for the first time. It was held at Al Jalama and my parents did not attend because they were not informed. I had about 25 hearings, the last one was on 14 February 2023. I was sentenced in a plea bargain to four months in prison and fined NIS 1,000. I was also given another six months in prison suspended for a year. My lawyer told me the deal was good and encouraged me to accept it.

 

After 70 days at Al Jalama I was taken to Megiddo prison, also in Israel, where I was strip searched. My parents visited me twice but I was not allowed to call home. In prison I spent a lot of time sleeping and I worked in the kitchen.

 

I was released at Salem checkpoint on 23 February 2023 and I went home with my brother and mother. I arrived home in the evening. 

 

I still suffer the consequences of this experience. I sometimes bleed from my nose and have uncontrolled shivers. When I hear soldiers are in the village I run home; I don’t want to ever see a soldier again.

 

I left school in tenth grade and I sometimes work at the local church. I would like to visit Jerusalem one day but I am denied a permit. I also would like to travel abroad.