My 22-year-old son woke me up at around 4:00 a.m. to tell me Israeli soldiers were in the neighbourhood. He tried to calm me down but I was scared.

 

A few minutes later I heard a loud explosion at our front door. I was too scared to see who it was. About 10 soldiers, in full military gear, stormed into our home. Most of the soldiers were wearing balaclavas over their faces and only their eyes were showing.

 

The soldiers held my husband and son by their necks and pushed them into the living room and told them to stay there. Then the soldiers asked me for my son’s name. I told them his name and pleaded with them not to beat him. Then they told us he was under arrest but did not say why. They did not give us any written documents. They took my son outside and left.

 

This was a total shock to me as my son is not involved in politics and I thought they had come for my husband who has been arrested before. My son wants to travel and study abroad and he has ambitious plans for himself. He was waiting to receive a visa to go to France.

 

I later found out the soldiers had beaten my son as they took him away. When I saw him in the military court a few days later he looked bewildered. He was accused of entering Israel without a permit. This was when he went to the beach in Jaffa to spend some time with his friend. He had never been to the beach before.

 

Life in our refugee camp for young people is very hard. There are few jobs and no opportunities, nothing.

 

The soldiers enter our refugee camp in order to provoke riots because they want to make arrests. Even those who are not involved in anything are not spared. I spent years going back and forth visiting my husband in prison and I just cannot bear the idea of having to do it again for my son. The thought of it depresses me.