At around 2:30 a.m. Israeli soldiers broke open our front door and entered our home. They did not wait for us to open the door. When I got up I found about 12 soldiers in our living room. 

 

The commander told my father to name all his children. When he named me the commander told me to follow him to my bedroom. He looked in my wardrobe searching for something. Then he looked in the laundry basket and in the other wardrobes and threw all the clothes on the floor. I think he was looking for a particular shirt. Then he received a phone call confirming I was the one they were looking for. This was based on a photograph they had of a boy holding a sling shot.

 

The commander told my parents they wanted to arrest me. He gave my father a document telling him to go to the police station at Qedumim settlement. Then they took me outside where a troop carrier was waiting. 

 

Before getting into the troop carrier I was handcuffed to the back with metal handcuffs which were painful. I was also blindfolded. Then I was put in the troop carrier where I sat on a seat but later soldiers made me sit on the floor.

 

The troop carrier drove to Zufin military base where I was examined by a doctor who removed the handcuffs and the blindfold and later put them back on. He made me sign a document in Hebrew which he translated for me. The document said I was not hurt by anyone. 

 

After the medical check I was taken outside the room where I waited on a chair. A soldier poked me each time I fell asleep. About an hour later I was taken to the police station in Ariel settlement. 

 

On arrival at Ariel I was shackled and left in a courtyard, handcuffed and blindfolded until around noon when I was taken for interrogation.

 

The interrogator removed the handcuffs and the blindfold. He wore civilian clothes and had a camera and a voice recorder in the room. He did not inform me of my rights and started by asking me how I was and what I was doing in his office. I told him I had no idea. Then he turned his computer on and showed me an image of a boy holding a sling shot. Then he told me the boy was me. I denied the accusation. He accused me of lying and insisted the boy was me.

 

Half way through the interrogation he called a lawyer and allowed me to speak to him. The lawyer asked me what had happened and then told me to answer the questions but not to volunteer additional information. He also told me to try to convince the interrogator the boy in the picture was not of me. The interrogation lasted for about 30 minutes and I continued to deny the accusation. I was not given any documents to sign. 

 

After the interrogation I was photographed, fingerprinted and a DNA sample was taken from my mouth. Then I was blindfolded and handcuffed and taken outside. A short time later a soldier told me I was going to be released. 

 

I was taken to a vehicle which drove me to the entrance of the settlement. The soldier removed the blindfold and wanted to remove the handcuffs and the shackles but he could not find the keys. He had to call another soldier. My cousin and my father were waiting for me and I went home with them. I arrived home at around 2:00 p.m.

 

This was a scary experience, especially when I was arrested from home in the middle of the night.