There were clashes going on near the Wall between the youth and Israeli soldiers. It was around 4:00 p.m. Two soldiers ambushed me and tied my hands behind my back with two plastic ties on top of each other. The ties were not painful. They also blindfolded me and made me sit on the ground until my father came about 30 minutes later. My father asked the soldiers to release me but the commander refused.

 

Shortly afterwards two military vehicles arrived and the soldiers thought my father was the one under arrest but then my father clarified the situation to them. Then they asked me about the boy seen in a photograph they showed me and I told them I did not know him. They accused me of lying. Then they told my father to go home and told him they wanted to take me to the military base at Zufin. My father refused to leave and told them he was not going to leave me alone. 

 

The soldiers then tied my father’s hands and blindfolded him and took both of us to the back of a jeep where we sat on seats. The jeep drove to Zufin. 

 

At the base a soldier told my father to go home because they were going to release me within half-an-hour but my father did not believe them and refused to leave. Then I had a medical examination and the doctor removed the blindfold and then put it back on. At the base they removed the ties and the blindfold from my father.

 

At around 8:30 p.m. I was taken with my father to the police station in Ariel settlement. The jeep drove for a long time and my father asked the driver if he could remove the blindfold off my eyes and the driver agreed. We arrived at the police station at around 1:30 a.m.

 

A police woman told my father to leave because they don’t beat up children at the police station. She told my father he could ask me if I was beaten when the interrogation is over. Then she took me to the interrogation room without my father.

 

The police woman did not speak good Arabic and spoke to me via an interpreter. She called a lawyer for me and allowed me to speak to him. The lawyer told me not to be afraid because they don’t beat, they just threaten to beat. The police woman did not say anything about my right to silence. She gave me a document in Hebrew and asked me to sign it and I did. 

 

Then she accused me of taking part in the protest near the Wall and throwing stones. I denied the accusation. She was mad at me and banged the table aggressively. She repeated the same accusation many times and I continued to deny it. She did not show me any photographic evidence. She questioned me for about 30 minutes and then she sent me out for my photograph and my fingerprints to be taken.

 

Then I was taken in a vehicle to Megiddo prison, inside Israel. I arrived there at around 6:00 a.m. I was tired and hungry. On the way a soldier kicked me when I fell asleep; he wanted me to stay awake. At Megiddo I was searched in my underwear and then taken to the juvenile section.

 

About 30 minutes later I was taken to Salem military court. My father was at court. The proceedings were adjourned. The military judge wanted to schedule the next hearing eight days later but my lawyer disagreed and he asked for the next hearing to be two days later. I had two more court hearings and at the last one the court ordered my release upon payment of a NIS 2,000 fine. I was released at Al Jalama checkpoint on 18 January 2018, at around 10:30 a.m. and I went home with my father.