I heard loud banging at around 2:00 a.m. and I thought it was the wind. Then I heard a voice saying “open up, open up”. My father opened the door and four Israeli soldiers entered our home. It was raining and the soldiers walked into our house with mud on their boots. My mother was very upset.

 

The commander called our names and asked for me. Then he told me to get ready because they wanted to take me away. My father asked for the reason and the commander told him he did not know the reason and that their job was to make arrests without asking questions.

 

My father insisted I had done nothing wrong to justify my arrest but the commander told him he should not worry if I had done nothing wrong. He also told him to check on me at the police station in Etzion settlement. They gave my father a document with information written in Hebrew.

 

I put on my clothes and wanted to say good bye to my family but the soldiers did not allow me. Outside the house they tied my hands to the front with one plastic tie which was very tight and painful. My hands turned blue after a while and I was in pain. They led me along a dirt road to the main street. Along the way they made me take off my trousers and they wiped their boots with my trousers.

 

When we arrived at a military jeep I was blindfolded and then pushed aggressively into the back of the jeep. I banged my head against the edge of a seat. I was in pain and I had a bump on my forehead. I wanted to sit on a seat but a soldier told me to sit on the metal floor. I could hear lots of soldiers inside the jeep but I could not see how many. Inside the jeep a soldier kicked me and the commander was very upset. One soldier swore at me and told me I was a “son of a whore”.

 

The jeep drove to the police station in Etzion settlement where I was left in a shipping container. I was shivering because it was very cold and I did not have my trousers on.

 

Some soldiers were eating chips and made fun of me and chewed the chips right in my ear so that I could hear the crunching. Later I was given a pair of trousers and was left there for a long time, maybe 10 hours. I was tied and blindfolded and without food or drink the whole time. After about 10 hours I was taken for interrogation.

 

The interrogator removed the tie and replaced it with metal handcuffs. He also removed the blindfold. He introduced himself as Captain Moshe and asked me whether I had eaten and I said no. I asked if I could have some water and he brought me a glass of water.  Then he called a lawyer and allowed me to speak to him. The lawyer told me not to worry and not to be scared of the interrogator. He also told me not to confess. The interrogator did not inform me of my right to silence.

 

Then the interrogator asked me how many Molotov cocktails I had thrown. I said none. He told me there were confessions against me and showed me pictures of young men and told me to give their names and confess against them. Then he asked me whether I splashed blue paint on a military jeep and how many shots I fired. I told him I had nothing to do with these things.

 

Then he asked me how I got shot in my knee. I told him I went to the shop to buy some groceries and clashes erupted and I was shot in my knee. He did not like what I said and slapped me hard on my face. Then he told me to get up and leave and called someone from outside who took me to another room.

 

The second person took a statement from me. He typed on his computer as I repeated the same answers. I did not confess. He was impatient and swore at god and all the residents of Al Arrub and accused all of us of being terrorists. Then he showed me satellite images of the camp and Beit Fajjar, a neighbouring town, on his computer screen. He showed me our house on the screen marked in red and told me he never wanted to see me again. He took my picture but did not ask me to sign any documents.

 

Then I was taken back to a shipping container where I was shackled and blindfolded, still without food. I was left there for a couple of hours and then I was taken to Ofer prison.

 

On arrival at Ofer I was strip searched and taken to Section 13. The other detainees gave me some food which I was desperate for and I went to bed. By this time it was around 3:30 a.m.

 

Later that morning I was taken to Ofer military court. My detention was extended and the hearing adjourned. I had a number of military court hearings.

 

At the last hearing, which was on 10 January 2018, the military court decided to release me but the prosecutor appealed. In the end I was released on 18 January. My family had to pay a fine of 6,000 shekels and my file was closed. My mother borrowed money from relatives and neighbours.

 

My father was waiting for me outside Ofer prison and I went home with him. We arrived home at around 4:30 p.m. I don’t go to school because I was not doing well; I want to work and support my family.