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Home » Parents »

Testimony: Selma T.

 

Name: Selma T.
Age: 47
Date: 26 February 2018
Location: An Nabi Saleh, West Bank
Event: Night raid / child arrest

On 26 February 2018, a 14-year-old minor from An Nabi Saleh was arrested by Israeli soldiers from home at 3:00 a.m. His mother desribes the night raid on the family home and the arrest of her son.

I woke up to the sound of noise outside our house. It was around 3:00 a.m. I immediately knew it was Israeli soldiers. Before I managed to wake up my family there was loud banging at our front door followed by the sound of breaking glass. About 10 soldiers entered our home. 
 
When I complained to the commander and asked him why he broke the glass in the front door he told me because we were slow in answering. I told him they only banged once and I hardly had time to jump out of bed to open the door.
 
The commander then told me and my husband to bring everyone in the house to the living room. I told him I had very young children and I was not going to disturb them. Then he checked our identity cards and when he saw the name of my 14-year-old son he told us they wanted to arrest him. 
 
When I objected and asked for the reason, the commander told me to leave the room and I responded by asking him to leave my house because he was not welcome. Then they searched my son’s bedroom claiming they were looking for a T-Shirt. They searched and did not find anything.
 
My son barely had time to put on some clothes before the soldiers dragged him out of the house. When I tried to follow him outside a soldier told me to get back inside because they were going to ask him some questions in the jeep and would bring him back soon. I told him he was a liar and that they never bring anyone back that soon. I could not go back to sleep that night. 
 
This was the eighth time that my home has been raided by Israeli soldiers in the last two years. Sadly this is what our life is like in our village. Night raids and arrests are part of our daily lives. Soldiers often come to our village simply to put pressure on young people and collect information about our leaders.