I was working at a vegetable shop near the DCO checkpoint when a group of Israeli soldiers showed up. It was at around 6:00 p.m. There had been clashes between Palestinians and soldiers earlier and they were looking for the people involved. The soldiers did not find who they were looking for and arrested me instead. They started to beat and swear at me before handcuffing me behind my back. The cuffs were tight and I was in pain.

 

After being handcuffed I was blindfolded and taken to the military base nearby. On arrival at the base I was left outdoors tied and blindfolded for about four hours. During this time a military officer started to question me without informing me of my rights. He accused me of throwing stones at the soldiers and claimed he had video footage of the incident. I denied the accusation and told him I was working at the vegetable shop at the time. He threatened me and said if I did not confess I was going to prison. Still, I denied the accusation.

 

After questioning I was put in a vehicle where I sat on a seat. I was taken to the police station in Ariel settlement. At around 2:30 a.m. I was taken for interrogation. The interrogator started to ask me some questions before he allowed me to speak to a lawyer. He accused me of throwing stones at soldiers. He questioned me while I was still handcuffed and he did not inform me of my right to silence. The interrogator was in military uniform.

 

After some questioning the interrogator phoned a lawyer for me and allowed me to speak to him. The lawyer told me not to confess and to tell the interrogator what I had to tell him. The interrogator was not listening to the conversation. 

 

The interrogator was aggressive. He spat at me when I denied the accusation and slapped me on my head and back. He kept telling me to confess. 

 

I was questioned me for about three hours and I continued to deny the accusation. At the end of the interrogation he wanted me to sign a document written in Hebrew but I refused to sign and asked him to show it to me in Arabic which he did. I read the Arabic document and then I signed. Then I was taken to a cell where I spent three days in solitary confinement. 

 

The cell was the size of a bathroom. There were no windows and the guards left the light on all the time. They messed with my mind and I was distressed. I could not sleep. Time went by very slowly and all the time I was thinking, wondering what they were going to do to me. The person in the adjacent cell kept asking me questions and I immediately was suspicious of him and knew he was a collaborator. He wanted to know what I had done and told me he would help me. I was careful and did not tell him anything. I never saw that person, but from his voice I could tell he was an older man. 

 

After three days I was taken to Salem military court. My parents attended and my detention was extended. I had two more hearings. At the last one I was sentenced in a plea bargain to three months in prison and fined NIS 1,000. I also received another 1.5 years in prison suspended for a period of time. This was based on the soldiers’ testimonies.

 

After spending three days in solitary confinement I was transferred to Megiddo prison, inside Israel. As soon as I arrived there I was strip searched before being taken to section 3 with the other minors. I spent the rest of my prison term there. 

 

My parents were supposed to visits me on 7 October 2023, but the visit was cancelled because the war started on that day. Before the war, I was allowed to call home twice a month from a phone provided by the prison authorities.

 

The situation in the prison after 7 October became unbearable. They took away all our personal belongings and the kitchen supplies and denied us time outside and did not allow us to take enough hot showers. The worst of all was the physical violence and the humiliations we were subjected to.

 

I was released on 9 November 2023 at Al Jalama checkpoint. I called a taxi and my parents picked me up and took me home. We arrived home in the afternoon. It was great to be home. 

 

I now work at a maintenance workshop, maintaining washing machines and refrigerators.