My youngest son, who is 13-years-old, woke me up at around 2:30 a.m. and told me to get up because he saw Israeli soldiers outside our house. I was terrified. I had a feeling they were going to arrest one of my sons.

 

My husband opened the door and about 12 soldiers entered our home and asked my husband to wake his children. Then they told him they wanted to arrest our 15 year-old son, H. My heart sank but I gathered all my courage and asked the commander why he was arresting H. The commander told me not to worry because he would bring him back as soon as the questioning was over.

 

Although I pleaded with the commander not to beat H. I later found out that he was beaten.

 

The soldiers took H. outside and disappeared into the dark. About 15 minutes later my husband received a phone call from the nearby Israeli military base. I was terrified something bad had happened to H. They summoned my husband to the military base where they gave him a document with details about H.’s arrest.

 

By this time the whole neighbourhood was awake and lots of people came to our house to give us support. It was a terrible night. I could not sleep and was exhausted the next day.

 

This is not the first time that my home has been raided by the Israeli military. The first time our home was raided was terrifying and when it was over the soldiers told us they had made a mistake.

 

I later found out that my son was accused of throwing stones and he was prosecuted in a military court. He eventually accepted a plea bargain and spent more than four months in prison. We were also fined NIS 2,000.

 

There was a feeling of emptiness in the house without H. and his siblings lost their appetites. I am worried about his future because he is in his last year at school and his final school exams will determine his future.

 

Life in our village is difficult because Israeli soldiers are constantly in the area. Even when the soldiers are not around I find it hard to sleep. My sleep is shallow and I wake up to the slightest sound outside. I find consolation in the fact that I am not alone, all the other mothers in the village have gone through a similar experience.