Jum'a Rab'i, age 30, resident of a-Tuwani, South Mt. Hebron.
Yesterday [May 31], at 9:30 P.M., I was in my house, which is the last house in the village. I heard voices coming out of a loudspeaker. I thought it was from an armored personnel carrier, because they are always around the area. The soldiers always sing songs on the loudspeaker, shout into it like they're selling something, and do all kinds of things. I looked out and saw two jeeps. One was coming to my area, in the upper part of the village, and the other was going to the lower part. The soldier called out on the loudspeaker, in Arabic, "Everybody come down." There was one soldier in the jeep that came to our area. He had two stripes on his epaulet. He said, "All the laborers - come down. We're going to talk to you for ten minutes, and then you can go back." He spoke nicely. I said to him, "No problem." I got my brothers and we went down.
When we got there, near my uncle's house, I saw my uncle and his son sitting alone. We sat with them. The second jeep came up to us. One of the soldiers inside, who had three stripes on his epaulet, asked, "Where are the people? I want all the little kids here, even the babies." I told him, "Enough. We're here, why do you need [all] the people?" The soldier started to throw stones at the house. I yelled at him, "Why are you throwing stones? There are women and a baby there, and you are throwing stones!? If a stone hits the baby, it'll kill him." He came over to me, ready to beat me. I yelled at him. My thirteen-year-old brother came from another direction. A soldier went over to him and slapped him. Just like that. The soldier with three stripes told me, "Now I'm bringing your wife, and your mother; your entire household will come here." I told him, "You're not going there. We're sitting here and you can say whatever you want to say. I'll pass it on to them."
The soldier with three stripes took us further down, toward the valley, close to a pit near a house. He said to me, "Who does this house belong to?" I pointed to a person and said, "This man is the owner." The soldier told him to get all the people to come out, and he began to throw stones at the door. I said, "What's the matter with you? Treat people properly." He said, "Shut up and get all the people out."
Suddenly, I saw everybody from the village next to my house, all of them, including small children and a ninety-year-old woman who can't even see at night. I was told that a soldier forced her off the roof. He shouted at the people and he was nasty to them. Some people had more than one child. I was told about one woman who carried a child in each arm. The soldier went over to her and was ready to hit her with his gun to get her to move faster. They said that he swore at them, saying things like "asses". Somebody told me that a soldier shattered the window of a car with the butt of his gun.
After the people came down, the soldier with three stripes said to me, "You people don't know why you're here, do you?" I said, "How should I know? Was I in your office so that I could know? Tell me, if you want." He said, "You are here because of the Israelis who come to you. If we find an Israeli here, we'll ruin all your nights, every night, not just today." I said, "What are you talking about? Are you talking about Ta'ayush?" He said, "Yes. There's a bald guy. He wears a cap." I said, "Who is that, Ezra?" "Yes," he said, "Ezra. I was with him in Yatta, and they threw stones at him. I protected him so he wouldn't get hurt." I said, "I don't care what happens between you and him. Anyone who comes here is welcome. I'll give him a cup of tea. I don't tell anyone to get out of here." He said to me, " No! Yesterday, on Saturday, you let them sit in a tent, your tent, not theirs." I said, "No, this tent belongs to Ta'ayush, they put it up so they have a place when they come here." He said, "So it belongs to Ta'ayush, but where are you from?" I told him, "We're from here. We give tea to everyone who comes to us. We also feed them." He said, "No, the next time you serve stones! You throw stones at them!" I responded, "No problem, I'll throw stones at him, but then you will come to take me to prison. Is that what you mean? I don't throw stones at anyone. Anyone who comes here is welcome." He said, "If we see them visiting you again, we'll come back."
I said to him, "You don't want Israeli civilians coming here, but lots of them come here, and you let them go wherever they want, on our lands up the hill. There are lots of settlers here. They bathe in the pit, walk around our orchards. Why don't you remove them from there?" He said, "No, if something like that happens, I'll come." I told him, "See, now they're there, on my land. Go remove them." He said, "All right. But I don't want to see anybody from Ta'ayush." I told him, "You know them very well, you were with them yesterday, talk to them. Why are you coming to me? You know their names and where they live. You have a problem with Ta'ayush and you come to me?" All the soldiers talked about was Ta'ayush. They didn't even ask to see our ID cards. It was the first time that they didn't take our ID's; all they did was talk about Ta'ayush. He can't go to Ta'ayush and tell them, "Stop what you are doing." He knows that Ta'ayush won't stop. So he comes here, to frighten the people. He thinks the people are like they used to be, that they don't understand what's going on. But people know that this is their land, and they want their land. People here don't want soldiers to do whatever the want here without the government knowing what they're up to. But when Ta'ayush call the government, or to the Civil Administration, or whoever, they tell them, "Don't know, that doesn't happen." Ezra tells them, "If you are ashamed, why are you doing this? Why are you lying? They have the jeep number and the name of the person."
Last night, there was another incident with the soldiers. People were working their land in the upper section, relying on the light from the tractor. They were harvesting the straw. The soldier with three stripes asked, "Who are these people?" I said that they are owners of the houses from which you had taken the women. He said to me, "Now I'm going over there, each one of them gets a bullet." I said, "Go. Go to them." He said, "Pass what I said on to all the men here."
After the soldier understood that we would not expel Ta'aysuh from here, he said, "OK, next time we'll make it worse for you." He added, "Give me a knife." I told him, "Why do you need a knife? He said, "There is a rope here I want to cut." I went into somebody's house and brought out a knife. I gave it to him and said, "This is the only knife he has in the house, and they want to cook, so give it back." He said, "All right" and took all the soldiers with him, about twelve soldiers, to the tent. They cut ropes. I heard the sound of a hammer or axe banging on concrete blocks. Then he tied the tent to the jeep and pulled it.
I wanted to take down the jeep number. Only the number of the person who was nasty, not the other one. I told the guys that, "When I take the knife from him, take the number." That's what we did. I remember the number, 354-611. I didn't take the number of the second jeep, only the one of the soldier who shouted at the people, whether it was a baby or a grown man. I know the officer. He's been shouting at the people for some time now. He's come many times, when we've had problems with the settlers. I call the police, and they send him to me, and rather than help me, he helps the settlers. His name is something like Dubi. We are willing to file a complaint against him. We can identify him. Even a hundred years from now I could identify him. I can't get his image out of my head.
Jum'a Musa Jibril Rab'i is 30 yaers old. He is married with four children, and works as a farmer and lives in a-Tuwani, South Mt. Hebron. The testimony was taken by Eyal Raz at the witness's home on 1 June 2003.