Settlers’ presence in Batan al-Hawa results in local minors being arrested and detained by security forces

28 December 2016

The neighborhood of Batan al-Hawa, East Jerusalem, is the site of the vastest dispossession effort being planned in the city. Settlers moving into the neighborhood - attended by police, Border Police and private security guards – has resulted in much friction with the local Palestinian residents. The neighborhood’s children and teenagers are hardest hit by the situation, suffering from the friction as well as being subjected to harassment by settlers, police and security guards. They are also often detained or held by the police and the Border Police.

Border Police entering a Palestinian home in Silwan. Photo by Activestills, 30 Sept. 2014

According to figures provided to B’Tselem by the Israel Prison Service (IPS), on 31 July 2016, the IPS had 110 minors from East Jerusalem in custody, 26 of them aged 14 to 16. On 31 August 2016, 93 East Jerusalem minors were held in custody, 24 of them aged 14 to 16.

Testimonies given by Batan al-Hawa children and teenagers regarding incidents that took place over the past year paint a grim picture of minors being held or detained, often with security forces employing violence and acting in a demeaning manner.

Several weeks ago, at around 12:30 P.M., 13-year-old M.Q., was on his way home from his school in Silwan, together with two friends, ‘A.R., also 13 and M.Z., 14. On their way, the boys stood by the side of the road and threw stones, trying to shoot them into an empty container that lay there. Border Police officers in a jeep driving by at a distance photographed them throwing the stones. A little while later, the boys continued on their way downhill toward the neighborhood. When they got to the bottom of the road, they were blocked by a police car and the Border Police jeep. M.Q. and his two friends were taken in the two vehicles to the police station on Salah a-Din Street. During the ride, the officers swore at them and hit them on the head whenever they tried to look up. After they were taken into the police station, the officers searched them and their bags, and then transported them to the Russian Compound police station, in west Jerusalem. Officers there refused to receive, likely because there was no interrogator available at the time, and the boys were taken back to the Salah a-Din Street police station, where they were searched again.

M.Q. spoke with B’Tselem field researcher Hussam ‘Abed. He recalled:

A police officer named Fares made us stand facing the wall, and kicked our legs hard until we spread them apart. Then he beat us and spoke to us very rudely. He said: “Do you want me to fuck you?” When I said no, he asked: “Have you ever been fucked?” I said no, and he kept asking: “Do you want me to fuck you some other time?” I turned around and said: “If you want to for yourself”. He said: “I’m going to punch you now so hard it’ll flatten your face”. Then he searched our bags, and when he checked mine, he threw in on the floor and said: “Pick it up like a dog”. After the search they had us stand facing the wall again and asked for our parents’ and siblings’ names, our addresses and other personal information.
They then moved us to a room that was open to the street, and had cables and electronic equipment, and then they brought us back in, and left us standing there for three hours, until a lawyer came and told us he’d represent us and that we had nothing to worry about. Right after that, they started taking us into the interrogation room one by one. I was the last one in, and I was questioned for two hours in two different rooms. The second time, I was kept standing for a whole hour while I was being questioned.
During the questioning, the interrogator said I had thrown stones at the policemen and that he’d let me go if I admitted to it, but I denied it, and explained to him that we’d only thrown stones into the container. There was another police officer in the interrogation room who told the interrogator: “How about if we change his name to jackass?” I laughed at the officer, and he said: “Go on, laugh…”. The interrogator threatened that I’d go to jail if I didn’t confess, and the officer kept asking me: “What do you think? Should we take you to room 4 at al-Moskobiya [the Russian Compound] and after one lashing you’ll tell us everything you’ve done and how you threw rocks?”
When the questioning was over, they put us in a different room and told us not to move, not to turn our heads, not to do anything. We stayed there, standing, until an officer who was passing by brought us chairs.

‘A.R. spoke with B’Tselem field researcher Hussam ‘Abed on 16 December 2016, and described the search and interrogation he underwent at the Salah a-Din Street police station after the trip to the Russian Compound police station:

When we went into the police station, one of the policemen searched us, violently, and swore at us as he was doing it. He told us to spread our legs like a ruler and used very foul expressions like “asshole”, “motherfucker”, and “I’ll fuck you”. Then they took us back up to the top floor for questioning. I was the second one to be questioned. It took about half an hour or an hour. After they finished, they fingerprinted us and took our pictures. They told me to confess and that then they’d take me home, and that my friends had testified against me.

Manar, 32, is the mother of one the boys. She has lived in Batan al-Hawa since 1991 and works at the women’s center in Silwan. On 29 November 2016 she recounted that evening’s events to B’Tselem field researcher Hussam ‘Abed:

At 5:00 P.M., I started to get worried about my son, because he hadn’t come home, and the police didn’t tell us they’d arrested him. I called my son’s teacher, and he told me the police had taken him together with other boys. My husband and I went to the police station on Salah a-Din Street to ask about my son, but instead of helping us, they started swearing at us. After we argued with them, they told us they were holding him for questioning on stone-throwing charges. It was late, 8:00 or 9:00 P.M., and it was very cold outside. In this cold weather, the officers kept the kids, as a sort of punishment. Later, my son told me that policemen had sworn at them using foul language, assaulted them for no reason; opened the kids’ bags and tossed their contents on the floor, and ordered the boys to pick everything up. At 9:30 P.M. ¬- after much suffering, and a long wait out in the cold, by the police station, with the officers constantly swearing at us - the police asked that the parents sign guarantees, and they released the kids, allowing them to go home.
Imagine a kid being taken into custody without his parents’ knowledge, being searched, beaten, insulated, humiliated, kept on a cold balcony, all because he’s suspected of throwing stones.

About four months ago, in the early afternoon, M.Q. and three of his friends had gotten into an argument with a group of settlers who were removing some items placed in a parking space near Zuheir a-Rajabi’s home, to make room for their own car. During the row, marbles were thrown at the settlers and the children, apparently by some other children from the neighborhood. The settlers called the police, and the children got scared and ran home. After about an hour and a half, the clashes that had erupted between the police and Border Police and neighborhood residents died down, and M.Q. went back out into the street. When he stood in his doorway, several Border Police officers came up to him, accused him of stone throwing and were about to arrest him. M.Q.’s mother, Manar, came out of the house, and asked to go with her son, but the officers refused. After Manar kept arguing with them, explaining that her son had been at home, they put M.Q. and his mother into the car and went on a 45-minute drive.

M.Q. described the trip to B’Tselem field researcher Hussam ‘Abed:

The police officers sat me and my mother in the same seat, and swore at us the whole way, saying rude things and cursing Arabs. When we got to Salah a-Din Street, they said: “Go on, go home now”. They opened the door for us, but my mother refused to get out.

On 29 November 2016, Manar spoke with B’Tselem field researcher Hussam ‘Abed, and described the rest of the ride:

I told the officers: “You took me for questioning, not to the street. You have to take me back home, where you took me from”. When they saw I wouldn’t get out, they brought an older man, who was on the street, to persuade me to get out of the police car. People started gathering around, and I was embarrassed. Eventually, the police officers had to take me back where they had picked me up. During this whole incident, my son was anxious, and very afraid.

A.R., 10, who was born in the neighborhood, spoke with B’Tselem field researcher Hussam ‘Abed. He described what life is like in the neighborhood alongside the settlers and the police who guard them:

About a year ago, in the evening, I was playing by the front door of my house with my cousin, H.R., 14. We were playing marbles when about ten police officers dressed in black showed up. When I saw them, I got scared, and I hid the marbles under a chair that was under the window of my uncle’s house, which is next to ours. One of the officers came to see what I was hiding and shoved me in the chest. I nearly fell, but my cousin caught me. Another officer came and grabbed my leg to scare me.
They took my marbles with them.
One of the officers asked me who the marbles belonged to, and I said they were mine. He kept asking me why I was throwing marbles at them and who was throwing marbles at them. My cousin and I were standing there alone, with all the officers around us, and we were very scared. My father came, went up to the officers and started talking to them. He took me away from there, but the officers took my marbles with them. I’d paid ten shekels for the marbles, bought them with my own money, and they didn’t give them back...

The next day, A. stayed home all day, for fear of the police. His cousin said that for the week after the incident, A. was very scared every time he went out into the street.

Israel’s Juvenile Law stipulates that the arrest of minors is a means last resort, and that it is to be carried out only after the minor is summoned, and his or her parents informed. Alternatively, if minors are brought into a police station not under arrest, the officer in charge must inform the parents of the minors’ intended arrest, after the minors themselves are informed of it. The law stipulates that questioning must be conducted in the presence of a parent or other relative, unless the minor objects. There are exceptions stated in the law, allowing for the arrest and questioning of minors without informing their parents, and without their presence. However, these are exceptions and must be used as such, only in exceptional cases.

The accounts given to B’Tselem indicate that police officers act in contravention of these provisions, which are meant to protect minors, a particularly vulnerable group. The accounts show that the officers do not treat minors as vulnerable individuals in need of special protection. In some cases, the minors reported violence, degrading treatment and abuse. This is the state of affairs in other neighborhoods in East Jerusalem as well. However, in Batan al-Hawa, the presence of settlers, which comes with increased presence of Border Police and private security guards, increases the potential for friction between the local children and teens on the one hand and settlers and security forces on the other, and, consequently, increases the harm to the minors’ rights.

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East Jerusalem

Wadi Qadum, East Jerusalem: Israel Police detain five Palestinian minors without notifying parents for over 6 hours, and interrogate them without an adult on their behalf present

On Thursday, 19 January 2023, at around 5:30 P.M., about 10 Israel Police officers arrived in the neighborhood of Wadi Qadum in East Jerusalem and grabbed five Palestinian residents between the ages of 12 and 15. They crowded all five into a police car and held them there for about an hour. At around 6:30, the teens were taken to the police station on Salah a-Din Street. There, they were made to sit on chairs facing a wall in a very cold, air-conditioned room and forbidden to talk to each other. At around 7:00 P.M., a lawyer arrived and explained their rights to them, and only then did the police allow them to use the bathroom. Meanwhile, the parents of four of the boys arrived at the station, but the officers refused to let them in, and they had no choice but to wait for their sons outside for hours. Each of the teeens was interrogated alone, without an adult present on his behalf, for about an hour or an hour and a half. After some of them refused to sign a statement in Hebrew and insisted they hadn’t thrown stones, the interrogators reportedly humiliated them, swore at them, and in some instances resorted to physical violence. For example, one officer pulled 12-year-old Mustafa a-Salaymeh’s chair out from under him, making him fall. An interrogator hit Ayham a-Salaymeh, also 12 years old, on the neck, while Mu'taz a-Salaymeh, 14, was hit on the neck and face by an interrogator who also pulled his hair. When the interrogations were over, the teens were kept at the station and given no explanation of what lay ahead. At around 11:00 P.M., the officers gave them slices of bread. Around midnight, after Nawaf a-Salaymeh, the father of Ayham and Ahmad, posted NIS 5,000 (~USD 1,400) in bail for each of the five boys, they were all sent home for five days’ house arrest. About 10 minutes after Nawaf and his sons got home, a police officer called and demanded that Ahmad return to the station on the pretext that his interrogation had not been recorded. Ahmad went back to the station with his father and was again interrogated alone, exhausted and scared, for about an hour and a half. This time, he signed the statement. When he asked what he was signing, the interrogator replied it was none of his business. Five teens were abducted from a street without being told what they were suspected of or where they were being taken. They were interrogated at a police station, under threats and pressure, while their parents were not notified or allowed in the room, and were held for more than six hours. For the first two hours, they were forbidden to go to the bathroom and given nothing to drink. All the while, the parents of four boys were not allowed into the station and forced to wait outside until their sons were released. Arresting children in this way is part of Israel's overall oppressive policy in East Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank. This case is no exception, but part of Israel's systemic treatment of Palestinian minors, including refusal to uphold the special protections granted minors by international law, which are also granted minors under Israeli law. Instead, the Israeli law enforcement system treats Palestinian minors as part of a hostile population, all of whom – teenagers and adults alike – are presumed guilty unless proven otherwise, and employs extreme measures against them it would not dare use against other populations in Israel. The boys described what happened to them that evening in testimonies they gave to B'Tselem field researcher ‘Amer ‘Aruri on 22 January 2023: Muhammad a-Salaymeh (15): On Thursday, 19 January 2023, at around 5:30 in the afternoon, I was on my way home from visiting a friend in the neighborhood of Ras al-‘Amud with some other friends – Ahmad and Ayham, who are brothers, and Mustafa and Mu'taz. We were going down the stairs that lead from Ras al-‘Amud to our neighborhood, Wadi Qadum, when suddenly we saw about 10 people from the occupation forces and they arrested us. I didn't understand what was going on, and it was very confusing. One of the officers put his arm around my neck, which hurt a lot, and pulled me by force into the car. We all sat there one on top of the other, and it was very crowded. First, they took us to Ras al-‘Amud and we waited there in the car, near the police station. I asked the officer for water, but he ignored me. We sat in the car for about an hour, and then they took us to the police station on Salah a-Din. There, they put us in a room, made us sit on chairs facing a wall and told us not to talk to each other. A police officer threatened us that whoever spoke would be beaten, so I kept silent. After about half an hour, a lawyer came and explained our rights to us. After he left, we were taken to the bathroom one by one. After I got back from the bathroom, I saw that Mu’taz and Mustafa were being taken away for interrogation. Then they also took me to an interrogation room. The interrogator asked me to write my name on an electronic screen, the kind you sign when you use a credit card. He also asked me to write the name of the lawyer who came earlier, and then he said: "You’re accused of throwing stones at a police car." I told him it wasn't me, and he said my friends had admitted to throwing the stones. I told him again that it wasn't true, and that we were just going home together, and that they couldn’t have admitted to something we didn't do. He swore at me and threatened that if I didn't sign the paper on the table, he’d hit me. I was afraid of him and signed the paper. I don't know what I signed, because it was in Hebrew. I sat in the interrogation room for about an hour, and then I was taken back to the room we were in before and sat on a chair. Some of my friends were there and some were still being interrogated. It was only around 11:00 P.M. that they gave us a piece of bread to eat. I was really hungry. About an hour later, we were let go and put under house arrest for five days. One of the parents posted my bail, which was NIS 5,000. Mu'taz a-Salaymeh (14): When they arrested us, I didn't exactly understand what was happening and where the police officers had come from. They grabbed us all by the neck. I almost choked when the officer wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me into a police car along with the others. They put us in the car one on top of the other. Two officers sat up front. When I told them in Arabic that my legs were hurting because of the way we were sitting, one of them said: “If you don’t shut up, I’ll chop your leg off.” From that moment on, I kept quiet. We drove to the police station in Ras al-‘Amud and waited there in the car for about an hour. We asked the officers for water, but they ignored us. My mouth was parched, I was so thirsty. Then we got to a police station on Salah a-Din Street. They put us in a very cold room with an air conditioner that was running on cooling. They made us each sit on a chair facing the wall and told us not to talk. When we asked the officer to turn the air conditioner off because we were shivering with cold, he refused. Over the next hour, we asked several times to use the bathroom, but they ignored us. Only after the lawyer who came to talk to us left, an officer took each of us separately to the bathroom. While he was taking me, he swore at me on the way and said obscene things about my mother and sister. They took Mustafa and me away separately for interrogation. In the interrogation, they showed me a video of people throwing stones. I told the interrogator I didn’t know who they were and that I hadn’t done anything. He shouted at me and said I was a liar. The whole time, I was afraid he would hit me. He kept swearing and once, after I shouted back at him: "Why are you cursing my mother?", he pulled my hair and punched me in the face and neck. I refused to sign the document. The interrogator said it was my statement, but it was in Hebrew so I refused to sign it. He laughed at me and said: "So don't sign, cross-eyes!” It was humiliating. After about an hour and a half of interrogation, I was taken back to the room. At around 11:00 P.M., they gave us some bread to eat. About an hour later, they let us go and put us under house arrest for five days, after posting NIS 5,000 bail each. Ayham a-Salaymeh (12): When we got to the police station at Salah a-Din, I asked to use the bathroom but the police officer refused to take me. Only when the lawyer arrived and I told him I had to go to the bathroom, did the officers take me there. Then they brought me back to the room. The lawyer was still there, and told me he’d being explaining to everyone that the interrogators had no right to hit us or swear at us. Then he left and the officers started taking each of us away separately for interrogation. In my interrogation, I was really scared. I didn't know what was going to happen. The interrogator showed me a video and asked if I was on it. I said I wasn’t, and he shouted at me and asked if those were my friends and brother. I said I didn't know who those people were, and then he hit me on the neck and said that if I admitted to throwing stones, they’d let me go home. I told him again I hadn’t done anything. He gave me a document in Hebrew to sign, without explaining what it said. I signed it, because I was afraid he’d hit me again. The whole time, the interrogator was yelling at me and banging his hand on the table. Ahmed a-Salaymeh (13): They put us in a room that was very cold, because the air conditioner was on cooling instead of heating. They made us sit on iron chairs facing the wall and wait. After a lawyer talked to us, they took me to the bathroom. On the way, the officer who was taking me there swore at me and cursed my mother and sister. Then they interrogated me and showed me a video of people throwing stones in Wadi Qadum. The interrogator said that if I admitted to throwing stones, I’d go home. But I told him I honestly hadn’t thrown stones. He cursed my mother, insulted me, showed me the video again and asked who it was throwing stones. I told him I didn't know, and then he picked a glass of water up from the table and threw it at me. It didn’t hit me. I refused to sign the statement and then the interrogator said I could go. When I was almost out the door, he kicked me in my backside. They let us all go late at night. My father took Ayham and me home, and after about 10 minutes the police called him and demanded he bring me back to the station. When we got there, I was interrogated alone again. The interrogator told me they hadn’t recorded the previous interrogation and that was why they’d brought me in again. He asked me the same questions about throwing stones, and again I denied it. I was really tired, and this time I signed the document in Hebrew. When I asked the interrogator what it said, he said it was none of my business. Nawaf a-Salaymeh (47), a father of six including Ayham and Ahmad: On Thursday, 19 January 2023, at around 6:00 P.M., a kid from the neighborhood told me he’d seen the occupation forces arresting my two sons and three other boys. I immediately called the Wadi Hilweh information center and they put me in touch with a lawyer. The lawyer made some inquiries and told me my children were being held at the police station on Salah a-Din. After about an hour, at around 7:00, I arrived at the station with some of the other boys’ parents, but the police officers wouldn’t let us in to see our children. We stood outside in the cold for about four hours. At around 11:00, an officer came out of the station and demanded I post NIS 5,000 in bail for every boy. At around midnight, they were released. They came out exhausted, freezing and hungry. A few minutes after I got back home with Ayham and Ahmad, the police called and demanded I bring Ahmad back to the station because they hadn’t recorded his interrogation. I took him to the station and they interrogated him alone. When he came out, about an hour later, he told me they’d asked again if he’d taken part in the stone-throwing.

9 March 2023

מג'ד רווידי לאחר שחרורו. צילום: מרכז ואדי חילווה, סילוואן

East Jerusalem

Israel Police and ISA agents severely beat 15-year-old in East Jerusalem

On Tuesday, 28 June 2022, at around 4:00 A.M., about 30 Israel Police officers and Israeli Security Agency (ISA) agents, some of them masked, arrived at the Rweidi family home in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. Several of them entered Majd’s (15) room, waking him in a fright. Majd’s father tried to reassure his son and told him they were police officers. When Majd replied to his father, “What am I supposed to do to them?” one of the officers forcefully pushed him, and Majd pushed him back. Other officers pounced on the teen, beat him and then took him into custody, barefoot and shirtless. The officers handcuffed Majd and continued beating him on the way to the Russian Compound detention facility in West Jerusalem. At the facility, police officers beat the teen until his lawyer arrived and photographed the bruises they left on his face and body. Majd was interrogated and accused of throwing stones at settler and police vehicles. At around 4:00 P.M., he was taken to the Magistrate's Court in Jerusalem, about 12 hours after being rousted out of bed, beaten and interrogated – and given no food or drink the entire time. The judge extended Majd’s arrest by two days, during which he was not interrogated but simply held in a cell. He was released on the afternoon of 30 June 2022, after his father signed a NIS 5,000 (~1,505 USD) bail guarantee, and was put under house arrest for seven days. This incident is not an exception but the rule for many Palestinian families in East Jerusalem. A long line of Israeli authorities are complicit in this violence and enable it. In this case, it was the police officers who came to the family’s home in the dead of night, woke the entire household and violently dragged 15-year-old Majd out of bed; the ISA agents who escorted them; the police officers who interrogated the teen after he was dragged from bed and repeatedly beaten; the guards who imprisoned him; and finally, the judge who approved the extension of his arrest — the purpose of which was unclear, as Majd was not interrogated again — and put him under house arrest without a judicial procedure that would allow him to defend himself. That is how Israeli authorities routinely run the lives of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, enjoying far-reaching powers with no accountability for their actions. B’Tselem field researcher ‘Amer ‘Aruri collected testimonies from the family. In his testimony, Majd a-Rweidi (15) recounted what happened to him that night and in custody: On Tuesday, 28 June 2022, at around 4:00 A.M., I woke up because I heard noises in the house. Suddenly, I saw some masked people in my room. One of them said to me in Arabic, “Get up and come with us.” I was terrified. My dad told me they were police, and I got nervous and started shouting. When I got out of bed, one of them pushed me and I pushed him back. The officers kicked everyone out of the room and started hitting me. They kicked and slapped me for a few minutes, and then they tied my hands behind my back and led me out of the house barefoot and shirtless. My mom handed them a shirt for me to wear, but they used it to cover my face. One of my brothers followed me and handed me shoes. They led me into a jeep and I put my shoes on. I couldn’t see anything because my face was covered with the shirt. During the ride they hit me again, in my face, head and neck. When the jeep stopped, they pulled me out of it violently. I almost fell flat on my face. Later, the lawyer told me I was in Room 4 of an interrogation facility near the Russian Compound. They made me sit in a kneeling position and kept on hitting me from time to time. They slapped me, kicked me and hit me all over my body with the butt of a gun or a rifle. I don’t know how long it lasted. At some point, the lawyer arrived and asked to take photos of the bruises the beating left on my face and body. The lawyer explained to me how the process of interrogation and arrest works. After he left, they took me to the bathroom and I washed my face. Then they took me into interrogation. There were two plainclothes interrogators in the room. I sat on a chair with my hands tied. The interrogators accused me of throwing stones at settler and police cars. I don’t know how long the interrogation lasted. It felt like two hours or so. I could barely talk because I was in such pain from the beatings. I was also very thirsty. I asked for water, but they didn’t give me anything to drink or eat. The interrogation was in Arabic, but they also told me to sign documents in Hebrew, which I can’t read. The interrogator said it was my testimony. I signed, and then they transferred me to a room that was basically a cage with bars. My hands were still tied. I was exhausted, thirsty and hungry, and my whole body ached. At around 4:00 P.M. I was taken to court, where I saw my dad and my brothers, Ahmad (21) and Samir (22). I couldn’t speak to them. The judge extended my arrest for two days, and I was taken back to the Russian Compound. I was taken to a doctor who gave me painkillers. Then they put me in a room with three other boys around my age. Even though I was hungry and there was bread and jam in the room, I fell asleep immediately because I was so exhausted. When I woke up, I ate one slice of bread and drank some juice. I had no appetite. I stayed in the room until Thursday at 5:00 P.M. I wasn’t interrogated again. My dad signed a 5,000 shekels bail guarantee, and I was put under house arrest for seven days. After I was released from the detention facility, I went with my dad and my brothers, Ahmad and Samir, to a clinic in ‘Ein a-Luza in Silwan, where I was x-rayed. The doctors said I had bruising in various parts of my body and dry blood marks on my left ear. Majd’s father, Muhammad a-Rweidi (49), described his son’s arrest and what happened afterwards: I heard loud knocking on the door. I got up with my wife, Islam (43). I asked who it was, and they said, “We’re from the police. Open up.” There were more than 30 officers there, some in plain clothes and some wearing black uniforms. Some of them were also masked. The whole family woke up except for Majd. There was an ISA officer with them and he asked for my children's names. I said I have four children: Rital (11), Majd (15), Ahmad (21) and Samir (22). He asked me where Majd was sleeping, and I told him he was in the room with his two brothers. He ordered me to take him to the room. Five police officers went into the room and the others spread out around the house. Majd woke up and was scared. I told him not to be afraid and that they were police. He replied, “What am I supposed to do to them?” When the ISA agent heard that, he pushed him hard, and then Majd pushed him back. Three Special Police Unit officers hit Majd, knocked him to the floor and kicked him. I yelled at them to stop and told them he was just a kid. My wife and Majd’s sister were standing in the doorway and saw what was happening. They started screaming and crying. Then about 15 more police officers came into the room and kicked me out. I heard Majd shouting in pain. A few minutes later, they brought him out, barefoot and without a shirt on. My wife tried to hand Majd a shirt to wear, but one of the officers took it and covered his head with it instead. Samir ran out after Majd and handed him shoes. As soon as the police left I called a lawyer, Muhammad Mahmoud, and told him what happened. He got back to me an hour later and said Majd was being held in Room 4 and had a hearing scheduled at the Magistrate’s Court in Jerusalem at 11:00 A.M. Of course my wife, our kids and I didn’t go back to sleep after all that. We kept thinking about Majd and what was happening to him in detention. I was very worried about him. In general, I’m very worried about his future, because I’ve also been detained for different lengths of time since 1988 and I don’t want my son to experience that. I don’t want his future to be lost in prison. The lawyer called us later and told us the hearing was postponed until 5:00 P.M. I went to the court with Samir and Ahmad. When Majd was brought into the hall, I couldn't believe it was my son. His face looked completely different. He’d been severely beaten, and his face was swollen and bruised. The judge extended Majd’s arrest for two days, and he was released after I signed unpaid bail of 5,000 shekels. He was put under house arrest for seven days. As soon as he was released, we took him to a clinic in Silwan, where he was examined and given painkillers. Thank God he had no fractures, only bruises and various aches. We’re trying to give Majd the strength to deal with the beatings and the humiliation he went through. He’s doing better now, thank God.

14 August 2022

East Jerusalem

This is Jerusalem

The report describes life in the Palestinian neighborhood of al-‘Esawiyah 53 years after East Jerusalem was annexed to Israel. Over the past year, al-‘Esawiyah has become a flashpoint due to a police operation designed primarily to harass residents. In the report, B'Tselem analyzes Israel’s policy of dispossession, deliberate neglect, lack of planning and police violence in the neighborhood, which is an extreme example of its actions throughout East Jerusalem.

19 May 2020