Meanwhile, I heard a voice coming from a two-way radio that one of the three men had. It was then that I realized they were probably undercover police. A few seconds later, I saw four armed black-uniformed police officers coming in our direction. They pushed me and I fell down. Amir fell with me, but I kept my arms around him. One of the undercover officers grabbed Amir and pulled him hard. Amir shouted, “Mom, Mom.” I grabbed his shirt, and the police who were trying to pull Amir dragged me along the ground. My left leg got scraped and I was in pain. I was panicky and felt that I was choking, and I let go of Amir. The police used the opportunity and took him away.
At that point, my sister-in-law ‘Aliaa arrived and tried to get the police away from me. One of them hit her in the chest with his rifle. I heard Amir crying. He was screaming and calling for my help. But a short time later, the police left, taking Amir with them, and I didn’t see him after that.
I went straight back inside and woke my husband up. We went together to the police station, where my husband argued with one of the police officers standing at the entrance. The officer chased him away and we waited for almost half an hour on the street until the Mukhtar, who is a relative of ours arrived. I went into the station with him and then I saw my son standing among some Border Police officers. I saw the fear on his face. His pants were wet. I realized that he had wet himself in fear. I tried to talk to him and encourage him, but the Border Police officers who were next to him didn’t allow me to. I sat there and just looked at him.
After half an hour, someone called for me. I later realized he was the interrogator. I went into a room and saw Amir. The interrogator told me not to interfere with the investigation and then he told Amir to tell him what he had done that day and why he was arrested. Amir told him that he had been playing with his cousin when a boy passed by and teased them. He said he saw the boy standing behind the wall of the hospital, and then he threw a stone at him. The interrogator asked him more questions, and at some point, I intervened. At the end of the interrogation, he told me to take him and go home. It was 4:30 P.M.
When we got home, Amir said he had a headache and felt dizzy, and that he was going to throw up. I took him to the doctor, who asked him if he had been beaten. Amir said that one of the undercover men had punched him in the head before I arrived. The doctor said that if it continued the next day, we should come back and do an X-ray. The next day, Saturday, Amir went to school and I felt that my leg was swollen, and I had a fever. I went to the clinic and the doctor gave me painkillers and anti-inflammatory antibiotics.
Since then, Amir’s sleeping habits have changed. He is very anxious and goes from bed to bed during the night. Sometimes he sleeps on the sofa in the living room, sometimes in his bed, and sometimes he comes to sleep with us.
In al-‘Eisawiyah, East Jerusalem, 12 October 2012
Testimony of Jihad Darwish, 42, a mother of four, Amir’s mother
The testimony was given to ‘Amer ‘Aruri on 4 October 2012
On Friday, 12 October 2012, at around 2:00 P.M., I was at home. I live opposite the fence of Hadassah Hospital. My husband ‘Othman was asleep. I heard people talking outside the house. I went out to the yard and saw three people in civilian clothes talking with Amir and his cousin. Amir was sitting on a couch in the yard. The people were speaking Hebrew and I didn’t understand what they were saying. Suddenly, one of them grabbed Amir by the arm and pulled him off the couch toward the main road. Amir started shouting: “Mom, Mom.” I came out of the house, went over to him and put my arms around him. I tried to stop the man from taking him.
His arrest in 2012 made him insolent and cheeky. He won’t accept any authority. He is very polite, but when something doesn’t seem right to him, he immediately pulls away. He studied car electronics but dropped out after six months. He didn’t like all the rules and laws there, and he always resists authority figures.
As a mother, I constantly worry about him. Al-‘Eisawiyah is not a safe place to live. The occupation forces have marked the village and marked Amir. That is enough for him to be constantly suspected and have to prove his innocence. I always call him to find out where he is and when he’s coming home. He says I embarrass him in front of his friends and that he’s not a little boy. Sometimes he turns off the phone so I can’t call him. When we went on vacation to Turkey, I refused to leave him here, only his older brother stayed behind. I didn’t want to go and worry about him all the time.
Amir doesn’t know what he wants. He’s a teenager who spends all his time at home or in the neighborhood. He doesn’t study or work. He comes home late, stays up until about four in the morning, and then sleeps all day. I don’t like it at all, and I hope he goes back to school soon. His father and I are talking to him about going back to school. Maybe this time he’ll be convinced.
Amir is an example of how children and adolescents grow up in al-‘Eisawiyah, with no hope for the future. The authorities are constantly harassing us, punishing all the residents every day. There are always arrests and random traffic tickets and violence towards residents, and people are getting killed too. All that has turned Amir and his entire generation into people who live without hope. I keep telling my husband we have to leave and move somewhere quieter, away from the smell of teargas, stun grenades and blood.
Jihad Darwish, now 49, spoke again with B’Tselem field researcher ‘Amer ‘Aruri this year and described how the incident affected her and her son:
When Amir was attacked in 2012, he was young. He has undergone more arrests and abuse since then. The hardest time was when he was arrested and kept for five days at the Russian Compound in 2015. They beat him very severely, even in his eye, and he continued to suffer from it after he was released.
The family decided not to file a complaint with the Department of Internal Police Investigations about the attack and illegal arrest, as a previous complaint filed with the Department of Internal Police Investigations about the violent arrest of another son was not handled properly, and, therefore, they do not see any point in filing another complaint.