On Thursday, 29 September 2022, at around 9:30 A.M., some Palestinian youths threw stones at the Pharmacy (Abu a-Rish) Checkpoint located in the center of Hebron. One of the young men, who was masked, ran into the al-Hajeriyah school for boys next to the checkpoint, crossed the schoolyard and exited the premises through a back gate. About 15 soldiers and Border Police officers who were chasing him searched the school, entered classrooms, attacked staff members and forcibly removed two 14-year-old students from their classroom, dragging and beating them.
The security forces detained the two students in the street across from the school, and hurled a stun grenade at teachers who came there to try and get the students released. After Palestinian youths threw stones at the forces, they led the two students into the checkpoint compound, sat them down on the ground, and questioned them about throwing stones. During the questioning, a soldier slapped one of the students, after he asked to be addressed in Arabic. After about 30 minutes, the two were let go.
The Israeli media gave a sanitized description of the incident, saying soldiers entered the school in pursuit of a masked man who had thrown stones. The report went on to say that “the force detained two children whose clothing matched the suspects on the security cameras, but after inquiries that ruled them out as suspects, they were let go.” This sedate, peaceful description is far removed from the brutality that took place at the school that day: soldiers and Border Police officers forced their way into the school, beat teachers and students, dragged two students outside for no reason, beat them, and then simply let them go as if nothing had happened. All this is integral to the occupation regime in the West Bank.
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חיילים בכניסה לאחת מכיתות בית הספר. התמונה באדיבות בית הספר
On 2 October 2022, B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari collected testimonies from a staff member and student who were subjected to the security forces’ violence that day:
Ihab a-Rajabi ( 35), a father of four from Hebron, is the vice principal of the school:
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Ihab a-Rajabi, school vice principal. Photo: Manal al-Ja’bari, B’Tselem, 2 October 2022
I was standing at the school’s main gate and saw there were clashes by the Abu a-Rish (Pharmacy) Checkpoint. A masked young man, about 20 years old, ran towards the school with an Israeli soldier chasing after him. The young man entered the school grounds, went out into the schoolyard, and escaped through there. I don’t know if the soldier who was chasing him noticed he left. The soldier was aggressive. He went upstairs to the second floor of the school and I tried to stop him, along with Principal ‘Ammar Jaber and some of the teachers, from going into the classrooms. He barged into one of the 9th-grade classrooms and looked at the students. Then he left the classroom, went downstairs and immediately came back up to the second floor with three other soldiers. About a minute later, more than 15 other soldiers and Border Police officers arrived. Some of them went upstairs right away, and the others patrolled the schoolyard and then went upstairs too.
Two soldiers forced their way into the 9th-grade classroom and grabbed one of the students. I blocked their way and managed to get him out of their hands. The other teachers and I tried to explain to the soldiers that the students hadn’t left the classrooms. One of the soldiers pushed me violently up against the wall in front of the students, who were very frightened. My left arm was wounded and started bleeding a little. The soldiers took me out of the classroom, and then I closed the door and grabbed the handle. They pushed me with their rifles, and one of them grabbed me by the neck and knocked me down. Other soldiers kicked me in the legs. I saw them pushing the teachers, too. One of the soldiers was waving a pepper spray canister around, threatening to use it. The soldiers went into another 9th-grade classroom and pulled out ‘Omar Abu Hamdiyeh, 14-year-old student. I tried to break ‘Omar loose, but they pushed me and swore at me, and then they took ‘Omar out of the school.
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Border Police officers lead ‘Omar Abu Hamdiyeh away. Photo courtesy of the school
Another soldier grabbed ‘Abd a-Rahman Gheith, who’s also a 14-year-old student, and when he resisted, other soldiers helped him carry him. Several Border Police officers went into the principal’s office to check the security cameras, and threatened to confiscate the recording device if he didn’t show them the footage. The principal showed them the footage, and a Border Police officer filmed the screen. Then they left the school. I followed them along with the other teachers. The soldiers were holding the children on the street. We tried to go over to release them, but the soldiers hurled a stun grenade at our feet. We weren’t hurt.
One of the teachers drove me and several other teachers in his car to Muhammad ‘Ali al-Muhtaseb Memorial Hospital, because of the beatings we received from the soldiers. They bandaged me up and gave me painkillers. Then I went back to the school. The children were let out at about the same time. I still have severe pain in my left arm.
‘Abd a-Rahman Gheith (14) from the Sarsuriyah neighborhood in Hebron is a 9th-grade student at the school:
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‘Abd a-Rahman Gheith. Photo: Manal al-Ja’bari, B’Tselem, 2 October 2022
On Thursday, 29 September 2022, around 9:30 A.M., when I was in math class, one of the students asked the teacher for permission to go to the bathroom. He opened the classroom door and immediately shut it. He told us the Israeli army was outside. A second later, a soldier came into the classroom and ordered me to stand up. I got up, and then he ordered me and a friend who was next to me, ‘Omar Abu Hamdiyeh, to show him our hands. Then he grabbed ‘Omar by the neck and dragged him out. I heard the teachers confronting the soldiers outside the classroom and saw them trying to get ‘Omar out of their hands, but the soldiers pushed them aside with their rifles.
Then some soldiers, maybe three, came into the classroom, grabbed me and took me to the stairs that lead to the school’s main gate. The teachers tried to help me, and I also tried to get away and held onto the railing on the staircase. Then the soldiers hit me on my head and hands to make me let go of the railing. I let go, and the soldiers dragged me out to the street, about 10 meters from the school, near the plant nursery. They had me sit there on the ground for about 10 minutes, and I heard a stun grenade go off.
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Border Police officers lead ‘Abd a-Rahman Gheith away. Photo courtesy of the school
Then a female Border Police officer got me up and led me, along with another police officer and some soldiers, to the Abu a-Rish checkpoint. On the way, I saw that soldiers were dragging ‘Omar there too. They put us in side something like a cage at the checkpoint. One of the soldiers made me sit on a chair and shouted at me in Hebrew. I asked him to speak Arabic, and he slapped me hard on my left cheek. It really hurt. The soldier sat me down on the floor and sat on the chair himself. Two minutes later, a Border Police officer came in who spoke Arabic. He accused us of throwing stones. We said we hadn’t thrown anything and were in math class. The officer said we were lying and threatened to hit us and arrest us if we didn’t confess. Then he showed us pictures of kids on his phone. I told him I didn’t know them. After about half an hour, the soldiers let us go.
