Across from al-‘Arrub Refugee Camp, which lies some ten kilometers north of the city of Hebron, is a campus of the Palestine Technical University. Some 570 students are enrolled at the campus. About half of the student body are studying for a bachelor’s degree and the rest are in certificate programs.
On 7 December 2017, a day after President Trump announced US embassy would be moved to Jerusalem, students held a protest march on campus. When they reached the main entrance, which leads to Route 60, clashes ensued between them and Israeli soldiers who were there, blocking the gate. Later, the soldiers entered the campus itself and dispersed the protesters with stun grenades, teargas and rubber-coated metal bullets.
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An Israeli soldier detaining a Palestinian youth at the entrance to the Al-'Arub campus. Photo by Mosab Shawer, 25 April 2018
Since then, the military has patrolled daily by the main entrance, from early morning until classes are over. In addition, soldiers stationed at the entrance randomly inspect students’ identity cards, take photographs of them and search their bags, sometimes even confiscating their IDs or demanding that the students identify fellow students in photographs. Students report delays of up to an hour at the entrance to the campus. Due to the military presence there, some students – including residents of the refugee camp – prefer to take longer, roundabout routes to campus so as to avoid encounters with the soldiers.
Apart from the confrontation the day after President Trump’s announcement, there were two other significant clashes between soldiers and students in recent months, with soldiers entering the campus and firing stun grenades, teargas and rubber-coated metal bullets. The first was on Tuesday, 12 December 2017; the second was four months later, on Wednesday, 25 April 2018, the day a ceremony was held on campus to mark Prisoners’ Day. Since 7 December 2017, the military has arrested 12 students on campus and its environs.
After what happened on Prisoners’ Day, the military shut down the campus for two days. In response, the university contacted the DCO. Since then, students have reported that the harassment and delays have eased somewhat, but have not stopped altogether.
The soldiers’ conduct at the entrance to the campus has almost become an expected routine. Yet there is nothing routine about students having to get past soldiers in order to enter an academic campus. Delaying the students and harassing them on their way to classes infringes upon their fundamental right to move freely, study and lead an ordinary social life. For students in most countries, these rights are a given, a matter of course. Yet for the hundreds of students at the al-‘Arrub campus, even the most basic of rights are subject to the whims of the military. It views these rights as privileges that the soldiers may deny at any time, with no justification and certainly no accountability. This is yet another example of the daily, arbitrary abuse of Palestinians in the West Bank, and the military’s cynical use of its power.
In testimonies given to B’Tselem field researchers Manal al-Ja’bri and Musa Abu Hashhash, students and journalists described the daily routine of harassment created by the soldiers’ presence at the entrance to the campus:
Hazem Dhiab, 18, a student from al-‘Arrub Refugee Camp, related in a testimony he gave on 8 May 2018:
I’m a first-year student. I’m studying accountancy. After Trump’s declaration recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and after the protest the students organized the next day, things on campus changed. Suddenly we saw soldiers stationed every day at the main entrance to the campus. They detain students, search their bags going in and out and take photographs of them. I saw soldiers arrest students near the main entrance on more than one occasion.
I live very close to the main entrance, but after they started humiliating students, taking their pictures and arbitrarily arresting them, I decided to stop using it to get to campus. When classes are over, I leave via the entrance near Beit Ummar get a ride to the camp from there. I’m not the only one who does that.
Things got worse when they closed the gate for two days, on Thursday and Saturday, 26 and 28 April 2018 [there are no classes on Fridays]. After that, the gate was opened again but soldiers still stand there from morning to night. It looks like they’re detaining fewer students, but they haven’t stopped altogether. Six days ago, I decided to go through the main gate after all, and was detained. A soldier took my identity card and my bag and accused me of throwing stones. Then an officer came and took me to a military post near the al-‘Arrub cemetery. He told me he knew I hadn’t thrown stones, even though the soldier said otherwise, but warned me not to throw stones in the future. Then he gave me back my bag and my ID and let me go.
Diaa Hasaniyyah, 18, a student from al-‘Arrub Refugee Camp, related in a testimony he gave on 8 May 2018:
I’m in my second year of information technology and communications studies. In my two years on campus I have always seen soldiers, but they didn’t used to cause any trouble. They would stay in the military vehicles and we would go in and out of the campus freely. That’s how it was until the students held a demonstration protesting Trump’s declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. During the protest, clashes took place and the soldiers fired stun grenades, teargas and “rubber” bullets inside the campus. After that, we suddenly started seeing many more soldiers at the main entrance to the college. They started provoking students, checking their IDs and sometimes taking photographs of them. In response, some of the students – and sometimes also other passersby – started to sometimes throw stones at the soldiers. Things got tense on campus.
Two weeks ago I left campus for home through the main entrance. One of the soldiers detained me and asked to see my ID card. He ordered me to stand over on the side, and didn’t even check my card. Fifteen minutes later he came back with a tablet, and started asking me about photographs of other students. I told him I didn’t know them. He kept me there for more than an hour and did the same thing to other students. After he gave me back my ID card, I ran out of there.
On Wednesday, 25 April 2018, clashes took place on campus. Soldiers fired stun grenades, teargas and “rubber” bullets. While I was filming what was happening on my phone, I was hit in the right knee by a “rubber” bullet. Another bullet hit my phone and smashed the screen.
Since that day I’ve tried to avoid the main entrance whenever I see soldiers are there. I’ve already seen several arrests at the gate. A lot of students come in by the side gates. Although I live in al-‘Arrub, I have to take a detour and come in through a side entrance, via Beit Ummar. Some students ask taxi drivers to drive into the campus to avoid going through the main gate. We’re afraid of being arrested at there.
Rana al-Hamuz, 20, a student from al-Fawwar Refugee Camp, related in a testimony she gave on 9 May 2018:
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Rana al-Hamuz. Photo by Musa Abu Hashhash, B'Tselem, 9 May 2018
I’m in my second year of communications studies. I get to campus every day via the main gate. When I first started studying I would go in and out freely. The trouble began after the students’ protest against the US president’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Now there are soldiers at the main entrance to the campus all the time. They check our ID cards going in and out, and sometimes also take photographs of us and search our bags. Apart from that, they also entered the campus three times and fired stun grenades, teargas and “rubber” bullets.
On Wednesday, 25 April 2018, there was a ceremony on campus to mark Prisoners’ Day. There were a lot of soldiers at the front gate and they provoked students leaving for home. There was a settler with the soldiers taking photographs of students. The soldiers fired stun grenades and teargas, shoved us and wouldn’t let us near the gate. One of the soldiers shoved me in the back with his rifle. The next day, the military closed the main gate with no prior notice. I went to university as usual, found the gate closed and waited a whole hour before turning around and going back home. There were no classes that day.
Things on campus have been very tense recently, because there are soldiers at the entrance all the time. Many students, friends of mine, take a detour to avoid running into the soldiers at the front gate.
Mus’ab a-Tamimi, 26, a journalist and married father of two from Hebron, related in a testimony he gave on 18 April 2018:
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Mus’ab a-Tamimi. Photo by Musa Abu Hashhash, B'Tselem, 18 April 2018
I’m a reporter with Al-Hadath, the Ramallah-based newspaper. This morning at 11:00 o’clock I went to the Al-‘Arrub Technical University with another journalist, Muhammad Hlaiqah, because we’d heard there were clashes between the students and soldiers. We met another journalist there, Sari Jaradat.
When we got there, we saw the clashes were still underway. The students were throwing stones and the military responded by firing stun grenades, teargas and “rubber” bullets. The minute we got there we saw the soldiers arrest a student. The three of us filmed what was going on.
We had just started filming when four soldiers came over and assaulted us. They grabbed our phones and cameras, punched us and kicked us. The soldiers knocked my friend Muhammad Hlaiqah to the ground, kicked him and stepped on him. Then they had him get up and took him to a military jeep. As for me, they handcuffed me with plastic cable ties.
A few minutes later, a senior officer came over and told us we could leave. A soldier cut the cable ties on my hands and gave us back our stuff. The officer ordered us to move back and not to film them.
We all had press cards. We were wearing press jackets that had PRESS printed on them in English, but the soldiers ignored that. I’m still in a bit of pain because of the beating we got, especially in the waist. After they gave us back our cameras, we saw they’d erased all the footage we’d filmed.
On Friday, 18 August 2023, at around 11:30 P.M., cousins Mahmoud (18) and Yihya (16) a-Nawaj’ah arrived at the Meitar checkpoint. They were traveling in a car belonging to a Palestinian citizen of Israel. The two were on their way back from Israel to their home in the community of al-Jawaya, which lies southeast of the town of Yatta in the South Hebron Hills. When they reached the checkpoint, Israeli soldiers had the driver and two passengers get out of the car and conducted body searches on them. The soldiers took their bags, cellphones, and a bracelet and ring Yihya was wearing. They also took 8,000 NIS (~2,100 USD) in cash, money the cousins had earned working and were carrying in their pockets. Next, the soldiers tied the hands of the three individuals behind their backs using plastic bags, covered their eyes with plastic bags, and placed them in a military jeep. When they asked where they were being taken, the soldiers told them they were going to the Beit Yatir checkpoint (a checkpoint near the Mezadot Yehuda military base). Once they arrived at the military base, the three were taken out of the jeep and seated on the ground. Throughout the night and until the following afternoon, the three remained on the ground, handcuffed and blindfolded. Even in the intense heat of the day, the soldiers denied them water, food and access to the bathroom. When they requested to sit in a more shaded area, the soldiers refused. They were also forbidden from contacting their families or a lawyer to inform them of their whereabouts. Later, the three were taken to a room in the military base where the plastic bags around their hands were replaced with zip ties – this time, in front of them – and the bags covering their eyes were replaced with cloth blindfolds. They were interrogated in Arabic and asked for their names, ages, how they entered Israel and what they were doing there. From there, they were taken to another military facility, where fingerprints were taken from all three while they remained handcuffed and blindfolded. The soldiers then separated the driver from Mahmoud and Yihya and later released him. Mahmoud and Yihya were put in a car and sat there for about half an hour. Then, after a short drive to the Beit ‘Einun roundabout on Route 60, which sits north of Hebron, the soldiers took them out of the car and told them that they were being released. Only after the two pleaded did the soldiers remove the handcuffs and blindfolds. They returned their cellphones and Yihya’s jewelry that had been taken during the arrest. When the cousins asked the soldiers about the money that was taken from them, the soldiers claimed it had been transferred to the police and then left. Mahmoud called his father, who came to pick them up and took them home after more than twenty hours without food or drink. The next day, Mahmoud and Yihya went to the Kiryat Arba police station to demand their money back, but the police officers referred them to the Border Police camp in the settlement of Telem. Upon arriving there, they were told to come back the next day. On 31 August 2023, the two contacted HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual to file a complaint on their behalf with the police demanding their money be returned. B’Tselem field researcher Basel al-‘Adrah collected testimonies from the two cousins. Mahmoud a-Nawaj’ah (18), a resident of a-Jawaya testified: Ever since I finished school, I’ve helped support my family. In June 2023, I started working in the town of ‘Araba, inside the Green Line. I didn’t have a work permit, so I crossed in illegally. After about a month, my 16-year-old cousin Yihya a-Nawaj’ah joined me. On 18 August 2023, we decided to go home and paid a Palestinian citizen of Israel to drive us. At around 11:30 P.M., we reached the Meitar checkpoint. The guard there stopped the car and asked to see IDs. The driver showed them his ID, and I told them I didn’t have mine with me. Yihya said he didn’t have one because he’s sixteen and hasn’t gotten one yet. The guard instructed us to get out of the car and asked the driver to park it in the lot next to the checkpoint. A few soldiers made us move away from the car, and another soldier searched the vehicle with an electronic device. Meanwhile, the soldiers told me to call my parents and ask them to send my ID number or a photo. I tried calling, but no one answered. Yihya, the driver and I got taken into a room at the checkpoint, where our photos were taken, and then our faces were identified. Afterward, we were taken to a small cell, got physically searched, and everything that was on us was taken: our cellphones, our bags with all our clothes, the 5,000 NIS (~1,300 USD) I made in all the months I’d worked, and 3,000 NIS (~780 USD) Yihya had made that was on him. Then our hands were tied behind our backs with plastic bags, and we were blindfolded with plastic bags too. All three of us were put in a black military jeep. I asked where they were taking us, and one of the soldiers said: “Mezadot Yehuda.” After about a ten-minute drive, at around 12:30 A.M., we were taken out of the vehicle and sat on the ground inside a military base. I could feel cars zooming by very close to us. It was really scary, and I was very worried about what would happen, especially since no one in our family knew we’d been detained. I asked the soldiers if I could try calling someone from my family again, but they refused. When we asked for water and food, they refused that too, didn’t give us anything, and ordered us to shut up and not talk to each other, either. We asked how much longer we’d stay on the floor like that, and one of the soldiers said we had a lot more time. We were there all night. The next morning, about an hour and a half after we heard the call to dawn prayer, it got very hot. We couldn’t take the heat of the sun anymore and asked the soldiers to move us somewhere with more shade, but they refused. Around noon, it had become completely unbearable, and we asked them again and again if we could move, but they said no each time. At some point, I managed to take the plastic bag off my eyes, but within seconds, soldiers came over to put it back on and yelled at me that I wasn’t allowed to take it off. We sat on the ground handcuffed and blindfolded for 15 hours straight. Then, the soldiers brought us into a room in the base. They took the plastic off our eyes and covered them again with cloth. They also tied our hands tightly with zip ties – this time in front. They sat us down on chairs. Suddenly, someone I hadn’t seen began talking to us. He said his name was Khaled, and he asked each of us questions in mediocre Arabic. He asked for my name, my age, where I worked and how I entered Israel. He asked Yihya and the driver the same questions. After that, the soldiers put us back in the jeep, drove for about forty minutes, took us out again, and brought us into a room again, where they took our fingerprints while we were still handcuffed and blindfolded. After that, they put me and Yihya in a civilian car. I don’t know where the soldiers took the driver. We waited in the car for about half an hour before it started moving. A while later, we got dropped off and told we could go. They hadn’t taken off our blindfolds or untied our hands. They only did it after we begged them, and then we realized we were at the Beit ‘Einun roundabout. One of the soldiers gave us back our cellphones. We asked about our money, and the soldier said it was with the police, and then the soldiers left. I managed to take a photo of their license plate. That was at about 5:30 or 6:00 P.M. I called my father, and he came to pick us up. We were exhausted. Later, I called the driver, and he told me he had been released and that his friends came to pick him up, but that the soldiers confiscated his car. The next day, Yihya and I went to the police station in Kiryat Arba to get our money back, but they said our case was being dealt with in the Telem base. We went there, and they told us to come back the next day. The following morning, the Kiryat Arba police called me, and the interpreter asked me to tell him what happened, and how much money it was. I told him and said I was planning on going to Telem the next day to pick up my money. He told me they’d be in touch, but that never happened. Yihya a-Nawaj’ah (16), from Yatta, said: I was looking for work over the summer in order to have some pocket money for my last year of high school. My cousin, Mahmoud a-Nawaj’ah, got me a job where he works near ‘Araba in Israel, and I started working there on 15 July 2023. The first day of school was 20 August 2023, and I wanted some time to prepare, so we both left work on 18 August 2023. We left at around 9:30 P.M. with a Palestinian citizen of Israel who drove us for a fee, and at around 11:30 P.M., when we arrived at the Meitar checkpoint, the guard there detained us when he saw Mahmoud and I didn’t have IDs on us. The guy who was driving us showed the guard his ID, and the guard told Mahmoud and me to get out and the driver to park in the lot next to the checkpoint. The two of us got out of the car, and two soldiers led us through the lot. Then three more soldiers came, and one of them searched the car with an electronic device. The soldiers demanded to see IDs again, but we said we didn’t have them. They took the three of us to a room at the checkpoint, took our pictures in there, and then did a body search inside a small booth. They took our cellphones, and from me, they also took a bracelet and ring I was wearing, and the 3,000 NIS (~780 USD) I had made at work. They took Mahmoud’s 5,000 NIS (~1,300 USD), too. Then, the soldiers tied our hands behind our backs and blindfolded us with plastic bags. After that, the soldiers put us in a jeep and after a 10-minute ride, we were taken out and sat on the ground inside a military base. It was scary because I couldn’t see anything, and I didn’t know what the soldiers were planning. I felt cars zooming right next to me. I asked the soldiers to go to the bathroom a few times, but they didn’t let me. They also didn’t give us water or food, and they forbade us from talking to each other. Mahmoud and I asked to call our family or a lawyer, but one of the soldiers kept saying the same word every time: “forbidden.” About an hour and a half after we heard the call to dawn prayer, when the sun was already up, we asked them to move us to the shade, but they refused. Around noon, we couldn’t stand the scorching heat anymore – we had been there for 15 hours straight – but they continued to refuse our request to move to a shadier spot. At some point, they moved all three of us to a room in the base and replaced the plastic blindfold with a cloth one and the plastic bags tying our hands with zip ties; they put them in front this time. One of the soldiers tied my hands really tight, and it hurt. Then, someone who said his name was Khaled asked the three of us some questions in mediocre Arabic. He asked how old we were, where we worked, and how we entered Israel. After that, they took the three of us out of the room and put us back in the jeep. After a forty-minute ride, we were brought into another room where they took our fingerprints – even though our hands were still tied and we still had blindfolds on. They then put just Mahmoud and me in a car, and we waited for about half an hour inside it. After a short ride, the soldiers dropped us off and told us we could go, but they didn’t take off the handcuffs and blindfolds. We asked them to take them off, but one of them said they weren’t allowed. We didn’t understand why he wanted to leave us like that in the middle of the road, so we persisted until, finally, one of them untied our hands and took off our blindfolds. I felt relieved. They also gave us back our phones, and they gave me my bracelet and ring. They didn’t return the money they took from us, and when we asked for it, the soldier told us that the police had it. After that, they drove off, and Mahmoud called his father, who came to pick us up. We were so hungry and tired, and we just wanted to sleep.
On Sunday, 23 October 2022, at around 10:00 P.M., brothers Rajeh (24) and Bassem (21) a-Razem set out from their home in the Jaber neighborhood in the Hebron city center to deliver goods to the family store, which is located about 200 meters away. As they approached the Jaber checkpoint, the brothers saw several soldiers chasing youths from the neighborhood. Bassem got scared and ran back towards the house, while Rajeh kept walking towards the store. One of the soldiers suddenly approached Rajeh, pushed him, knocked him down and pressed his knee into his neck, choking him. More soldiers arrived. They handcuffed and blindfolded Rajeh and made him sit by the checkpoint. Bassem and Rajeh’s parents, who heard the commotion, rushed to the scene to rescue Rajeh, but the soldiers pushed them, swore at them and did not allow them to come near. The soldiers also attacked neighbors who came to the family’s aid, including: Ahmad Jaber (19), who was also handcuffed; his father, Minwer Jaber (48), who told the soldiers he was a member of the Palestinian security apparatus; and Minwer’s brother, Munzer Jaber (56), and his son Mu’taz (36). The soldiers also detained ‘Aref Jaber (48), who came to the spot to document the event. About half an hour later, an officer arrived at the checkpoint and released everyone except Rajeh, whom the soldiers held at the checkpoint, handcuffed and blindfolded, until 12:30 A.M. The Israeli media reported that two soldiers and an officer were suspended following the incident, which the IDF Chief of Staff described as a “a flagrant departure from IDF values.” Yet this case is no exception. It is part of the violent routine that is all too familiar to Palestinians in downtown Hebron – and throughout the West Bank. The only exception here was media exposure. Even then, how did the military choose to penalize soldiers who were documented verbally and physically assaulting Palestinians and falsely arresting one? By suspending them from operations. This is no mistake: the soldiers did not misinterpret orders and the Chief of Staff did not misunderstand the severity of the incident. It is Israel’s policy. B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari took testimonies on 25 October 2022 from some of the residents attacked: Rajeh a-Razem (24) from the a-Salaimeh neighborhood said: On 23 October 2022, at around 10:00 P.M., my father asked my brother Bassem and me to take goods to the store. Because we’re not allowed through the Jaber checkpoint by car, we have to transport goods with a small cart. We finished transporting the first batch and were taking the rest when we saw about four soldiers near the checkpoint yelling at some young guys on the street and chasing them. Bassem ran towards home, and I continued with the goods towards the checkpoint. Suddenly, one of the soldiers attacked me, knocked me down and sat on top of me, pressing his knee into my neck. He was choking me. Another soldier pointed his rifle at me. The soldiers asked me in Arabic about Bassem, who he was and why he ran away. I was afraid they’d hurt my brother, so I told them I didn’t know him, and then the soldier who was pointing his rifle at me shouted something in Hebrew that I didn’t understand. I told him I didn’t understand and he hit me, slapped me and shouted at me that I was a terrorist. The other soldier, who was still pressing his knee into my neck and choking me, also slapped me. Then, he pulled me to my feet and led me towards the checkpoint, where he tied my hands in front of me with zip ties, blindfolded me and made me sit in front of the checkpoint. Meanwhile, my parents arrived. I heard them talking to the soldiers. The soldiers were shouting at them and swearing at my mother. It sounded as if they were attacking my father, too. At some point they lifted me to my feet, dragged me a few steps and then made sit back down on the ground. I heard other people from the neighborhood shouting and it sounded like there was a struggle going on. I think the soldiers hit one of the residents, and I heard him tell them in English he was a police officer. I couldn’t see what was happening because I was blindfolded. They held me like that until about 12:30 A.M., and then they let me go and I went home. My family told me the soldiers had attacked Minwer Jaber and his family when they tried to help me. Ibtesam Jaber, a 37-year-old mother of six from the Jaber neighborhood, said: At around 10:30 P.M., my husband Minwer and I were at home. Suddenly, I heard shouting out on the street. Minwer went outside to see what was going on and our son Ahmad, who was woken by the shouting, followed him outside. I looked out the window and saw Rajeh a-Razem handcuffed and blindfolded. The soldiers had him sitting on the ground near the Jaber checkpoint. I saw his parents trying to get them to let him go, but the soldiers were pushing them and swearing at them. My husband came back inside to call the Palestinian DCO and get help for the young man. Meanwhile, I heard my son Ahmad shouting. Minwer rushed back out, barefoot. I saw three soldiers leading Ahmad to the checkpoint, hitting him as they went. They pulled the hood of his sweatshirt down over his face, tied his hands behind his back with zip ties and sat him down at the checkpoint, too. Afterwards, they pulled him and Rajeh to their feet and started dragging them, but Minwer blocked their path and asked why they were taking Ahmad, who had been asleep at home and had done nothing. One of the soldiers got angry and aggressive and said in Arabic that Ahmad was a Palestinian terrorist. The soldiers pushed my husband and ordered him to go home, but he refused to back off until they released both young men. One of the soldiers assaulted my husband and beat him. I yelled at them from the porch to let my husband and son go. One of the soldiers pointed his weapon at me, started swearing at me in Arabic and ordered me to go inside, while another soldier kept beating my husband. He pushed Minwer up against a wall, and his body and head got hit. Minwer shouted at the soldiers in English that he was a member of the security apparatus, but it didn’t help. In the meantime, my brother-in-law Munzer and his son Mu’taz came to help, but the soldiers attacked them too, handcuffed them and made them sit on the road. Ahmad Jaber (18) from the Jaber neighborhood said: I started heading downstairs to see what was going on, and before I even got to the street, three soldiers attacked me. One grabbed me by the shoulder, pulled the hood of my sweatshirt down over my face and started dragging me to the Jaber checkpoint, swearing at me and kicking me. He told me I was a Palestinian terrorist. Then he pushed me against the wall of a building. He started talking to me in Hebrew, and I didn’t understand what he wanted. Then he pulled my leg, knocked me down to the ground, trod on my legs and slammed my face into the wall. I heard my father’s voice and tried to raise my head, but the soldiers wouldn’t let me speak. They were very aggressive. The soldier punched and hit me several times on the head and kicked me. Then he tied my hands behind my back with zip ties and made me sit next to the checkpoint. A few minutes later, the soldiers pulled me and Rajeh up and led us a few steps on foot until my father blocked their way and asked why they were detaining us. The soldiers attacked my father, pushed him and ordered him to go home. He refused to back away, and then the soldiers started beating him. My mother shouted at the soldiers from the porch. One of the soldiers pointed his weapon at her and swore at her. Another soldier pushed my father against the wall, and he hit his head against it. My father shouted at the soldiers in English that he was a member of the security apparatus, but they didn’t stop. Meanwhile, my uncle Munzer and his son Mu’taz came to help, and the soldiers attacked them too. They handcuffed them and made them sit down next to the same building by the roadside. After about half an hour, an army officer arrived. He talked to us and let all of us go except Rajeh. A Palestinian ambulance arrived, and the crew gave my father first aid. He had bruises all over his body. Rajeh was only let go around 12:30 A.M. That evening, soldiers went up to our roof. They stayed there all night, making noise and disturbing our sleep.
On Monday, 5 July 2021, at around 10:30 P.M., sisters Rima and Iman a-Talhami were on their way home from the dentist. Rima (41), a mother of five, is a resident of East Jerusalem, and Iman (43), a mother of six, lives in the a-Salaimeh neighborhood in central Hebron. The two women were driving in Rima’s car, which has Israeli license plates, to Iman’s house. When they reached Checkpoint 160, which the military erected about 200 meters from Iman’s house, two Border Police officers stationed there refused to open the gate and let them through, without offering any explanation. The two women called Iman’s son Muhammad (22), to come and translate for the police officer. Yet even then, the officers refused to let them through, tried to forcibly snatch the car keys from them and hit Muhammad. Two settlers who came to the checkpoint attacked Iman, who was later taken to hospital. The officers did nothing to prevent the settlers from harming her. This incident is no exception. Hebron is laden with military checkpoints, which Palestinians depend on the goodwill of soldiers and police to cross. This violent routine is all too familiar to Palestinians in Hebron and throughout the West Bank. In a testimony she gave B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari on 8 July 2021, Rima a-Talhami recounted what happened that day: On 5 July 2021, at around 10:30 P.M., my sister Iman and I arrived at Checkpoint 160. We were on the way back to her house after going to the dentist in town. When we got to the checkpoint, I stopped at the gate and waited for them to open the gate for vehicles. Two Border Police officers were standing next to it, and one of them was talking to two Israeli girls who looked about 18. I asked the officer to open the gate so I could drive through. I showed him my Israeli ID card. He refused to open the gate. I told him that I always cross the checkpoint with my car, and he answered in Arabic mixed with Hebrew that he didn’t feel like letting me through this time. I replied that I wouldn’t move until he opened the gate. I called my nephew Muhammad and asked him to come to the checkpoint and talk to the officers because he knows Hebrew. Muhammad arrived within a few minutes and spoke with the Border Police officer, but he still wouldn’t let me through with the car. After we waited there for about half an hour, another car with a young Palestinian driver arrived and he offered to drive my car through the checkpoint. I gave him the keys and he got in the car, parked it by the roadside [on the other side of the checkpoint] and handed me the keys. The officer immediately tried to snatch the keys from my hand. I put them in my pocket and he tried to take them out, but I wouldn’t let him. I told him that if he wanted to search me, he had to get a female officer. Muhammad explained it to him in Hebrew, and then the officers attacked him. During the argument over the keys, two settlers came to the checkpoint and started filming us on a cellphone. One of them mocked me. When my sister Iman asked them not to film us, one of them attacked her and she fell down. Meanwhile, the Border Police officers detained Muhammad. The settler who attacked Iman also tried to attack Muhammad, but the officers wouldn’t let him. They led him to his car and asked both settlers to leave the area. In a testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher Manal al-Ja’bari, Muhammad Nidal a-Talhami (22) described how he and his mother were attacked: After about half an hour of arguing with the soldiers, more cars drove up to the checkpoint. A young Palestinian got out of one and suggested to my mother and aunt that they get out of the car and he drive it through the checkpoint. He said the Border Police officers would let him. They agreed and got out, and he got into the car. My mother and aunt stood by the checkpoint. Meanwhile, two settlers arrived, one of them a huge man wearing shorts, and they started filming my mother and aunt on a cellphone. The young man drove the car through the checkpoint, parked it by the roadside and handed the keys to my aunt. One of the Border Police officers ran over to them and tried to snatch the keys from her hand, but she put them in her pocket. The officer tried to take the keys out of her pocket, but we objected to him touching her and ask him to call a female officer. The officers got angry, jumped me and tried to handcuff me. At that moment, I saw the huge settler push my mother, and she fell down and screamed in pain. I tried to free myself from the Border Police officers, but they overpowered me after slamming me against the checkpoint fence, kicking me and hitting me. While the officers were holding me, the settler tried to attack me. I saw one of the officers talking to him, and then the settler got in his car and drove away. My mother was still on the ground and looked unconscious. After a few minutes, an ambulance arrived and took my mother and aunt to hospital. Then the officers let me go and I went home. At around 3:00 A.M., I went to get my mother and aunt from the hospital in my aunt’s car and brought them back to our house. I later learned that the officer had demanded that my family not file a complaint against the settler in exchange for my release. I had bruises on the right side of my head, on my right arm and on other parts of my body from the beating I took from the officers while they were trying to control me.
