Tawfiq Salah, victim, aged 42, resident of al-Far'a Refugee Camp, Tubas District.
On Monday, 2 September 2002, at around 2:30 A.M., I woke up to the sound of strange voices near my home. I got out of bed, looked through the window and saw Israeli soldiers. They spoke Hebrew, and I was able to understand what they were saying. I asked my wife, Um Amir, to get up, and I informed her that there are Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the home. A short while later I heard knocking on the front door of the home. When I opened the door, I saw my neighbor, Husam Salim Subuh, in the doorway. The neighbor told me that the Israeli army was surrounding the entire neighborhood and that the soldiers demand that I leave the house with my family. He added that I have to turn on all the lights inside and open all the doors quickly, and if there is any delay, the soldiers would shoot at the house.
I did as I was told and went out with my family. The soldiers demanded that we raise our hands and stand near the front door, outside. They demanded my ID card and asked me about the houses near mine. When I pointed to the house of Abu Wadi's family, I saw the soldiers, their faces painted, ordering my neighbor Husam to return home. One of the soldiers pointed his weapon at me from behind, without touching me, and ordered me to walk in front of them towards the house of Abu Wadi'. When we reached the house, which is about twenty meters away, the soldiers demanded that I knock on the door. On the way to Abu Wadi's house, the soldiers shouted at me and warned me not to make any move, which they wouldn't like. The soldiers demanded that I knock on the door of the two-story house and order the residents to leave. They demanded that I tell them to open all the doors and windows and to turn on all the lights in the house. There were more than forty soldiers and they were very frightening. I was afraid to speak with them.
I knocked on the door of Abu Wadi's house, and a girl, aged twenty, opened the door. I told her that the army was surrounding the neighborhood and demanded that everyone, no exceptions, step outside. Then, Abu Wadi's son, Saleh, aged 30, came out, and I told him to open all the windows and doors and to leave the house well lit. About three minutes later everyone went outside, including the children that had been asleep. One of the soldiers returned my ID card to me. He told me to return home and said my mission had ended. About five minutes after the army's withdrawal I was told that the soldiers had arrested Wadi's son Saleh, who is twenty-five years old.
Tawfiq Zaqi Yusef Salah, born 1960, is married, a cook by profession, and a resident of the al-Far'a refugee camp, Tubas District. The testimony given to 'Ali Daraghmeh at the witness's home, on 3 September, 2002.