Category: Reports

By Missy and Giuseppe

At approximately 1:00 PM on August 17th, settler boys were throwing rocks at Palestinian people descending the Qurtaba School stairs. One international human rights worker approached the area quickly, but was told by the soldier to get away. The soldier then came yelling out of his post, and threw his chair at the settler boys nearby. He then grabbed one of the boys and yelled at him, in Hebrew. The Palestinians who were coming down the stairs continued on their way, but were very frightened of the situation, and left quickly down Shuhada Street.

At around 1:30, while three internationals were talking on Shuhada Street, one female settler teenager and two younger boys walked past. The settlers stared and suddenly threw a large glass bottle at the human rights workers, which landed at their feet. The settlers took off running towards the checkpoint, where the soldier at the post began yelling and running after them. One of the settlers attempted to hit the soldier and took off running. One international attempted to talk to the soldier, but he said to her, “Go away! This isn’t for you, it’s for myself!” Palestinians were walking down the road at this point, and had seen the settler kids throw the glass bottle at the internationals. One Palestinian man was very concerned and called the police, telling them what happened; the police never came.

About five minutes later, an human rights worker stationed at the checkpoint, came to Shuhada Street to report that settler kids had thrown a glass bottle at her. It was verified that they were the same settlers who had just thrown the bottle at other human rights workers.

By Missy, Giuseppe, Gary and Sebastian

At approximately 9 PM August 14th, human rights workers (HRW) living in Tel Rumeida went to the checkpoint to investigate a rumor of abuse of a Palestinian man by the soldiers there. They noticed at the checkpoint a small man crouching in the corner of an impromptu soldier’s post to the right of the checkpoint. He had his T-shirt pulled up over his head.

The human rights workers asked the soldier standing near the entrance/exit of the checkpoint to check on the condition of the man in the corner. They called to him in Arabic and the man had pulled his shirt from his face before I spoke to him, but then pulled his shirt up again, appearing afraid. The soldier told them to shut up and then told the Palestinian man, inches from his face, several times in Arabic, “Uskot! Uskot!”, which means “shut up”. A HRW then told the soldier he wanted to offer the guy a cigarette, and the soldier agreed. The HRW was able to look at the man quickly and see that he was having a difficult time breathing. The other soldier inside the checkpoint room came out and told the HRW to leave the guy alone and go away from him. The HRW calmly walked away and reported the man’s condition to us.

This situation went on for about half an hour. During this time, one human rights worker called the Humanitarian Office of the DCO (an adminstrative branch of the Israeli military) twice, to report that the man was possibly injured and might need medical attention. I also told the DCO that the soldier appeared to be under the influence of some substance or was acting mentally unstable. The soldier had been going from being hyperactive and talking about his past history of doing “crystal, meth, cocaine, marijuana, alcohol…” to taking his helmet off and hanging his head with a blank stare on his face. The soldier had also offered me pizza several times, walking close to me with box open; he also asked if I wanted to drink vodka. He offered the same to other HRWs, who refused.

The soldier then became agitated and said that he hated all Arabs and wanted to shoot or kill them. He said that terrorists had killed his family when he was a small child, and that he spent many years before the military doing drugs. He went on to talk about doing methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol, and said that when his family was killed, his brain was dead. He said that since joining the Israeli army he was a new man. He also commented that he had been in the Army for two years now. The soldier then moved the detained man, who appeared to be autistic, behind the door to the right of the checkpoint and said that he could go and beat the man if we wanted, and then asked us repeatedly if we wanted him to beat the man. The HRWs calmly replied, ‘No’.

Another HRW then got water and asked if he could offer water to the man; the soldier took the bottle and said he’d give it to the man. The HRW followed the soldier and attempted to assess the man’s condition again. He asked the Palestinian man to lift up his shirt, but could see no injuries. The man still appeared to be having a difficult time breathing. At the one hour mark, the unstable soldier went to the Palestinian man and said in Arabic, “Tayib, halas?” which means, roughly translated, “Ok, enough?” The Palestinian man was rocking back and forth and said ‘yes’. The soldier let the man get up and he began to walk away.

At this point, another soldier’s jeep with four soldiers inside appeared from Shuhada Street. They stopped the Palestinian man and began checking his ID again. The unstable soldier went to the jeep, and then about five more soldiers arrived from the hill. The autistic man stood near them, rocking back and forth. The unstable soldier then approached two of the human rights workers standing nearby, “What? What’s the problem? You are gay, and your friend is a bitch,” he said. The soldier was holding his gun in a downward but forward position. He then swung his gun towards his back and put his hands forward, as if to push or hit the HRW. The HRW put his hands up in the air as if to block a possible blow. Another soldier came to the unstable soldier and pushed him away.

The unstable soldier became aggressive and from about ten feet away, he put his gun up and pointed it at an HRW’s head with the flashlight lit. The unstable soldier then took his gun and pulled it up over his head. He then took the barrel end in his hands and swung the butt of the gun at her head. The HRW ducked and four soldiers surrounded the unstable soldier and led him to the military jeep. The other soldiers had removed his gun, vest and helmet from him. He attempted to come up the hill, but was stopped; he then went yelling and screaming towards the checkpoint. All the HRWs left at this point.

By Missy

At approximately 4:00 PM August 14th, while sitting at Checkpoint #56 in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, three Israeli soldiers escorted two Palestinian boys who appeared to be around ten years of age to the police station. The boys were holding a kite and nothing else. They looked very nervous and scared, staring mostly at each other and the ground. Three human rights workers (HRW) followed the soldiers and boys; the soldiers said nothing. At the top of the hill, the soldiers then began physically blocking the HRWs by walking in front of them. Another soldier came down the hill from the direction of the Tel Rumeida settlement and started shouting at one HRW, “You can’t go here. Fucking bitch!” They told the soldier to stop cursing, and he replied, “I don’t give a fuck!”

The soldier claimed that the boys were throwing rocks at the settler boys. He said they were taking them to the military base for about an hour. The soldier replied to a human rights worker, “Don’t worry. We’ll keep them for about an hour. We’re going to punish them.” The soldiers then walked away quickly with the boys.

An HRW called the District Coordination Office (an administrative wing of the Israeli military) and told them the situation. They said they would find out immediately what the soldiers were doing with two young boys. About three minutes later, two men from B’tselem pulled up in their Jeep Cherokee, and said they were immediately going to the military base to check on the welfare of the boys. The police arrived about ten minutes later, and went directly to the military base.

About half an hour later, the boys were released. B’tselem reported that the Palestinian boys were walking down the steps near Shuhada Street, and settler boys were throwing rocks at them. The settler boys then told the soldier that the Palestinian boys were throwing rocks at them, so the soldier at the post near the settlement called for another soldier near the checkpoint. He then detained them. The man from B’tselem said the police told the boys they could file a complaint, but would have to come to the police station and identify them from their collection of mug shots.

The boys then went home.