My father woke me up at around 2:00 a.m. and told me there were Israeli soldiers at our front door. My father answered the door and a group of soldiers walked in and asked for our identification cards. When they saw mine they told me they wanted to arrest me. The commander told my mother he would bring me back in a couple of hours. They did not tell us why they were arresting me and did not give us any documents.

 

I quickly changed, said good-bye to my parents and siblings and went with the soldiers outside where my hands were tied to the back with one plastic tie. The tie was tight. They also blindfolded me and tied my ankles with plastic ties and put me in the back of a jeep and made me sit on the floor although there were seats available.

 

The jeep drove around the village for about two hours while soldiers made more arrests. Then the jeep drove to the police station in Etzion settlement where I was strip searched and taken to a room with a bed where I slept for a bit. The tie and the blindfold and the shackle were removed. At around 7:00 a.m. I was tied again and taken for interrogation.

 

The interrogator wore civilian clothes. He turned a tape recorder on and immediately accused me of planning an attack. I denied the accusation. He did not inform me of any rights. The interrogator was aggressive and kept banging at the table to frighten me. He showed me photographs and wanted me to identify the boys in the photographs. I told him I didn’t know any of the boys.

 

He kept repeating the same accusation and stressed that I must confess. When I didn’t he pulled out his gun and shot a couple of shots through the window. Then he told me if I didn’t confess he was going to aim his gun at me and shoot me. I was terrified and decided to confess. I confessed to throwing one stone during clashes at the entrance to the village without hitting anything.

 

The interrogator then showed me some documents in Hebrew and asked me to sign them which I did without knowing what was written in them. He then took my photograph and my fingerprints and took me to the back of a jeep which drove me to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. At Ofer I was strip searched and taken into Section 13.

 

The following day I was taken to Ofer military court. My parents were in court together with a lawyer and the hearing was adjourned. I had six more military court hearings. On the last hearing, about three months after my arrest, I was sentenced to six months in prison in a plea bargain. I was also fined NIS 2,000 and served with an additional 10 months prison sentence suspended for five years.

 

I was released on 20 June 2016, at around 5:30 p.m. My father and uncle were waiting for me outside prison and I went home with them. My younger sister, who is one, did not recognize me and cried each time I tried to play with her. I was shocked as I did not expect this. It took a while before she warmed up to me.

 

I spent my entire sentence at Ofer prison and my parents visited me five times. It took about two months for the permit to be issued. I lost an entire semester at school and I will have to repeat my final year. I was a good student before I was arrested. I want to work hard at school next year to make up for the time I lost. In prison I played a lot of volley ball. I missed my two younger brothers a lot.