I had my headphones on in bed and was listening to music when I heard a commotion inside our home. It was around 3:00 a.m. I went downstairs to the living room to see what was going on and found about 15 Israeli soldiers already inside our house. 

 

There was a female soldier present and she verbally abused my mother and told her she did not know how to raise children. Then the commander told my father he wanted to arrest me. He did not give a reason for my arrest and I do not know whether he gave my father any documents. The soldiers remained in the house for about 15 minutes and I was taken outside.

 

Once outside the soldiers led me along a dirt road up on the hill near the camp. Half way along a soldier tied my hands to the front with two plastic ties which were tight and painful and my hands turned blue. A military jeep was waiting at the top of the hill. When I got to the jeep a soldier blindfolded me and made me sit on the metal floor of the vehicle. I sat between the soldiers legs and the soldiers beat me with the back of their guns on my head and shoulders. They also slapped me and swore at me calling me “a son of a whore”. A soldier called me a “fucking idiot” and wanted to know why I threw stones at soldiers. 

 

The jeep drove me to the police station in Etzion settlement where I was examined by a doctor. I told the doctor I was beaten by soldiers but he did not speak any Arabic and did not understand what I was talking about. He gave me a document to sign which said I was not hurt but I refused to sign it. Then I was taken outside where I was left until around 6:00 a.m. and then I was taken for interrogation.

 

The interrogator wore civilian clothes. He removed the blindfold but kept the ties on. He turned on a voice recorder on his phone and then phoned a lawyer. The lawyer told me not to be scared and informed me of my right to silence. The interrogator listened to the conversation which lasted for less than a minute and he kept urging me to finish and hang up because he was in a hurry. The interrogator then told me he knew exactly what the lawyer had told me and then he told me he wanted me to confess to one thing only. He said he wanted me to confess to throwing a Molotov cocktail at soldiers.

 

The interrogator then he told me he had a confession from another boy that I had thrown a Molotov cocktail and told me he did not want to mention the boy’s name. I told him I was not involved in such things and all a cared about was my family and their well-being. He accused me of lying and slapped me on the face. I challenged him and asked him what evidence he had against me and he told me the evidence would be presented in the military court.

 

The interrogation lasted for a long time, maybe three or four hours. During this time the interrogator left the room and asked me whether I wanted any cigarettes or coffee. I think he wanted to make me feel comfortable in order to extract a confession from me. Then he told me he was going to send me home if I confessed but I did not believe him and I did not confess.

 

At the end of the interrogation he gave me documents in Hebrew and asked me to sign them but I refused to sign anything I did not understand. Then he showed me an Arabic translation saying I was not physically assaulted and I refused to sign because he slapped me during the interrogation.

 

Then I was taken to a cell at Etzion where I was strip searched. I was given some food and I spent about two hours there before I was taken to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. At Ofer prison I was strip searched again and asked to crouch up and down before I was taken to section 13. 

 

The following day I was taken for another interrogation by an intelligence officer at Ofer. The intelligence officer told me he knew I had not confessed but told me I was a wise person and had to confess to him. When I told him I had nothing to confess to he urged me again to confess and threatened to use a different method with me if I did not. The interrogator did not inform me of my rights and did not allow me to speak to a lawyer. 

 

He questioned me for about two hours and the whole time he was urging me to confess. He thumped the table a couple of times and shoved thing off his table on the floor. He also grabbed me by the neck and shouted at me saying I had to confess or else he was going to choke me. I was terrified but I did not confess. Then he showed me documents in Hebrew and asked me to sign them but I refused to sign. After the interrogation I was taken back to Ofer.

 

Two days later I was taken for another interrogation. This one did not inform me of my rights and did not allow me to speak to a lawyer. He accused me of throwing a Molotov cocktail and wanted me to confess. When I refused to confess he told me he knew my father had a work permit to work inside Israel and if I wanted my father to earn a living I had to confess. When I heard this I was scared and told the interrogator I threw a stone at soldiers. 

 

In all I had about seven military court hearings. At the last hearing I was sentenced to four months in prison and fined NIS 3,500. I was also given a 10 month suspended sentence suspended for three years. I accepted the plea bargain because I was told the sentence would be higher if I did not.

 

I was released on 1 November 2018, and I arrived home at around 11:00 p.m. In prison I did some art work and I attended some classes. My parents visited me in prison. The prison authorities wanted to transfer me to Megiddo prison, in Israel just a few days before my release but I refused to go.