My mother woke me and my siblings up at around 1:30 a.m. and told us she had heard sounds around our house and on the roof. She warned us that she thought it was Israeli soldiers and they may come to arrest us. The soldiers remained on the roof for about 30 minutes before they came down and knocked at the door.

 

My mother opened the door immediately. A group of soldiers accompanied by two service dogs entered our home and searched it. A female soldier told us not to be scared of the dogs because they weren’t going to attack us.

 

After a while the soldiers gathered me and my brothers in a separate room and continued to search the house while they waited for the commander. About an hour-and-a-half later the commander came and asked my mother for me. He spoke fluent Arabic. When I identified myself the commander told me they had come to arrest me.

 

The commander did not give my mother any documents and told her he was going to treat me as if I was his own son and that he wasn’t going to allow the soldiers to hurt me. I was immediately taken outside where I was blindfolded and tied to the front with one plastic tie which was tight.

 

The soldiers then led me on foot for about five minutes before I was put in the back of a jeep together with other detainees. They made me sit on the floor of the jeep on top of six other detainees.

 

The jeep drove around the village for about 30 minutes before it headed off to the police station in Etzion settlement. On arrival at Etzion I was taken to a shipping container together with the other detainees where I sat on the floor for about 30 minutes. Then I was taken to be examined by a doctor who removed the blindfold and put it back on when he was done and I was taken back into the container.

 

About 30 minutes later I was taken to an open courtyard where I sat on a chair out in the cold tied and blindfolded until around 4:00 p.m. During this time I was allowed to use the toilet and to drink water but I wasn’t offered any food. Then I was taken for interrogation at around 4:00 p.m.

 

The interrogator removed the tie and the blindfold but he did not inform me of any rights. He asked me for my father’s phone number but I couldn’t remember it although I know it by heart. Then the interrogator accused me of using pipe bombs and of firing at soldiers during a funeral. He asked me if I had bullets or other explosives and I told him I had no idea what he was talking about and that I had never ever used pipe bombs or fired at soldiers.

 

I was interrogated for about an hour. During this time he repeated the same accusations. I denied all allegations. After an hour I was photographed and fingerprinted before being strip searched. I was then put in a cell for about an hour.

 

After an hour in the cell I was handcuffed and shackled and put in a troop carrier where I sat on a seat. The troop carrier drove for about 90 minutes to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem, where I was strip searched again and taken to Section 13.

 

The following day I was taken to Ofer military court where I met a lawyer. My parents were not there because they were not notified and the hearing was adjourned. The next hearing my parents attended and the military court agreed to release me on bail. My parents had to pay NIS 1,000. I was released on 29 December 2016, at around 5:00 p.m. and I went home with my parents.