At around 1:00 a.m. my parents came rushing to my bedroom just as I heard loud banging at our front door. My aunt, who lives upstairs, opened the main door and five Israeli soldiers entered our home. More soldiers were outside. The soldiers asked to see our identification cards. When the commander saw mine he asked me to follow him. Then he gave my father a document that said I was being taken to the Israeli police station inside Etzion settlement for questioning.

 

The soldiers took me outside where they tied my hands to the front with two plastic ties connected to each other. The ties were not tight. I was also blindfolded. I was then put in the back of a jeep where they made me sit on the floor because there was no room on the seats. The jeep drove for about 15 minutes to Etzion police station. I was taken to a room where I sat on the floor while still tied and blindfolded. I remained there until around 7:00 a.m.

 

At around 7:00 a.m. I was taken to an interrogation room. The interrogator turned a tape recorder on and told me his name and then removed the ties and the blindfold and immediately accused me of going to the firing range near my town to collect bullets with my friends. I denied the accusation and told him I sometimes herd goats in the area but I don’t collect bullets. He did not inform me of any rights and did not give me any evidence to prove his allegations.

 

The interrogation lasted for about 30 minutes and in the end I confessed to throwing one stone because I didn’t want him to charge me with the more serious allegation involving bullets. I confessed to throwing one stone because I wanted the interrogation to end. He then showed me documents in Hebrew and asked me to sign them and I did. I signed because I wanted to leave.

 

I was then taken to another room where I was interrogated by a second interrogator. The second interrogator murmured something about rights very quickly but I did not understand what he said. He wanted me to confess to stealing bullets but I told him I threw one stone about three months earlier. I was then taken to see a third interrogator.

 

The third interrogator showed me some photos and wanted me to say the names of the boys in the photos. I told him I didn’t know any of them. I was then strip searched and taken to a cell with two other detainees. At around 1:00 a.m. I was handcuffed and shackled and taken to a vehicle which took me to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. At Ofer I was strip searched and taken to Section 13.

 

Two days later I was taken to Ofer military court. My parents and a lawyer were there and the hearing was adjourned. I had six more military court hearings which my parents attended. At the last hearing I was sentenced in a plea bargain to six months in prison and fined NIS 2,000. I also had a suspended sentence of eight months in prison valid for five years.

 

I spent my prison sentence at Ofer. In prison I studied Arabic and mathematics with 10 other students but the teaching was not serious and I didn’t benefit much. My parents visited me in prison four times. It took two months before they were issued the first permit.

 

I was released on 30 June 2016 and I took a taxi home. I stayed up late that night because my friends had organized a party for me. I went to bed after dawn.