Israeli soldiers banged at our front door at around 4:00 a.m. and tried to break it open. My brother opened the door just in time. Lots of soldiers entered our house and five of them came to my bedroom while I was still in bed. I could not believe my eyes.

 

After I told them my name they said I was under arrest. They did not say why and did not give me time to say goodbye to my family. The commander gave my mother a document filled out in Hebrew which she did not understand. He asked her to sign it and she did. Then they took my identity card and took me outside the house where they tied my hands behind my back with two plastic ties on top of each other. They were tight and painful and left marks on my wrists for weeks.

 

The soldiers then led me on foot in the cold and rainy weather to the nearby settlement of Beit El. On the way soldiers verbally abused me and called me "a son of a whore". At the settlement they left me by a watchtower for about two hours. It was cold and rainy. Then they took me to the back of a military jeep and made me sit on a seat. Inside the jeep a soldier blindfolded me. They took me to the police station in Binyamin settlement where I was left in a cell for two days. Then, in the morning I was taken for interrogation.

 

The interrogator wore civilian clothes. He phoned a lawyer for me and allowed me to speak to him. The lawyer told me not to sign any documents. The call lasted for less than a minute and the interrogator was listening. Then the interrogator told me I had the right to remain silent if I wanted. Then the interrogator told me my file was ready whether I confessed or not.

 

The interrogator accused me of throwing stones, pipe bombs and a Molotov cocktail at a house inside the settlement. He also accused me of damaging a CCTV camera. When I denied the accusation, he yelled at me and accused me of lying. Then he told me my friends had confessed against me. He banged the table, swore and threatened to lock me up if I did not confess. He questioned me on and off for about three hours and I continued to deny the accusation. He did not ask me to sign any documents.

 

After the interrogation I was taken to the police station in Etzion settlement where I was left in solitary confinement for 16 days. The cell measured about 2 x 2 meters and did not have any windows. It was dark. I was distressed in the cell and I kept calling the guards to let me out but they did not respond. I thought of my family the whole time.  The food was inedible and I sent most of it back.  Two weeks later I was taken back to Binyamin for another interrogation.

 

This time I did not speak to a lawyer but the interrogator informed me of my right to silence. He repeated the same accusations and showed me video footage of the incident and accused me of endangering the lives of settlers. He gave me two dates: 30 December 2020 and another date in July 2020. He questioned me for about two hours and in the end I confessed to throwing pipe bombs at settlers; I could not bear the thought of going back to solitary confinement. After I confessed the interrogator asked me to sign a document written in Hebrew and did not translate it for me. I signed.

 

Later I was taken to Megiddo prison, inside Israel where I was strip searched before being take to the quarantine section where I spent 15 days. 

 

My first military court hearing was a week after my arrest. It was conducted via zoom and my uncle attended. On average I had two court hearings a week. My last hearing was on 22 August 2021. I was sentenced in a plea bargain to 10 months in prison and fined NIS 2,000. I was also given a further three months in prison suspended for five years. I accepted the plea bargain because the prosecutor wanted 18 months imprisonment for me. 

 

I spent two months at Megiddo then I was transferred to Ofer prison, near Jerusalem. Six months later I was transferred back to Megiddo. I was released from Salem checkpoint on 12 October 2021. I took a lift with another family to Al Jalama checkpoint where I met my family and they took me home. I arrived home at around 10:00 p.m.

 

I spent seven months in prison before I had a family visit. It was the only one I had. I was allowed to call home from a telephone provided by the prison authorities twice a week. In prison I exercised and helped in the kitchen to pass the time.  I found being away from my family the most difficult of all.