At about midnight, the house was surrounded by soldiers. Mohammed Abu Arkub,
a barber, woke up frightened at the sound of loud knocking on the door and the
shouts demanding it be opened. Abu Arkub rushed to open the door and the
soldiers pulled him outside and ordered him to take all the members of the
household outside immediately. His wife Lubna and his two young daughters were
sleeping, along with Lubna's two younger sisters, who live with them. He woke
them up and ordered them to go outside. His brother, Rami, who lives alone in
the adjacent hut, was also called to go outside.
The night of March 19, the village of Wadi al-Shajneh in the South Hebron Hills,
south of the town of Dura. The family stood outside for about 10 minutes, half
asleep in the cold night air, and then the soldiers ordered them to all go
inside Rami's hut. Two soldiers stood at the door, guarding the family so they
wouldn't go out. The rest of the soldiers in the force entered the home of the
barber and his wife and began to conduct a search. Abu Akrub asked to be present
during the search, but the soldiers prevented him from doing so. The routine of
the occupation.
The soldiers were followed by female soldiers accompanied by dogs, while the
family remained crowded into Rami's room. The search took about an hour and a
half. Then the soldiers took everyone out to the yard. Mohammed asked to bring
blankets for his young daughters, but the soldiers refused. An Israel Defense
Forces commander took Mohammed aside and interrogated him. They were looking for
weapons in the house, and the barber told them there were no weapons in the
house.
"You're lying," said the officer, but Mohammed said to him: "You searched and
you didn't find anything." He says the officer hit him. The family remained
outside for about another half an hour, and then they were once again put into
Rami's room, and this time the door was closed. Things continued like that until
almost 2 A.M.
When Mohammed thought the soldiers had left, he opened the door and went
outside. Together with his wife they rushed to their house, which is right next
to Rami's, where they had been held. The household items were scattered on the
floor. The television and the computer were shattered, as were several kitchen
items and vases. Lubna hurried to the box with her gold jewelry, where she keeps
the gifts she received from Mohammed for their marriage, four years ago. There
is such a box in every Palestinian home. The box was thrown on the floor.
Lubna's cheap jewelry was scattered, but the gold jewelry had disappeared.
Necklaces and bracelets that had been saved from the wedding - their most
important assets - were not found. The family searched and searched and didn't
find them.
Mohammed still has the old receipt from the Sharha jewelry shop in Hebron: 200
grams of gold that were purchased at the time at a cost of 23 Jordanian dinars
per gram. At the prices then: about NIS 30,000. Rami, a strapping young man who
works for a stonecutter, was upset. He wanted to go out and chase the soldiers.
Mohammed tried to stop him, but failed. Rami ran down the path toward the four
army jeeps that were still parked in the village. "You stole the gold," shouted
Rami at the soldiers, and soon a fight developed. Rami sat inside the jeep and
said he wouldn't leave until the gold was returned to its owners. He wanted the
Civil Administration to be called, but his wish wasn't granted. The soldiers
pushed him out and left. They didn't arrest him, as is usual, for the crime of
attacking soldiers. Mohammed wrote down the number of one of the jeeps, 252126
that was written on its side, and 4760 on its license plates.
The elder daughter is named Yakut, precious stone in Hebrew. After the soldiers
left, Mohammed phoned the Palestinian civil liaison office and asked to file a
complaint. There they referred him to the Israeli liaison office. He also turned
to the B'Tselem headquarters in Hebron, where he was instructed to submit a
complaint to the Kiryat Arba police. After overcoming his fears, he turned to
the Kiryat Arba police on March 23. He arrived at police headquarters at 9:30
A.M., but was allowed to enter only after a humiliating five-hour wait.
We were in Hebron that day, and we heard his despairing voice on the phone to
B'Tselem investigator Musa Abu Hashhash, repeatedly phoning and asking him to
help him get into the police building. "Stand next to the cameras at the
entrance, so they'll see you," they advised him. But only at 2:30 P.M. was he
allowed to enter.
Police investigator Yaakov Barzani actually apologized for the wait, claimed
that he didn't know that Mohammed had been waiting outside, and wrote down the
complaint. Mohammed says the investigator was pleasant and told him that the
soldiers were ruining the IDF's good name. He also told how he, investigator
Barzani, had participated in confiscating millions of shekels from the
money-changing offices in Hebron, an operation reported in this column a few
weeks ago, and that he didn't touch any of the large amounts of money that
passed through his hands.
Finally policeman Barzani gave Mohammed a document: "A confirmation of the
filing of a complaint in case 116812/2000." All the sections of the form were
filled in block letters, the name of the complainant, the site of the incident,
the date, and so on. Only the subject of the complaint remained empty. Not a
word on the form about what Mohammed Abu Arkub had complained about. And a
remark at the end of the form: "This document should not be considered a
confirmation of the truth of the information." What information? Nothing is
written. Signed, Hebron District, Investigations.
Spokesman of the Judea and Samaria Police District, Danny Poleg: "In the Judea
and Samaria District, we question suspects in their mother tongue. Therefore, in
situations when there are many complainants, the waiting time may be slightly
longer - due to our intent to provide a quality service to each complainant. In
any case, as a result of this complaint, the following day we reviewed the
procedures related to waiting time. As for the form given to the complainant, it
is computerized and the investigator is unable to add or delete anything. Since
the complaint is directed against a soldier, the case was forwarded to the
Military Police."
The barber from Wadi al-Shajneh is not alone. In the offices of B'Tselem, about
a dozen different accounts have accumulated in recent months, by Palestinians
who complained about the theft of gold or cash from their homes in the course of
searches conducted by IDF soldiers and in one case, a Shin Bet security service
investigator. Ronen Shimoni, data coordination director of B'Tselem, sent
several of the accounts to Haaretz: Members of the Zarkat family from Kafr
Tapuah; members of the Rehal family from Silat al-Dahr; members of the Antar
family from Barqin; Dendis from Halhoul; Demieri from Hawara; Adaili from Beita;
Asus from Jenin; and members of the Ziadat family from Bene Naim. They and
others complained about the disappearance of jewelry and cash. In some cases a
Military Police or police investigation was begun.
Here, for example, is the testimony of Sayel Ziadat, a resident of Bene Naim,
which is also in the South Hebron Hills, about what happened in his home on
March 5, two weeks before the search in the Abu Arkub home, and the description
is strikingly similar:
"I woke up at about 2 A.M. to the sound of stones being thrown at the windows of
my house. I understood that these were soldiers. I thought that if I didn't open
up maybe they would leave. But 10 minutes later, after several windows had
already been shattered, I opened the door and saw five or six soldiers. They
ordered me to pick up my shirt and turn around, and then they asked me to take
all the members of the household outside. It was cold and I asked to bring
blankets for my elderly mother, but the soldiers wouldn't allow it.
"Several soldiers entered the house to conduct a search. I asked to accompany
them, but they refused. They handcuffed me behind my back and blindfolded me.
For about two hours they searched my house and the nearby home of my brother,
and at about 4:30 A.M. the officer came downstairs accompanied by two soldiers,
and they were laughing. I was suspicious about their laughter. They were holding
my cell phone and an album of family photos. They threw the album and my phone
on the floor. They took off the plastic handcuffs. I asked them: 'Why did you
handcuff me?' And they replied: 'It's none of your business.' I asked: 'Why did
you shatter the windows?' and they replied 'Fix the windows and we'll come to
break them for you again.'
"After they left, my wife rushed to gather all the household items that were
scattered on the floor and ran straight to the cupboard to look for the jewelry
box. The NIS 1,000 in cash and the jewelry of the mohar [wedding contract] that
had been there - had disappeared. That's all we had, all our savings. Even when
I was in prison and my wife had no source of income, we kept the gold from the
wedding." Ziadat also filed a complaint with the police.
We enter the bedroom of the Abu Arkubs in Wadi al-Shajneh. Heavy curtains, a
colorful wall-to-wall carpet, glass cases filled with vases and glass objects, a
bed and night tables painted in purple lacquer. In the yard the shattered
computer and television lie, reduced to junk. Lubna pulls out the treasure box,
which has pull-out drawers and mirrors on all sides. The cheap jewelry, which
glitters from afar, remained in the box. Only the gold, she says, is gone.
Source: Haaretz
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