Between
July 1st and July 3rd, 2002, I was abducted and held captive by
the Israeli Defense Force along with one American man, one British
man and two Palestinian men. Throughout the duration of our detention
we were denied access to telephone usage, refused explanation
as to the reason for our detention and kept in inhumane conditions
under armed guard. We were threatened on several occasions that
we would be shot if we attempted to leave the area.
Background.
At about 1:00 PM on July 1st, 2002, I left Jerusalem in a taxi
for Nablus in the West Bank. I was in the company of Brian Dominick,
an American paramedic, and Peter Blacker, a British volunteer
medical worker. We were all intending to enter Nablus to help
with the delivery of essential medical services and serve as human
rights observers and activists as part of the International Solidarity
Movement’s Freedom Summer Campaign, supporting the non-violent
resistance of the Palestinian people to the Israeli occupation
of the West Bank and Gaza.
On July
1st, Nablus was under strict 24-hour curfew, and on the recommendation
of friends in Nablus, our taxi took us along the back road through
the village of Borin in the direction of Tell village. Our taxi
driver drove until we encountered several large ditches (8-10
feet long, 4-5 feet deep and as wide as the entire dirt road)
dug by Israeli Defense Force (IDF) bulldozers as part of operations
that have sealed off all exit and entry points to Nablus and the
surrounding villages for motorized transport (a common practice
in all major cities in the West Bank). We proceeded from that
point on foot and were soon joined by two Palestinian men, Akhmed
and Mejdi, headed along the same route.
We walked
about five (5) kilometers around the twists and turns of the dirt
road. During this time, I telephoned my mother and Mejdi telephoned
his wife (both in Nablus) to inform them of our status and that
we expected to arrive shortly. At around 3:30 PM, while we were
taking a short rest in the shade offered by a large rock at the
side of the road, an army jeep coming from the direction of Nablus
approached and stopped in front of us. Mejdi spoke briefly with
the soldier in the passenger seat of the jeep in Hebrew. The soldier,
without requesting any identification, instructed us to continue
on to Nablus.
We continued
along the same road for approximately another 200 meters, rounding
the last bend in the road before descending into Nablus and were
stopped by the voice of an Israeli sniper positioned in the third
story window of the first building on our left (at this point
we were standing in the entry/exit intersection above the Nablus
neighborhood of 'Matfiya' – not sure of spelling). The soldier,
holding an M-16 pointed down to the road in front of us, instructed
us to stop (which we did), and called an armored personnel carrier
(APC), which arrived quickly. The APC appeared from the road to
our left and two soldiers emerged, a lieutenant (short, blond
hair, light skin, about 20 yrs. old, little spoken English) and
a private (medium height, olive skin, about 18 yrs. old, no spoken
English) with M-16s at shoulder level pointed at us.
We were
instructed to line up on the side of the road and the lieutenant
called each of us over one at a time, examining our passports
and searching our bags, while the private guarded the rest of
the group. During my turn, the lieutenant inquired as to my reason
for coming to Nablus. I responded stating my intention to continue
helping the ambulance services deliver necessary medicines and
services. The lieutenant kept our passports and they were not
returned to us for the next 48 hours.
After
this initial examination, the lieutenant called the two Palestinian
men over one by one, berated them in a loud angry tone, and instructed
them to continue down the road into Nablus, which they did. I
was then called over by the lieutenant and was told that we (Peter,
Brian, and me) needed to come with the soldiers to “answer
a few questions”. At this point, the lieutenant motioned
for Brian and Peter to join me next to the APC, and produced plastic
handcuffs (commonly used by IDF soldiers and stored in the handles
of M-16 rifles). We were handcuffed behind our backs, and instructed
to enter the rear door of the APC. When asked why we were being
detained and handcuffed, the lieutenant gestured up the hill and
said, “everything will be okay”. Being stopped by
soldiers is very common in the West Bank. As we had not expected
to be handcuffed without justification or explanation, we had
not telephoned anyone to explain our whereabouts or our abduction.
Once handcuffed we were unable to contact anyone for obvious reasons.
Abduction.
At approximately 4:00 PM, we were transported in the APC to one
of the buildings occupied by IDF soldiers in the most recent incursion
which overlooks Nablus from the southern hill above Matfiya. We
were placed, still handcuffed behind the back, in a stairway leading
down from the ground and guarded by a soldier with an M-16 in
his lap. We were instructed to sit and wait. The soldiers refused
to answer all questions regarding the reason for our abduction
and treatment as well as what was going to happen.
We waited
in this position for about an hour, observing soldiers unload
food and beverage supplies from an APC outside, and we could distinctly
hear Palestinian children speaking in Arabic from behind the closed
door at the bottom of the stairs. We assumed that these were the
children who lived in the building, as it is IDF common practice
to lock residents in buildings that have been occupied by soldiers,
presumably as human shields preventing any attack. After an hour
in this position, with no answer regarding what we were being
held for or what was going to happen next, a different lieutenant
(tall, dark hair, about 20 yrs. old, very good spoken English)
approached us and inquired where we were from. After hearing that
we were American and British, he cut off our handcuffs, refused
to answer any of our questions and instructed us not to use our
telephones or cameras.
After
another 30 minutes, we were put back in the APC with our bags
and driven to another occupied building. This one was still under
construction, with power lines strung from a neighboring house,
also occupied by soldiers with residents kept captive on the premises.
We were led to a senior officer (medium height, dark olive skin,
oval face, slightly chipped front tooth, about 35 yrs. old). While
this officer refused to give us his name upon request, he was
later referred to by younger soldiers as the “big commander
of Nablus”. Sitting handcuffed on the steps in front of
the senior officer and three other soldiers were Mejdi and Akhmed,
who we had last seen walking down the road into Nablus. Mejdi
informed us that they had been detained and abducted by a patrol
of soldiers about 100 meters into Nablus.
The senior
officer examined our passports, handed to him by the first lieutenant,
and asked us if we were press reporters. We responded that we
were not, and informed him of our intention in Nablus (described
earlier). He asked us three or four times what we were intending
to do in Nablus, to which we responded repeatedly that we intended
to assist the ambulance services in the delivery of medical services
and supplies. Brian had been doing this kind of work with the
Red Crescent for six weeks in Ramallah, and Peter and I had been
doing so with the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees
in Nablus the previous week. The senior officer then took our
mobile phones and all film from our cameras and bags (all of which
was blank) and placed them in a plastic bag along with our passports.
Refusal to Explain Detention by Senior Officer. The senior officer
told us that we would have to wait there for the police to come
and get us. We inquired as to what we were being detained for,
to which the officer responded that we had “broken the law”.
When we inquired as to which law we had broken, the officer responded
that we had “broken a military order”. When we inquired
as to what military order we had broken, the officer responded
that we had entered a closed military area. When we informed the
officer that we had followed the orders of soldiers in a jeep
on the road approaching Nablus, and that we had in fact not entered
Nablus at all, the officer responded that we had “wanted
to enter a closed military area”. Our requests for documentation
as to what military area we had entered were refused. At no point
were we shown any proof that the area we had been walking in,
or any other area was a closed military area. The senior officer
then told us that we would have to spend the night at this location
and the police would come for us in the morning. Our requests
to him for a phone call were refused.
We were
led to an outdoor patio area, six paces by six paces, and told
that we would spend the night there. The patio area led to a two-sided
door of metal bars locked from the inside by a wooden beam rigged
up with steel reebar. A soldier armed with an M-16 rifle guarded
us from this position at all times. We were instructed not to
leave the patio area for any reason. After inquiring what would
happen if we left the patio area, we were told that we would be
shot. We were held captive in this area until approximately 2:30
PM on July 3rd.
Refusal
to Allow Telephone Usage. We requested the use of a telephone
to call our families, consulates, friends and lawyers at regular
intervals throughout the duration of our illegal detention and
were refused. The soldiers said that they had orders not to permit
the use of a telephone. Beginning the morning after our abduction,
I began to request (in addition to requests for telephone usage)
that one of the soldiers call my mother and Mejdi’s wife
to inform them of our status and relative safety. All these requests
were refused. At one point I wrote my mother’s mobile phone
number on a strip of paper and requested that any of the soldiers
call her to let her know that I was alive. These requests were
also refused repeatedly.
Repeated
Refusal to Explain Detention by Soldiers. We inquired regularly
as to the reason for our abduction and status as captives, and
were told only that we had violated some military order. None
of the soldiers present had any knowledge of our initial abduction
and therefore responded that they had orders to hold us and shoot
us if we tried to leave. When we informed soldiers of the illegality
of this detention, they agreed that it was in fact probably illegal,
but that the military could do “anything it wants.”
Our requests for a senior officer to explain the reason for our
detention were denied or responded to with an excuse regarding
why a senior officer never appeared (e.g. the senior officers
were in a meeting, a commander’s jeep broke down, the senior
officers had promised they would come shortly).
After
the initial conversation with the older senior officer, we were
never permitted to speak to anyone above the rank of lieutenant,
except for a five second conversation with a captain at about
1 PM on the second day of our abduction who promised us that we
would be attended to within two hours. This did not happen. The
officers present were: Amos Yamin, sergeant (Sgt. Yasmin’s
name and rank were written from inscriptions on his uniform, he
refused to give us his serial number but was present at the location
for almost the entirety of our detention), 1 unnamed lieutenant
who refused to give us his name, rank and serial number (short,
about 20 yrs. old, blond hair, blue eyes); and Guy Aaaronsohn,
platoon leader, number 7030779 (Lt. Aaronsohn gave us his name
rank and serial number on request but was only present for a total
of about 30 minutes on July 3rd).
Forced
Illegal Detention in Inhumane Conditions. We were forced to remain
outside on the patio for the entirety of our illegal detention,
baking under the sun during the day and freezing in the cold wind
at night. We were occasionally allowed to sit under the small
roof by the guarded door (which provided the only shade during
the day) depending on which soldier was on guard. This space only
provided shade for 2 people at a time. On one occasion a soldier
chambered a round into his M-16 rifle and shoved it through the
bars at my chest in a threatening manner, because I was too close
to the gate. On the second day, after more than 24 hours of requests
for telephone usage and explanation of the reason of our illegal
detention, I picked up my bag and informed the soldiers that I
was leaving. I walked around the corner of the building (approximately
20 feet) at which point I was surrounded by 5 soldiers pointing
M-16 rifles and threatening to shoot me if I did not return to
the patio. I returned to the patio.
We were
not allowed access to toilet facilities. We were, on request allowed
to relieve ourselves on the other side of the wall of our patio
location. No inquiries were made as to our need for medical aid.
We were given one meal a day, consisting of several cans of IDF
supplies (corn and beans) and shortbread. We were given limited
quantities of water after exhausting the supplies from our bags.
Requests for cigarettes were also denied.
Additional
Violations Witnessed During Illegal Detention. While illegally
detained in this patio location we witnessed several incidences
worth mention:
1. During
the evening of July 1st, the entirety of July 2nd and the morning
and early afternoon of July 3rd, we watched people on foot, in
ambulances, and on donkeys enter Nablus via the same intersection
that we had been originally abducted from, proving that either:
1) Nablus was not a “closed military zone” and we
had attempted to do nothing illegal; or 2) detention is random
and arbitrary. We pointed these occurrences out to the soldiers
present each time and they shook their heads and said that we
“did not understand the situation”. The ever-changing
status of “military orders” and random and arbitrary
nature of detention is consistent with many acts I witnessed during
my stay in the West Bank.
2. From
our patio position we witnessed on multiple occasions, IDF soldiers
firing at or near ambulances and civilians attempting to enter
or leave Nablus by the above-mentioned intersection. This always
happened initially at a distance of more than 40 feet, making
it unlikely that any verbal communication was exchanged before
firing commenced. This unnecessary use of force on unarmed civilians
and emergency vehicles is consistent with other acts I witnessed
by IDF soldiers on a regular basis during my stay in the West
Bank.
3. On
one occasion, an Israeli ambulance (a white van marked only with
a red star of David inside a red circle) arrived at the other
occupied building on the hill below our position. Six armed IDF
soldiers exited the rear of the ambulance, stopping before entering
the house to unchamber bullets from their M-16 rifles (indicating
that they had been loaded and chambered while in the ambulance).
To my knowledge, it is a violation of several international agreements
to use ambulances to transport military troops.
At about
2:30 PM on July 3rd, we were handcuffed and blindfolded and led
into an APC. The blindfolds were removed after entering the APC.
We were then driven down to the IDF Hwara base, and sat in the
sun for about a half an hour before our handcuffs were cut off.
Shortly after this, Sergeant Amos Yamin instructed us to follow
him to the entry gate of the base where he handed us our passports
and mobile phones in a plastic bag. Peter’s 11 blank DVD
tapes were not returned, estimated at approximately $100US. No
explanation was given for our release, just as no explanation
was ever given for our detention. We walked free from Hwara base
at approximately 4:00 PM on July 3rd, 48 hours after our initial
abduction.
Throughout the entirety of the illegal abduction and detention
mentioned above, I was in the company of Brian, Peter, Mejdi and
Akhmed. Huwaida Arraf of the International Solidarity Movement
has taken testimony from both Brian Dominick and Peter Blacker,
and can be contacted at 052-642-709 for further information and/or
to corroborate this testimony.
