Muhammad a-Rajbi, customer in al-Wafaa barbershop, aged 22
I live with my family near the Tareq Ibn Ziyad school, which is about 500 meters from the Tomb of the Patriarchs. I work at my father's stone factory, which is located in the industrial area of Hebron.
On Tuesday, 3 December, two days before 'Eid el-Fitr, I went to the al-Wafaa barbershop, in the Jabel Johar area, in order to have my hair cut. I got there at about 5:00 P.M and waited for my turn. There were a few customers and two of them were sitting on the two barber chairs, getting their hair cut. While I was waiting, some customers left the barbershop, and I stayed with Bassem Maswadeh, the owner of the shop, Wa'il Abu Rumeileh, who works for Bassem, Bilal a-Rajbi, and Shaher al-'Ajaluni.
A little after 6:00 P.M., I heard people in the street yelling, 'Army, army.' Bassem and Wa'il went outside to see what was going on, and immediately came back inside. They closed the iron door. The two other customers and I hid behind a small closet, behind which is the bathroom. I heard loud banging on the barbershop's iron door and the calls of the soldiers in Arabic: 'Open up, open up.' The banging continued for fifteen to twenty minutes, and then from outside I heard the voices of Bilal Abu Queidar and Abu Shadi (Nawaf al-'Ajaluni), whom I knew. Both of them asked us to open the door and told us not to be afraid. Bassem asked us if he should open and we said yes. When he opened the door, we came out from behind the closet. One of the soldiers stepped in. He strutted in and was smiling. He said in Hebrew, 'Nice, nice.' Three other soldiers came in after him and demanded our IDs. They also ordered us to take off our jackets and searched us. They hit us during the search. I received a blow to the stomach.
After the search, the soldiers ordered us to sit on the couch. I sat and began reciting verses from the Koran so that we would be protected from whatever might happen to us. One of the soldiers asked who owned the barbershop. Other soldiers demanded that Shaher get up and go outside. When Bassem told the soldier that he was the owner of the barbershop, the soldier demanded that he sit in the barber's chair. I heard Shaher screaming. I also heard banging behind the closed door. I figured the soldiers were hitting Shaher.
The soldier took an electric razor and put it to Bassem's head. Bassem asked him what he was doing and the soldier told him to shut up. I heard Bassem telling the soldiers to change the comb on the machine, but the soldier told him to shut up and slapped him on the face.
The soldier began to cut Bassem's hair so that it looked funny. While the soldier was cutting his hair, Bilal was taken outside and I could hear him scream and say to the soldiers that he was sick. After the soldier finished cutting Bassem's hair, the soldiers took him outside. Then the soldier who cut Bassem's hair demanded that Wa'il get in the chair, and started cutting his hair with the same machine. It seemed that the soldier was hurting Wa'il, and I heard Wa'il say to him, 'Gently, gently.' The soldier slapped him. When the soldier finished cutting Wa'il's hair in a funny way, he took a pair of scissors and went outside. He came back inside after about two minutes.
Wa'il and I stayed inside the barbershop with the soldier, who kept going in and out. While we were there, I heard shooting. Sometimes it was staccato and sometimes it was continuous. I couldn't see who was shooting. The soldiers ordered Wa'il to go outside. He came back a few seconds later. Then the soldier started provoking us. He patted his chest and said: 'Now I'm going to tell you my name.' He searched the closet. He took out a bottle of shampoo, opened it, and smelled it. He approached Wa'il and ordered him to open his mouth, but Wa'il refused. The soldier told him to open his mouth a few times. He sat Wa'il down in the chair and tried to open his mouth with his fingers, but didn't succeed. Suddenly, I saw Wa'il fall on the floor. He started screaming and the soldier told him to shut up. Wa'il continued to scream and then another soldier came inside. He seemed to be the commander. He dragged Wa'il to the entrance of the barbershop and told me to splash some water on Wa'il's face because he was bleeding. The commander left and I saw a number of civilians come into the barbershop. Some of them picked Wa'il up and took him to the home of neighbors.
Afterwards, we went to the Muhammad 'Ali al-Muhtasseb hospital, which is about 500 meters from the barbershop. Wa'il received medical treatment there and I went back with him, Bassem, and others. I got home at around 8:00 P.M., about an hour later. The next day, I went to the barbershop and got my ID back. I was told that someone found the IDs in a pile of dirt.
Muhammad Jibril Jamil a-Rajbi is 22 years old . He is single and works as a laborer. The testimony was taken by Musa Abu Hashhash at Muhammad A-Rajbi's work place, in the Hebron Industrial Area, on 26 December 2002