Three children from the Qafishah family, between the ages of 10 and 13, were playing outside their home in central Hebron making paper kites. While this may seem a routine sight, the Qafishahs’ lives are anything but routine. Their home is adjacent to the a-Za’tari family’s home, which settlers took over in 2018, and the Israeli military erected the al-Mahkama (a-Sahla) checkpoint opposite it.
It was Saturday evening, 23 May 2020, around 6:00 P.M. Several children from the settlement, about the same age as the Qafishah children, showed up. They started taunting and spitting at the latter, who responded in kind. Then backup arrived in the form of two older teenagers from the settlement (14 to 16 years old). They hit the Qafishah children and pepper-sprayed them. The Qafishahs responded by throwing chairs at the teens, in order to keep them away, which the settlers threw back at them.
At that point, several Border Police officers who were at the al-Mahkama checkpoint intervened and moved the settlers away. The Qafishah children, who were hurt by the pepper spray, were treated by their parents.
Like other Palestinians forced to live next to settlers who have taken over property in Hebron, the Qafishahs suffer repeated provocations and attacks by settlers. This time, the parents decided not to file a complaint with the police, as their past complaints were not addressed.
On 18 May 2020, a father and his 12-year-old son were attacked in the Tel Rumeidah neighborhood of Hebron by children from the settlement established there.