Khaled Kamil, municipal employee in Jenin, aged 39
On Saturday, 9 November 2002, at around 4:00 A.M., my wife, Suha, woke me up. She said the army was in the alley. I got out of bed and asked her to prepare tea and the meal, as usual. I kept silent and listened. I wanted to know if the army was really there. I heard people speaking Hebrew in low voices. I also heard footsteps. Five minutes later, there was a large explosion outside. Some of the shrapnel got into the house through the kitchen window. The teapot and the tray of food fell to the ground. I started shouting: "kids! kids!" and turned on the light. The soldiers began banging on the door and yelling for me to open up. They were screaming and swearing. I opened the door and saw more than twenty soldiers. About fifteen of them came into the house quickly. They were yelling and pointing their guns at us. They shouted: "get inside, get inside the house!" They got us into the bedroom. My son was sleeping on the floor. I took him quickly and gave him to his mother.
The soldiers spread out and searched the house. They were wild. They searched everything, the closets, the bed. The search in the bedroom lasted about five minutes. At he same time, other soldiers were searching the kitchen, guestroom and bathroom. When the search ended, the soldiers demanded the children and I stay inside. Some of them left the house and some stayed inside. A minute or two later, the commander and a few of the soldiers came back and demanded I go with them. They took me outside and led me to the middle of the alley that leads to the house. The commander asked me if I knew why they were there. I said I didn't. He asked again and I said I didn't know. A little later, he asked about the man who was living in the house opposite mine. I said I knew the house had been rented to a man and his wife. He told me to describe the man and the woman and I said they were like everyone else. The commander said: "You know who lives here. You're a liar. You know who lives here. Do you want your house destroyed?"
At around 4:30 A.M. after a fifteen minute long argument, the commander grabbed my by the arm and another soldier pushed me. They forced me to go into the neighbor's house. One of the soldiers said: "sit here." He ordered me to turn my face toward the wall. The commander came back and said: "You say a man and his wife live here. I see nothing but a computer. The house is empty." He asked me about the people who lived there again. He asked what the woman looked like, whether she was tall or short and what clothes she wears. I told him she dresses like my wife and is about the same height. He said angrily: "you're a liar" and asked about her height again. I said she was a little taller than I was. The commander swore at me, threatened to destroy my home and said: "Do you want to have your house destroyed? Do you want to live in a tent? We'll demolish your house."
The commander took out a newspaper photo. He asked: "Who's the man in the picture?" I said I didn't know. The man in he picture had a beard. I said I had never seen that man before. The commander and the soldiers threatened me again. They swore at me the whole time. The commander then demanded I sit in the corner of a room in the neighbor's house. There were seven or eight soldiers in the room. They were searching it and looking through papers. From time to time, they threatened they would arrest me and destroy my home.
Later on, the commander arrived and pointed at a wall, part of which was covered in ceramic tiles. There was a sink there too. He asked what it was and I said it was a sink. The soldiers took me out of the house and I heard an explosion. They took me back inside and I found out that the wall was actually a door that led to a dark alcove. The commander who was standing looking at the alcove asked me what it was. I said I didn't know. A soldier grabbed my arm and brought me closer to the wall so that I could see what was behind it. The commander asked what I saw. I said I could see some mattresses and bed sheets. The soldiers beat me and the commander said I was lying. He said again: "Do you want to have your house destroyed?" The commander pulled me back and said: "We want you to go inside, call Iyad and tell him that he's better off coming out, because if he doesn't, we'll destroy his house and the houses nearby." I walked two or three meters past the wall and asked the commander what to say and who to call. I spoke out loud deliberately, because I wanted whoever was in the alcove not to shoot me. I kept walking in and stood at the opening of the alcove. It was dark and I couldn't see inside. One of the soldiers was standing by the ruined wall pointing his gun at me. I called Iyad. I asked him to come out and said: "Iyad, they are going to destroy your house. Turn yourself in." I couldn't see anyone and no one answered. I told the soldier no one was answering. He told me to keep calling Iyad.
I then heard the voice of a woman behind me saying: "Iyad come out. Turn yourself in." She was calling him and crying. The soldiers ordered me and the woman to keep calling Iyad and started shouting and swearing. I heard them telling her to call her husband. They also told her to take off her head cover and her dress. She kept crying and yelled louder: "Iyad come out, otherwise they'll hurt me. Don't let them do anything to me. Don't let them kill you." The woman called her husband as I was standing at the opening of the alcove. I went back. When the commander saw me, he demanded I approach. He took me to the room where I had sat before. The woman was there. She was wearing green pants and a green shirt. She didn't have a dress on and her head wasn't covered. The commander asked her about weapons and explosives. She said there were none. As far as I could tell, he was asking her about a gun and hand grenades. Later, one of the soldiers came and handcuffed me. The commander and I argued. He said I had seen what was inside the alcove and I said I hadn't. He said: "You saw Iyad, but he pointed his gun at you. You're lying."
Three soldiers dragged me outside Iyad's house. They took me to another neighbor's house, Abu Samir a-Suqqi. About a minute later, the soldiers brought the woman there too. When I went into Abu Samir a-Suqqi's house, which is near Iyad's, I saw another neighbor, Muhamad a-Sukya. He was sitting on the floor. His hands were tied and his eyes were covered. One of the soldiers covered my eyes and told me to sit on the floor. They made Iyad's wife sit next to me. I recognized her by her voice and her crying. It was about 5:00 A.M.
When I was in Abu Samir's house, I could hear bulldozers, explosions, and vehicles and soldiers moving about in the neighborhood. Soldiers stayed with us in Abu Samir a-Suqqi's house. Some of hem told me: "We're going to destroy your house. See, the bulldozers are destroying your house. We'll put you in jail for fifteen years." I could also hear intense gunfire. A soldier came into the house and told Iyad's wife that her husband had been killed. She started screaming and crying. One of the soldiers demanded she go see her husband. He took her outside. She came back two minutes later, crying and yelling. When she came in, one of the soldiers asked her if she had seen her husband. She said she hadn't and she didn't want to.
Khaled Ibrahim Muhammad Kamil, age 39, is married and the father of three. He is municipality employee and a resident of the a-Sibat neighborhood, Jenin, The West Bank. The testimony was taken by 'Atef Abu a-Rob at the witness's home and at the home of Iyad Sawalha.