Description

Christian Peacemakers, Hebron

On Thursday evening at 5:20, January 12, soldiers forcibly entered the Zaru family home near the Qitoun checkpoint, assaulting the mother and two sons. The invasion was a result of an earlier encounter between the soldiers and Anas, the older of the sons, 18 and developmentally disabled. In the morning,

Anas was coming home through the Qitoun checkpoint after refilling the gas for the household. When he tried to enter the door of the checkpoint corridor, the soldiers closed it. He knocked repeatedly on the door until the soldiers shouted at him, "Why are you knocking?"

"Because you will not open the door to let me through," he responded. When the door opened and he passed through, the soldiers knocked the gas can away, shoved him to the ground, and began beating him. When Anas tried to get up, he stumbled into one of the soldiers, who then claimed Anas attacked him. They took him into a side alley to continue the beating out of public sight.

A witness had called Anas' father, who arrived and took Anas home. The soldiers did nothing during the day, though Palestinians saw soldiers lingering outside the Zaru home throughout the afternoon. Only a few minutes after TIPH passed by on evening patrol, the soldiers stopped Anas in front of his house.

They said they had come for Noor, Anas' 16 year old brother, and would destroy the house if Anas did not retrieve Noor. Anas called to Noor, who appeared at the front door up the stairs. Before he could come down, the soldiers bound up the stairs and grabbed him, dragging him down the stairs. They handcuffed and blindfolded the two boys outside. As they beat Anas, they pointed a gun to his head and threatened to kill him if he opened his mouth about what was happening.

The mother demanded to know why her boys were being taken, but the soldiers shoved her and told her to "go home." They forced Noor against the wall outside the house and began beating him with the butt of their rifles. He suffered frequent blows to the head. They then arrested Noor and Anas, escorting them to the military base. During the march, Noor began vomiting and then fainted from a concussion.

Once at the military base, he fainted again.

The soldiers released Anas within the hour and transferred Noor to the police station, evidently in an attempt to press charges. Due to the immediate action of the locals and international observer teams, the Red Cross, HRC, Civil Administration (DCO), law offices, and other organizations soon got involved. Noor went home that night with a fractured skull, and additional injuries to the head, eye, hands, back, ribs, shoulders, and stomach. He was unable to sit when we arrived home because the pain was too overwhelming.

The soldiers have suffered no repercussions.