Palestinian villagers fighting the erection of Israel’s security fence have accused IDF soldiers of harassment and of seeking revenge for a recently blinded comrade.
Most recently, Muataz Awad, a 16-year-old Palestinian from the village of Budrus, said that two or three soldiers broke into his family home Wednesday night.
“We heard loud banging at the door. The knocking almost broke the door. My father got up and asked who is it? The soldiers shouted ‘Soldiers, open up quick.’“
When the door was opened, the soldiers entered and asked for Muataz. According to the youth, an Arabic-speaking soldier yanked him outside and kicked him and beat him with a baton.
Then the soldier, called “Khaled” by his comrades, demanded that the Palestinian lick his boot.
“I felt like the earth would swallow me up and make me disappear. The feeling was indescribable,” Muataz Awad said.
“Khaled” told Awad to speak to him only in Hebrew, but the youth said he didn’t know the language – a statement that only earned him more punishment.
Awad said that the unit commander, who had encountered Awad earlier in the day, egged his soldier on. The youth said that he plans to submit a complaint to the District Coordination Office in Ramallah.
Military sources said that there was no violence.
'The last protest of Bila'in'
In nearby Bila’in, villagers said that soldiers routinely break into homes, photograph residents and write down ID numbers, and that the situation has gotten worse ever since a soldier was blinded in an anti-fence protest.
On Wednesday, villagers brought their own handicapped to a demonstration and were met with tear gas.
Those arrested by Israeli pollice said that officers told them that this “would be the last demonstration in Bila’in.”
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