Saturday, May 4th 2002

Yahabibi, the Israeli soldiers stormed our houses after midnight.

We were sleeping. Suddenly, Juliana and I were awakened by the intercom ringing in our flat. It was the neighbors up-stairs saying that they soldiers in their flat. The soldiers asked them to tell me that I should bring my ID Card and come up to meet them.

So I made my way up very quickly. I managed to take my sandals and ID and rushed outside, for I knew that any delay might be interpreted as an attempt to flee. There, next to my apartment door, some soldiers were waiting for me to come out. When I did, they pointed their guns in my direction and asked me if I know English. I answered yes though I didn't know the purpose behind that question.

They started with some questions like who is living in this house and upstairs as well. They asked routine questions. But why did they choose midnight to get the answers?

Then they asked me to take them around inside my flat. They wanted to make sure how many people were living in each flat, in my flat as well. I assured them that my wife and 2 children were the only ones living here beside myself.

Fortunately, Natalie and Ramez, our two children, were asleep when the soldiers invaded their bedroom to take a look at them. They only saw my wife sitting in bed beside them. After finishing the quick tour of my flat, they told me to take them down to the basement. I told them they were actually there, that there was no lower floor than this one.

When I showed them our bedroom, I explained to them that my wife and I had stopped sleeping in this room. The captain asked, “Why?” “Because we need to sleep beside the kids who get afraid from your shooting.” I replied.

Then they asked me to accompany them. It was about 1 a.m. They took me up towards the upper floors of our building. The soldiers were divided. Some were in the garden, others at my parents flat, others were in my flat, and still others waited at the tanks in the street.

I was asked to sit outside on the upper stairs to wait until all of them had finished their job of searching. It was windy and I started to shiver. After about 30 minutes, they asked me to accompany them through the neighborhood.

Of course, at this moment nobody in the family knew that I was with the soldiers. They thought that I was in my flat, except, of course, for my wife who was waiting for me to come back. When she waited for about 30 minutes, she rang the upper flat and spoke to my mother. She tried to comfort my wife by saying, "Don't be afraid. The soldiers must have taken him somewhere." She told her that the soldiers left our house long ago and that she thought that I had returned to our flat. So our parents kept waiting in the veranda for me to come back. They guessed that I had been asked to accompany the soldiers in the neighborhood.

First, we went to Dar Um Fahmi. The soldiers asked me who lived there. I told them that she is an old woman, etc… But, they kept on asking, "Is it true that just an old woman lives here? Who else might be inside?” I insisted I didn't know any more information.

After we reached the entrance, they told me to ring the bell. There was no answer. They asked me if I know another entrance. I took them to the main one. No answer there as well. So the captain asked his soldiers in Hebrew to bring the big hammer from the tank. They broke the gate after about 30 minutes of hard work, beating it with their big hammer and boots.

During that time, I was still shivering in my pajamas, not knowing what might happen if these intruders faced any sort of resistance in these particular moments. Yes, what might happen to me? So I spoke to one of these soldiers, asking him to allow me to get back home to my wife and children. Unfortunately, it didn't work. They continued forcefully breaking door as if the safety of their government or nation depended on uncovering the secrets of that building.

The soldier looked at me in the eye and waved his hand at me to wait. There were three soldiers standing close to the door, each taking his turn in using this big hammer. The other nine soldiers were pointing their guns at the gate, expecting someone from inside to show up suddenly and that they might need to shoot at him.

The captain looked at his tired reserve soldiers with mercy. It seems that they had to break many gates and doors before reaching this one. Whenever they hit, you could hear the sound of the big hammer falling, exploding into the calm of the neighborhood.
It was the first time in my life to witness such vandalism.

For sure, I thought to myself, the neighbors opposite are watching us. They definitely see me standing with them, as if I'm a collaborator or a secret agent. I imagine it even looked as if I was the real captain who was ordering the assault.

After breaking in, I was told to enter each dark room in front of the soldiers. They then followed me into the rooms. They preferred to use their own torches rather than the lights in the house, evidently in fear that the switches might be booby-trapped. When we finished the round in this big house. They took me to Um Mustafa's house and then to Um Salah Jubran as well. Finally, they found Naji, the brother of Dr. Mohammed, who knows some English. They told me now you can go home.

It was very late. Juliana was boiling, not knowing what has happened. When I reached my flat, I found Juliana waiting and the children fortunately still asleep.
We, however, were unable to go back to sleep. We couldn’t turn off our thinking, as if our brains were on alert. We talked about what has happened in each flat.

The funny part was in my parents’ house. The soldiers went there from the inside stairwell. My mother had just left the bathroom, and was shocked to see soldiers coming down the stairs towards her as she entered the sitting room. Somebody told her, "These are just soldiers don't be afraid. Just bring the ID's." Then she went to my father who was asleep. Without telling him the reason, she asked for the IDs. He got up and gave them to her without any word. She told him to follow her to the sitting room. There the soldiers asked them some questions.

My old father woke up suddenly from his sleep and had to respond to such silly questions as whether we have had relatives in Nablus by explaining that we are Christians and they are Muslims. My youngest brother was asleep and they didn't want to disturb him. They just checked his ID.

In the morning we all woke up late, remembering what had happened. Was it a nightmare? Now, a funny nightmare, I would say. We had a headache from last night. The good thing is that our children didn't see these soldiers in their home at night.

We hope they've done their job now. It was the first time in the history of our house to be raided by soldiers. We hope they will not return back.

Sami

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