Israel/Palestine News

 

On Friday 28 March 2014, Shadi Sidr -- a volunteer with B'Tselem's
camera project in Hebron -- was in the street outside his home with his
brother and a neighbor. Soldiers who had gone up to the roof of the
house filmed the three Palestinians and aimed their weapons at them.
Sidr entered the house to protest these actions. Sidr went back outside
after he received an apology from one of the soldiers. Yet the soldiers
did not stop filming, and Sidr went back into the building. This time he
argued at length with the soldiers and filmed the exchange: Sidr
demanded that the soldiers explain their presence in his home; the
soldiers said Sidr was in their way and therefore must leave the
premises. Not only did the soldiers not explain their presence, they
even tried to apprehend Sidr's brother and his neighbor, both of whom
were completely uninvolved bystanders. When Sidr resisted arrest the
soldiers knocked his camera down and pepper-sprayed his face. Sidr's
mother, who was inside the house at the time, sustained a reaction to
the pepper-spray and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.

Throughout
the West Bank soldiers are allowed virtually unrestricted access to
Palestinian homes, entering without having to justify their actions to
the occupants. This state of affairs is particularly common and invasive
in Hebron's H2 area, with its constant Israeli military presence. In
this case, in addition to violating the sense of security of the home's
occupants, violating their privacy, property and normal routine, the
soldiers' response to Sidr's requests to explain their presence in his
home is extremely disturbing. The soldiers clearly felt that they are
not bound to provide any explanation whatsoever to the homeowner. Their
subsequent conduct seems to indicate that they detained the three men
for hours on end solely for punitive purposes, as punishment for Sidr's
persistence in trying to obtain an explanation for their presence on the
roof of his home.