CPTnet
27 April 2006

AT-TUWANI: Testimony of 25 March settler attack in Susiya

On Saturday 25 March 2006, at 11:30 p.m., about ten Israeli settlers wearing
masks attacked Palestinians sleeping inside their tents in the village of
Susiya.

The Palestinian village of Susiya lies between the Israeli settlement of
Susya and an Israeli military base. The village has some fifty residents in
tents scattered over several hills, and settler attacks on the villagers
are frequent.

CPTers Allen Johnson and Lorne Friesen visited Susiya on 7 April with a
translator to take testimonies from the men whom settlers had attacked.

Abed Alrahman Shenaran was sleeping in his tent with his wife and three
young children. He awoke when the settlers beat him on the head with a
stick. He lost consciousness and then regained it when the settlers dragged
him outside the tent; they continued to hit him with sticks.

Abed Alrahman's brother, Azziz, was sleeping with his family in a nearby
tent. He woke when he heard his brother's wife and children screaming. As
he approached his brother's tent, a settler came towards him and hit him
with a sword, cutting him on the elbow. When the settlers left shortly
afterwards, he found his brother lying on the ground.

None of the settlers spoke to the Palestinians. Other settlers waited at
distance during the attack, which lasted about ten to fifteen minutes. Then
the settlers crossed a valley to return to the Susya settlement, talking in
Hebrew as they went.

The brothers' father was sleeping further away in a tent, and was unaware of
what had happened until after the settlers had left. He immediately called
the Israeli police and another Palestinian man in Susiya, who called the
Israeli army.

Although an Israeli military base is a five minute drive on the bypass road
that goes right past the village, the military took two hours to arrive.
While the family waited for the army, they placed cloths on the brothers'
wounds and wrapped them in keffiyyas (head scarves worn by some Palestinian
men.) The soldiers gave the injured men medicine and drove them on bypass
road 317 to the Palestinian village of Zif where a Palestinian ambulance
transported the men to Alia hospital in Hebron.

The father said to Johnson and Friesen, "Why did the army not come until two
hours later? It was difficult for us because they were bleeding a lot."

Abed Alrahman was in the hospital for four days and Azziz for three days.
The families paid for all of the medical expenses. Both brothers still have
pain from their injuries and have difficulty working. Abed Alrahman
continues to have dizzy spells.

The Israeli police came to the area one to one-and-a half hours after the
attack, but remained on the nearby paved bypass road and did not enter the
village. They claimed that they drove away because they could not find
where the problem was. After their release from the hospital, the brothers
went to the Kiryat Arba police station to file complaints.