No one knows why they came for him. They did not provide an explanation, either to his family or to us. Palestinians have their flats and homes raided by Israeli soldiers and BP across the West Bank, and are arrested, for various reasons. Sometimes they are indeed involved in acts of armed violence against Israeli soldiers or settlers or civilians*. Other times, the military acts on false evidence, sometimes submitted by collaborators who are holding a grudge, or evidence that is fabricated by the BP and Army themselves. Other times the reason is having thrown a rock. In some cases, people who organize demos- even peaceful ones- face this. Sometimes the people making the arrest are just trying to intimidate a certain family, or harassing a target by putting his relatives through this. Other times they are merely bored, and breaking into home of a Palestinian family breaks up the monotomy of patrolling an empty street. Other times it's a good training exercise.
* Because of my Christian faith I am opposed to all forms of violence, especially if it targets civilians- Palestinian or Israeli or anyone else.
Regardless of why they were searching for the man, what they did to his family was inexcusable.
After barging into their home, they forced all the people into one room, and denied them use of the toilet. They then went from room to room, flipping over beds and breaking furniture. They locked down the apartment, and forbade anyone to go outside. We saw a Palestinian man being questioned outside, with a gun pointed at him.
We arrived, and of course were denied entry to the flat. We tried to ask the Border Police what they were doing, and were threatened with arrest also. Oscar and I began filming, and at that point one of the BP hit me in the shoulderblade with his fist, and shoved Oscar. Fortunately, the third ISMer who was with us, was not touched by them.
Both of us are fine, they know we are not Palestinians and they wouldn't do much harm to us. The punch definitely hurt, but there was no bruise and I am OK. During the time we have been here, Palestinians have had their skulls fractured and limbs broken by these guys.
They yelled at us to move away and stop filming, so we did a little bit but kept documenting. Under Israeli law, like under the laws of other countries in the West, it is not illegal to film members of the police or military.
Eventually they left, not having found the person we are looking for. Their commander demanded to see our passports, and gruffly told us this is not our business. The soldiers then left.
We went in to see Ayman's family. There were many women in the house, along with small children. There was also a tee
nage boy and two men, as well as Ayman. Some of women looked scared, others had the weary look in their eyes that one would have after going through a terrible experience that unfortunately is not at all new and happens on a regular basis.
We took photos of the destroyed furniture. The women in the family did not want to be photographed. Due to culture and certain religious interpretations of Islam, this is often the case among many Palestinians. We hung out with them and talked a bit over some coffee that they prepared for us, then we went home.
The Border Police did not tell the family why they were searching for the man they were looking for. They gave no explanation why they terrorized and humiliated them by locking them in one room and denying them use of the toilet, and subsequently trashed their house.
They did however threaten them, saying they will come back.
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