Btselem /26 May 2024.  

On Saturday, 28 October 2023, at around 1:30 P.M. I took a CNN team to the place where my brother Bilal Salah, 39, was killed by a settler earlier that day, while we were picking olives. 

We reached a point on Route 60 overlooking our olive grove, which lies about 50 meters away in the open area of a-Sawiyah. When we got there, we found Israeli police and Border Police jeeps, a Savana van, and a small white jeep that I think belonged to the Israeli Civil Administration.  

When a detainee in the cell next to ours asked to swap his yogurt because the expiration date had passed, they punished all the inmates in the cell: they set dogs on them, beat them with clubs, dragged them to the bathroom and beat them up

The police officers detained me and searched me. One of them asked if I'd been at the scene at the time of the incident. I said I had and explained that my brother, our children, and I were harvesting our olives with other people from a-Sawiyah when four settlers arrived. One was carrying a handgun and another a rifle. He asked if we’d thrown stones at the settlers and I said no, that it was the settlers who started shouting at us to leave, claiming that the grove was theirs – that it belonged to the settlement of Rehelim. I told him the land is ours going back generations, and that as far back as I can remember, I used to come here with my father – long before they established Rehelim 500 meters away from our plot.

The officers tied my hands behind my back and sat me on the ground. An intelligence officer who was there – I think he was called Ramzi – interrogated me. He asked me again about stone-throwing and I told him we didn’t do anything, and that the settler opened fire when my brother refused to leave our property. That’s all.

The interrogator said, “You're coming with us.” They put me in a white jeep and took me to the police station in the settlement of Ariel. He showed me a picture of my brother’s funeral on his computer and told me there were Hamas flags there. I told him I had no idea what was there and that our whole town attended the funeral. My brother was killed right in front of me, and that’s all I cared about. I don’t belong to any political faction, plus there were Fatah flags there, too.

The interrogation lasted half an hour. Then they took me to Ofer Prison. When I got there, I was strip-searched. They gave me a prison uniform and put me in a room with Fatah detainees. There were about 10 of us. Six slept on the floor and the others on beds. Each inmate had one blanket. It was cold, but there was no point in asking for more blankets because we knew they wouldn’t give us any. There weren’t even any pillows. It was very difficult to sleep because of the thin mattresses and light blankets. We slept close to each other and piled our blankets together to keep warm.

The food was terrible, both in quantity and quality. We were given portions that wouldn’t satisfy anybody. Most of the time the food was rotten – for instance, the eggs and yogurt. Once, when a detainee in the cell next to ours asked to swap his yogurt because the expiration date had passed, they punished all the inmates in the cell: they set dogs on them, beat them with clubs, dragged them to the bathroom and beat them up. The next day, I could still see their blood on the floor. Later, they transferred them to other cells.

there was nothing at all inside the cells. Even simple things like a hot plate or a water boiler were forbidden. Everything was forbidden

Once, a detainee from Balata Refugee Camp joined our cell. I don’t remember his name. He was injured in the hand and hip and was in severe pain. He asked for treatment, but they only gave him painkillers once a week and ointment for his wounds. I would wake up at night from his groans of pain.  

There was also a guy from the Abu Dis area who couldn’t use the squat toilets because of leg pain, but they didn’t transfer him to a cell with a regular toilet. Other inmates would go into the toilet with him to help him. He was with us for about a month.  

At some point, they transferred me from Wing 14 to Wing 16. In both places, there was nothing at all inside the cells. Even simple things like a hot plate or a water boiler were forbidden. Everything was forbidden. There was no way to get information about the outside world, no TV or radio. Our only source of information was new detainees.  

Once, a guy who was in the cell with me tried to get salt from the canteen. They punished everyone in the room. They locked the cell for an entire week and we couldn’t leave at all, not even for a shower. After that, they transferred most of the inmates to other cells.

Everything we received was in very small quantities. For example, tissues and shampoo – every inmate got a tiny bit of shampoo in a plastic cup, less than a quarter of a cup, which was meant to last two days. It wasn’t even enough for single use, since there was no body soap. We used it for our body and hair, and even to wash our clothes. Sometimes we even cleaned the floor with the shampoo. More than once, we had to clean the cell with toothpaste because of the stench caused by poor ventilation and the toilet and sink in the cell. The cell was damp and infested with insects and bedbugs, which made us itch. We asked them to disinfect the cell and solve the problem, but they ignored us. We also had to hang our clothes to dry in the cell, which of course made the damp and smell worse.  

We had electricity only from 5:00 P.M. to 5:00 A.M. The lighting was very dim, especially during twilight and in the early morning, because outside the window there was a high wall blocking the sunlight.  

All spare clothes were confiscated, so we stayed in the same clothes for weeks without changing. When I was released, I left in my prison uniform so the other inmates could wear the clothes I had on when I was arrested.

The hearing itself took place on Zoom and I wasn’t allowed to speak, only to listen

I was released on 19 February 2024 after my family posted 5,000 shekels [USD 1,343] in bail. I was indicted for belonging to Hamas and for incitement during the funeral of my brother who was killed by a settler. I had never been arrested before, and until October 7 had a permit to work in Israel.  

During the first two weeks of my detention, I had hearings at the Ofer Prison courthouse. I would meet with my lawyer in a room where he sat behind a transparent partition and I spoke with him over a phone. The hearing itself took place on Zoom and I wasn’t allowed to speak, only to listen.  

Throughout the entire detention, I couldn’t cut my hair or shave. I only cut my nails and trimmed my mustache so it wouldn’t get dirty from food. When I was released, it was important for me to get a haircut before meeting my children and my wife, and before visiting my murdered brother’s family. He has four children. The oldest is 14 and the youngest five. 

When I was released, my heart ached for all the people I was leaving behind under such harsh conditions. I left with a list of phone numbers of detainees’ families and intended to call them and pass on greetings and information about their loved ones. But during a search before my release, the list was confiscated. They even took the court protocol off me. The guard told me that if they found any more papers on me, they would send me back to prison for another two months. So unfortunately, I couldn't call. 

I’m supposed to appear for another court hearing on 26 May 2024.  

* Testimony given to B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i on 31 March 2024