By Dr. Israel Shahak

An Incident in Jaba Village

by Danny Rubenstein

Davar, January 22, 1990

The "Women for Political Prisoners" organization published yesterday a report by advocate Salama Wakim, recounting in detail the story, established by investigation, of what happened in the village of Jaba in the (West Bank) Jenin District on December 22, 1989. In that incident, a 13-year-old girl was shot to death and two of her brothers, one of them six years old, and her sister, 18 years old, were wounded. The report was sent to the Legal Adviser of the (Civil) Administration of Judea and Samaria.

The Davar correspondent who compiled information about the incident found that an Israeli army unit assaulted the home of the El-Alawna family in order to capture one member, Muhammad, who had been sought by the authorities on suspicion of conducting hostile activities. The Davar correspondent was told by the authorities that an army officer tried to open the door but was stabbed by a knife. He shot into the house and killed the girl. After the arrest of the wanted suspect, who was wounded in the shooting, his sister, Asmahin, was also detained. She then gave the following account, which was published by "Women for Political Prisoners."

On December 22, 1989, soldiers assaulted the house after they first threw a smoke grenade into it. Asmahin was awakened by the shooting. The first thing she saw was her sister, Shaf'a, 13 years old, lying on the floor in a pool of blood. With the blood of her sister on her hands, she shouted at the soldiers: "Why did you kill her?" The soldiers continued to shoot inside the house in all directions, without making any distinctions between small children and adults.

She saw her 6-year-old brother shot in the stomach, and her elder brother, Muhammad, hit by three bullets in his legs. Asmahin herself was wounded by a bullet which passed through her left leg, and the wound bothers her yet. The mother hid herself in a cupboard with her infant niece, and did not dare to emerge, even after she knew that her children were shot.

After the shooting, Asmahin and her brother were arrested and taken to a military hospital. The corpse of her sister was lying in the vehicle in which she was taken. When she attempted to cover her dead sister's exposed breast, the soldiers cursed and beat her, and threatened to rape her.

When she asked in the Israeli military hospital to be transferred to the (Palestinian) Al-Ittihad hospital, the soldiers beat her again, and humiliated her sexually. They also threatened to bury her dead sister inside the military camp. Later that same evening, at 9 pm, she was transferred to the Kishon Detention Center (in Haifa). En route she was beaten with a rifle butt. The marks of that beating are still visible.

In Kishon Detention Center she was held in isolation. She was not even allowed to wash her blood-covered face, hands and legs until Dec. 28. She was held all that time without shoes and stockings, since she had not been allowed to dress when she was detained. She suffered severely from the cold. Between Dec. 22 and 29, the bandages of her wounded leg were changed only twice. After each visit by her lawyer, she was brutally interrogated. Her interrogators claimed that she had tried to murder a soldier. Sometimes they said she tried to murder the soldier with a vase, and sometimes they said that she tried to do it with a knife.

The interrogators also told her to forget the murder of her sister, and the wounding of her two brothers. They told her that she was being detained for three reasons: (1) to prevent her from reporting the incident to the press; (2) to allow her to secure medical treatment for her leg; and (3) because she was accused of attempting to murder a soldier. The reasons were put in that order. Because of the circumstances of her arrest, the conditions of detention and the fact that she actually is merely accused of throwing objects at the soldier, 'Women for Political Prisoners' demands that she be freed at once.

This report is contained in translations From the Hebrew Press by Dr. Israel Shahak, a monthly publication distributed in the United States by the American Educational Trust, P. 0. Box 53062, Washington D.C., 20009. Subscriptions in North America are $30, or $25 for subscribers to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.