More than two weeks after being raped, Tareq Zubeidi stays in bed for a long time, afraid to leave home even though the scars on his feet allow him to walk properly.
A 15-year-old boy is remembered and remembered for what he described as the brutality with which the people of Israel, who allegedly beat him with sticks, tied him to a tree and burned his foot.
“When I’m alone I start thinking about them all, and then I start sweating and my heart rate starts to increase,” Zubeidi told the Associated Press.
B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group that monitors chronic violence, said it had not been able to confirm all of Tareq’s allegations but “it is clear that the boy is abusing him”.
The group has identified at least seven terrorists in Palestine and their area in the area around Zubeidi village over the past two years. The fact that the Israeli military has intervened, is often part of the occupants.
Israeli forces say troops were sent to Homesh, a nearby town that had been forcibly evacuated in 2005, after they heard Palestinians throwing stones. When the military arrived, they found a man chasing a Palestinian teenager who was later repatriated, the military said.
Regular groups affiliated with Homesh have declined to comment or say they are unaware of the matter, according to the AP.
Zubeidi said he and some friends took snacks to the top of the hill where the site was located and found a resting place. At about 9:30 am he heard people shouting in Hebrew and he looked up to see a small group of visitors coming to meet them.
He denied that he or any of his friends had thrown stones at him, saying, “I do not know anything about this.”
Instead, he said, they ran down the hill towards their village of Silat al-Dhahr. Zubeidi said the initial knee injury reduced him, allowing a group of occupants to grab him and knock him down as he descended a stone road that connects Homesh with the main road.
“Four stabilizers got out of the car and there were two others walking on foot,” he said. “One of them had a gun.”
Residents beat him with wooden sticks before blindfolding him and tied him to a car, he said. He drove for about five minutes, returned to the mountain, before the car suddenly stopped, and knocked him to the ground. “Then he started beating me, spitting on me and insulting me,” she said.
He said that his captors tied him to a stake and beat him with a belt. He then lowered her, cut off her legs with a knife and burned her feet with a cigarette butt. Eventually, they hit him on the head with a club, and knocked him to the ground, he said.
When he arrived, he was in a four-legged unit with an Israeli soldier who was immediately threatened. “He told me that whatever happens on the site we are building, and if there is a stone-throwing, you will have full responsibility,” Zubeidi said.
His father, Abdul Razek Zubeidi, said his son was taken to hospital this afternoon and he was admitted there. A medical report said he had scars on his shoulder and bruises on his feet. Recently taken pictures of this seem to show black sores on his feet.
Abdul Razek said he immediately informed Palestinian police, who said they had joined forces with the Israeli army. Abdul Razek said he had not heard anything from Israeli officials. The family has not lodged a complaint with the Israeli police, fearing it may waste time.
Palestinians living in the West Bank are subject to Israeli military laws, giving them limited access to them, while about 500,000 Jews living in the region are permanent Israeli citizens.
Homesh was one of four illegal cities in the West Bank that were relocated as part of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005. But residents in some nearby areas still go up the mountain to study and pray, according to Israeli journalists.
In addition to the more than 130 Israeli-approved cities, there are a number of illegal settlements. Israel does not want to expel them because doing so is in danger of provoking conflict between its allies.
The people of Palestine and many other countries see both territories as a violation of international law and a threat to peace, as they threaten the territories and stability of every Palestinian state.
The United Nations envoy to the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, raised Zubeidi’s case at a Security Council meeting last month, calling it “wrong” and calling on Israeli authorities to prosecute the perpetrators.
Zubeidi’s mother, Hanan Zubeidi, fears it may be too bad.
“Just imagine, my son tells me he was beaten by them,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see him alive.”