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More than two weeks after being attacked, Tarek Zubedi still spent most of his time in bed, even though the wound on his foot allowed him to walk normally, he did not dare to go out.
The 15-year-old young man was haunted by memories of what he described as a brutal attack by Israeli settlers, who said they beat him with sticks, tied him to a tree and burned the soles of his feet.
“When I was sitting alone, I started thinking about all of this, and then I started to sweat and my heart rate started to increase,” Zubetty told the Associated Press.
B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization that monitors settler violence, said it was unable to verify all the details of the Tareq account, but “it is clear that the boy was physically and mentally abused.”
The organization recorded at least seven attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property in the area around Zubedi village in the past two years. It said that when the Israeli army intervened, it often sided with the settlers.
The Israeli military stated that following reports of Palestinians throwing stones, the army was sent to the nearby settlement of Homs, which was forcibly evacuated in 2005. The military said in a statement that when the soldiers arrived, they found settlers chasing a Palestinian teenager who later returned to his family.
According to the Associated Press, the settler groups associated with Homesh declined to comment or said they were unaware of the incident.
Zubedi said that he and some friends brought some snacks to the top of the mountain where the former settlement was, and found a place to relax. At about 9:30 in the morning, they heard people yelling in Hebrew and looked up and saw a small group of settlers approaching them.
He denied that he or his friend threw stones, saying “I don’t know anything about it.”
Instead, he said, they ran down the mountain in fear to their village of Silat al-Dhahr. Zubedi said that an earlier knee injury slowed him down, and when he walked down the gravel street connecting Homs and the main road, another group of settlers caught up with him in the car and knocked him down.
“Four settlers got out of the car, and two others were hiking,” he said. “One of them is holding a gun.”
He said that the settlers beat him with a wooden stick, then blindfolded him and tied him to the hood of the car. They drove for about five minutes and returned to the mountain. The car stopped suddenly and threw him to the ground. “Then they started beating me, spitting at me, and scolding me,” he said.
He said that the settlers tied him to a tree and beat him with a belt. Then they took him away, cut his leg with a knife, and burned the soles of his feet with a car cigarette lighter. He said that in the end, they hit him on the head with clubs, making him unconscious.
When he woke up, he drove a four-wheel drive army with an Israeli soldier, and he said that the soldier immediately started threatening him. “He told me that if anything happens in the settlement, we will arrest you, and if there is any stone throwing, you will take full responsibility,” Zubedi said.
His father Abdul Razek Zubeidi said that his son was taken to the hospital that afternoon and stayed overnight there. A medical report said he had bruises on his shoulders and wounds on his feet. Photos taken shortly after the incident appeared to show two dark wounds on the soles of his feet.
Abdul Lazek said he immediately reported the incident to the Palestinian police, who said they contacted the Israeli army. Abdul Razek said he had not heard anything from the Israeli authorities. The family said they did not file a complaint with the Israeli police, fearing that it would waste time.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank live under Israeli military law, and they have little access to legal recourse, and nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers in the territory have full Israeli citizenship.
Homs, one of four illegal settlements in the West Bank, was evacuated as part of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005. However, according to Israeli media reports, settlers from another nearby settlement still went to the top of the mountain to study and pray.
In addition to more than 130 settlements authorized by Israel, there are dozens of unauthorized settlement outposts. Israel is reluctant to evacuate them because of the risk of conflicts between settlers and soldiers.
The Palestinians and most of the international community regard all settlements as a violation of international law and an obstacle to peace because they threaten the territorial continuity and viability of any future Palestinian state.
The UN Special Envoy for the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, presented Zubedi’s case at a Security Council meeting last month, calling the incident a “heinous act” and calling on the Israeli authorities to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Zubedi’s mother Hanan Zubedi worries that the situation will get worse.
“Imagine my son telling me he was beaten by them,” she said. “I didn’t expect to be alive.”
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