Mohammed Ahmed Issa Yassen, 20, lives in the occupied Palestinian village of Bil'in, where he works in his family's car garage business as a mechanic. He is also a student at the Al-Quds Open University, but since he has joined the Shabac (the Israeli version of the C.I.A.) “wanted” list from the village, studying has been difficult. 

Jody McIntyre spoke to Mohammed about living under the constant threat of arrest...

How many times have the Israeli army been to your house?
During the most recent wave of arrests in our village (which has been over the last four months), the army have been to my house eight times. The first time they came was July 3rd, I was not at home so they started trashing our house and destroying the furniture. My mother, who is 52, was at home at the time, and they told her to bring her son to prison. Each time they came they were more and more aggressive towards my mother. Nowadays, she can’t sleep at night.

How have the night raids affected your life?
I can’t live a normal life. I can’t sleep at home during the night, because I fear that the army will come to arrest me, and during the day I must work. My father passed away in January of this year, so I must earn money for the family. We don’t live a luxurious lifestyle, not by any means, but we need to have food on the table.

What about your studies and relationships with friends?
It was difficult to continue my studies before the night raids, because of the expense of travelling to university and paying the semester fees, but now it is pretty much impossible. The night raids have ruined my education... Some of my friends are afraid to hang out with me now, because they fear that they might also be arrested. I don’t want to go to stay at my friends' houses anymore, or to have them over to stay, because I don’t want to drag them into my problems.

Has anyone else from your family been arrested in the past?
In 2006, they arrested my younger brother Abdullah. He was just 14 years old at the time. I was 16 and it was the first time I'd seen soldiers at such a close range… the first time I’d had a chance to look them in the eyes. I was terrified. During the most recent raids in my house, they arrested Abdullah, now aged 18, again. He’s been in jail for the last two months and won’t be released for another four and a half. I miss Abdullah so much… Before he was arrested, we would spend the whole day working together in our family’s garage, and then playing around afterwards. I would give him some money from the business takings, without telling our mother - sometimes we didn’t have enough money to go around, so I would give him some from my own pocket, just to make him feel like he was living a normal childhood. Since our father died, I’ve felt like a father to Abdullah.

Why do you think the Israeli army want to arrest you?
I don’t know why they have made me into this big criminal… I have to work all day to make sure my family have food, so I don’t even have time to go to the demonstrations! Young boys from the village, under intense interrogation, supposedly “confessed” that I had thrown stones at soldiers in the past – this isn’t true, but even if I had, what difference does this make to the fourth largest army in the world? After all, they are the ones stealing our land. They think they can stop our non-violent demonstrations in Bil’in, but they can’t, so they punish us instead.

What is your message to the Israeli government who want to put you in jail?
Leave me alone so that I can go back to my studies, to play football with my friends, and to continue with my normal life.  And release my brother Abdullah so I can see him again... I support Barcelona, and have been learning some skills from watching their games on television… so if the Israelis want to meet me then we can go to the playground and have a game of football.

Do you think there will ever be a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
I just want to see a peaceful solution in my house and in my village. For now, it is difficult to think about the bigger picture.

Words: Jody McIntyre. According to our sources, Jody is continuing to up his game, and has learnt to communicate with his Bil'in peers in Arabic.

Photo: Hamde Abu Rahme

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