On Wednesday morning, February 25, 2004, I was asleep at home. One of the residents in the village contacted the Head of the Municipal Council and informed him that the police were coming to demolish our house. The Head of the Council knocked at the door to warn us but I did not hear him. I woke up only when I heard noise outside. People had started gathering around the house a few minutes after the police’s arrival had been announced from the mosque.
My family and other people from the village came to the house. When the police moved closer, they started firing teargas bombs. Most of the people gathered at my house left, because they started feeling short of breath from the gas. However, I and my sisters Izdihar, Zuheira, Azhar and Taghreed Titi, and my sister-in-law Jirnas Titi, stayed. I felt dizzy because of the gas and I almost fainted.

First, the police fired teargas bombs at the house, and then they forced their way in and started beating everyone ruthlessly. I was beaten by more than one person. One of them pulled my hair and dragged me outside. While he was pulling me, parts of my body were exposed because my clothes had slipped off. He kept dragging me, and the others beat me and kicked me with their boots all over my body. One of them hit me on the head with his rifle butt. At that point, I started bleeding. I felt like they were all monsters around me.

Everyone was running away from the area but I, my sister Zuheira and my sister-in-law Jirnas stayed. We were by ourselves at the side of the road because we refused to accept the police officers’ orders. We were surrounded by many policemen. For the next half hour I was standing outside and my head kept bleeding.

The policemen made fun of us and insulted us. When I saw the bulldozers coming close to the house, I became hysterical and started screaming, then I fell to the ground. My husband Yousef Titi came over and held me and tried to calm me down but when he saw the blood streaming from my head he started screaming for an ambulance. One of the ambulances was about 200 meters away but the police did not let it enter the area. Only when a person, who was at the site, came, they allowed him to enter and take me to the ambulance.

I was unconscious all the time I was in the ambulance. I regained consciousness in Nahariyya Hospital. The paramedics said I had to undergo a CT [computed tomography] scan but the medical personnel in the hospital refused to do so. They only treated the wound.

I only saw the first part of the demolition because after that I fainted. In our house, we kept granite stones and tools and taps for the water system and various new equipment for the house of Arafat Jamal Shoubash Titi, the brother of Yousef, who had not finished building. They destroyed everything.

25/2/2004