The Israeli army´s Border Guard unit has turned the life of a Palestinian woman from the occupied city of Jerusalem into hell after causing several fractures to her face and skull, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed Tuesday.
The incident occurred about a month and a half ago when she was trying to protect her son from arrest, the Hebrew newspaper quoted Reina Derbas, a 36-year-old Palestinian from the town of Issawiya, northeast of Jerusalem.
She explained that she returned to her home and saw Israeli police officers holding her 14-year-old son.
She added that they argued in his arrest on the grounds that the child was examined on the grounds that his personal details fit the details of a wanted man on suspicion of throwing stones, but that the specifications in their possession did not match her son, and yet they arrested him even though he is not wanted.
In a statement signed to her lawyer, Derbas said that when her son was in the police car, she spoke to her officers, and at which point someone lifted his weapon and hit her with the butt of the gun on her face, she lost consciousness and was taken to Hadassah Ain Karem hospital with multiple fractures to her skull and nose.
She then underwent complex initial surgery on her head to implant platinum into her skull, and despite the seriousness of the place, she will also have to undergo additional repairs in the future.
Commenting on the incident, her husband Karim Derbas says that "every time she looks in the mirror she starts crying."
"My life has been ruined, I have pain in my head and face," Derbas wrote in the affidavit. My life turned into a nightmare."
Several days after the incident, Karim went to the Israeli police investigation department to file a complaint, but they required his wife to come to file a complaint herself.
The newspaper pointed out that after Derbas´s relative recovery, she herself went to the police investigation department to file a complaint, and there, she said, she was treated with contempt by investigators, and said they tried to convince her that she had been hit by a stone.
She wrote in the statement: "The investigator interrupted me and prevented me from explaining what had happened, asked about the soldier´s details and asked me to draw the weapon, where did I know and what i understand in that? He tried to put words in my mouth, that I had been hit by a stone, but he tried to convince me that I had accidentally been hit by the soldier when he raised his hand with a gun to deal with a stone that had been thrown at me. I told him there was no stone-throwers."
Shortly after Haaretz went to the police investigation department, Derbas´ lawyer received a letter from the department stating that the case was under investigation and evidence was being collected, but most of the allegations were untrue.
Hours later, in response to his departure, another official there told him that an investigation had not yet been decided and that there was no file number yet.
In an attempt to disclaim responsibility, the Occupy police claimed that over the same weekend, 24 firebombs, firecrackers and stones were thrown at the same place, apparently injuring a resident of the area and she was transferred for medical treatment.
As for the son, the newspaper explained that he was released after four days in detention, and it has not yet been decided whether to charge him.
