“Israel has crippled a generation”

By Zarrar Khuhro

Dr Bassel Abu Warda, a medic in Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital talks about what he has experienced

The body of a Palestinian child lies in the Al Shifa Hospital morgue in Gaza City following Israeli attacks. —Photo by Basel Yazouri/ ActiveStills

In your words, tell us what life is like in Gaza right now?

First of all, I would like to tell those who do not know that this aggression started over a month ago. Since then people have been dying constantly, almost 1,900 people have been killed and close to 10,000 people have been injured with moderate to severe injuries. I’m not even talking about simple injuries here. So you can say that we have an entire generation of disabled people in Gaza now. We feel that every day could be the last day for us, and no one really expects to see another dawn. The Israeli aggression targets everyone and no one and no place is safe. Hospitals and schools and homes have been targeted so far and most of the casualties are women and children. Very few fighters have been killed, or at least declared to have been killed as such. At least 90 per cent of the casualties are civilians. That’s the reality of what we face.

You’ve treated many injured children, some of whom have lost parents, friends and siblings. Do you see any hope for the future when you look at them and hear what they say?

I see only despair in their eyes. They have done nothing to deserve this and to be treated this way. These children have been attacked in their sleep in their homes which were bombed over their heads. They come to the hospital bleeding and in shock, with severe injuries and limbs blown off and they are crying for their parents.

They don’t know what’s happening and the only reason they are subjected to this is because they are Palestinians. This is catastrophic for me, this is the first time that I have dealt with such a huge number of child casualties. We’ve been attacked before, in 2008 and 2012 but during that time we never dealt with these many casualties, these many dead and crippled children. And I think this is because the world has been silent about Israeli crimes and the more the silence, the more they attack.

Doctors, especially trauma doctors across the world have to detach themselves from their patients, simply in order to treat them. How has it been possible for you to do that?

It’s not possible, but I do have to pretend to be detached. For example when we see the dead and wounded brought in we immediately think of our families. Many doctors and paramedics have been working in the hospital and when the dead and dying arrive they discover it is a member of their own families. Whenever the casualties are brought to the operation room we are afraid it is a loved one or someone we know. And all the time we are worrying about our families at home. There is no electricity or network coverage so even if your home has been attacked you simply cannot know. You can’t call and check up on them.

And then travelling from the hospital to home is a risk as ambulances and civilian cars have been targeted. This is what it means to be a doctor in Gaza. The hospital I work in, Al-Shifa, has been targeted as have other hospitals. I try to keep my feelings and my work separate but the most I can do is put on a face and pretend. Inside I know I cannot keep them separate, I cannot turn off my feelings. I do try to be strong in front of the patients because if I weaken, then the spirits of the patients and their families will break, and that must not happen.

Gaza has been under constant bombardment and prior to that a continuous blockade. What is the feeling among the people, do they feel that this will ever end and there will be a better day?

We have been under an effective siege for seven years, we have witnessed three wars ever since, but we still dare to hope. Every time the aggression ended and agreements are made we hope it will be the last time. We pray that the future will be better but it never is. And now many people feel that it is better to be killed in this aggression rather than die the slow death we have been subjected to since 2007. Since the siege started we have been strangled slowly. Because of the siege there is not enough food, equipment, building materials, etc; a patient cannot leave Gaza if he needs treatment. This was how it was seven years ago and it is still this way.

This aggression is only speeding things up. And now for some people may be dying quickly (in an Israeli attack) is better. But for most of us our spirit is still not broken.

You talked about the silence of the world, and that’s true of most governments but we have also seen massive demonstrations in favour of peace, mostly in the West, and we have seen that the people themselves have reacted. How do you feel when you see that? Does it help?

It does. When we see people all over the world are against the Israeli crimes it gives us the feeling that we are not standing alone, that people still fight for humanity and justice and want peace for the Palestinians. And I think this does help make a difference and puts pressure on their governments to not allow them to support Israel. For example, I believe Brazil is no longer exporting arms to Israel as a result of public opinion. And if this kind of people pressure stays then I think governments should listen and will listen because these are the people who elected these governments. I think that the people of the world have awakened to Israel’s crimes and I think this may stop Israel from committing further crimes.

Most of the demonstrations have taken place in Western democracies but when it comes to the Arab world and the Muslim world we’ve seen a very different story, in Egypt for example and other countries. How do the Palestinians feel about this?

Just one word: disappointed. That’s it. Another thing about the tacit support of many Arab countries for Israel is that in the past they only paid lip service to Palestine but now even that is gone and we feel we have been abandoned. Most of the support is coming from Western countries and I think this is because of the Arab and Muslim governments, and not their people.

I spoke with an Israeli peace activist and she said that she’s never seen this level of racism and nationalism in Israel. What endgame is Israel trying to achieve in Gaza?

Like I said earlier, they have crippled a generation of Gazans. Imagine the sheer numbers. That means rehabilitation is going to be an extremely difficult process. Another thing is that this amount of destruction has taken Gaza back 50 years and all Gaza can do is focus on rebuilding, which is what Israel wants, to destroy us economically. Billions of dollars have been lost in the form of destroyed power plants and water pumps, roads, schools, homes and hospitals. And the only factory that made goods for export from Gaza has also been destroyed completely. So Israel is trying to take us back to the Stone Age and they’ve done it, they’ve destroyed us economically. And also this is aimed at breaking the spirit of the Palestinians so that we are only focused on survival and not on freedom.

There are those, and this is certainly the Israeli perspective, that Hamas brought this on the Palestinians. Do you share that belief?

According to international law the occupied have the right to defend themselves against occupiers so what is happening in Gaza, whether from Hamas or others, is simply self-defence. Take a look at the Israeli casualties and you’ll see that more than 90pc of them are soldiers who entered Gaza in order to kill its people.

One final question: If it was in your power what solution would you want to see? Given that neither Israel nor the Palestinians are going to disappear.

All that I want is to stop this madness; this madness that is killing so many of our people. We only want what normal people want; we want the siege to end, to be allowed to travel and live without fear. It is all we ask. And while stopping the aggression is not in our hands we can try, with help from friends around the world, to save something. To that end some of us have gotten together to form the Save Gaza project in which we’re collecting both donations and messages of support from around the world. It’s never going to be a solution, but hopefully it will help.

Voices in the wilderness

By Zarrar Khuhro

With Israeli public opinion having lurched dramatically towards ultranationalism and jingoism, human rights activist Elizabeth Tsurkov talks about the marginalisation of dissenting voices and the trajectory of the conflict.

Israeli left wing activists take part in a protest against the attack on Gaza, in Rabin square in Tel Aviv. — Photo by Oren Ziv/ActiveStills

It seems a large part of Israeli public opinion is apparently very pro-war. Is there any Israeli Left left in terms of a pro-peace movement?

The Israeli Left is divided into the Zionist Left and the radical Left. The Zionist Left mostly voice criticism against the war but doesn’t really condemn what is happening — for example, the massacres, the bombings of UN schools etc.

The radical Left is mostly represented by NGOs; these are people, including myself, who are protesting against the war, but it’s a pretty small number of people. Polls show it’s about five per cent of the Israeli public; these polls are very unclear about whether this includes Arabs or not, because polls in Israel sometimes say 90pc of Israelis and actually they didn’t survey any Israeli Arabs. So they kind of exclude them, and they are 20pc of the population.

Regardless I think that unfortunately, it’s a pretty small number. Despite that, the backlash to the protest, to people writing articles about the war etc, has been really about as if people are dealing with a majority that is in charge.

While one does usually hear ‘Death to the Arabs’ at right-wing rallies, lately we have also been hearing ‘Death to the Left’ How intimidating is that for what is already a small pro-peace movement?

It is very intimidating. The pro-peace movement is much larger; its tens, even hundreds of thousands of people.

But being anti-war and being pro-peace is very different.

Merkava tanks and APCs drive near the border between Israel and the Gaza strip after Israel announced that all of it had withdrawn from Gaza. — Photo by Oren Ziv/ActiveStills

The anti-war movement is very, very small. All the protests that took place in Tel Aviv against the war ended in violence — either by right wingers or by police forces. So you have a 100pc chance of being attacked; I mean if you are protesting, you can hope that you will not be attacked ... but your friends [end up being attacked] instead of you.

This shift from ‘Death to Arabs’ to ‘Death to Leftists’ is definitely something that I witnessed only during this war. I protested against the war in 2012 and there were counter-protests but I never feared violence. People were angry. But this kind of chant and what you see people writing online, shows that this kind of intolerance is growing in Israel.

People see us as pro-Hamas. Because the Israeli government tells them that war is [against] Hamas. Civilian causalities in the war is not something that is discussed in Israel and not something that the media covers here — except Haaretz, which is read by very few Israelis unfortunately.

The result is that people think if you are against the war, and the war is against Hamas, this means that you are pro-Hamas. That’s absolutely not the case. If there was a way to conduct war and only kill Hamas members, I would not oppose it. But there is no way to conduct war that way; most of the casualties are civilians. The practices that Israel uses — bombing private homes of Hamas members, bombing schools, destroying entire neighbourhoods — it’s clearly in violation of international law. But this is not something that most Israelis are aware of.

Most Israelis firmly believe that Israel has the most moral army in the world, and they think that the criticism is a result of problems with our hasbara (propaganda) or a result of anti-Semitism.

How is it possible that the Israeli public is not seeing these images either on mainstream or social media?

Palestinian women sit among the ruins of the Al-Nada towers after they were destroyed by Isralei strikes in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip. —Photo by Basel Yazouri/ ActiveStills

Most Israelis use social media not as a way of getting news but to connect with friends etc on Facebook. Twitter is not very popular in Israel. And then social media really cloisters you in a way that you can get only the information that you want to receive. So people would like the Facebook page of the IDF or the Israeli prime minister and so on. They are not going to like the Facebook page of the New York Times or a leftist Israeli media outlet. They would not like Haaretz. People basically get the news they want to receive. This applies actually to us as well; for example, I sometimes, really by accident stumble upon videos of Hamas members shooting rockets from within population centres.

Israeli media simply does not show these images. I spent an hour watching Channel 10 on TV, which is considered somewhat liberal. There was not one mention of the sufferings of Gazans or civilian casualties. It was entirely focussed on our casualties, our suffering, our heroic soldiers.

So you actually have to make an effort in Israel to be exposed to those images. You have to log onto alternative websites, you need to go into Haaretz (now behind a paywall), you need to read international media, which many Israelis don’t because their English is not good enough — this is why Israelis are simply not exposed to these images.

You mentioned that some Israelis consider New York Times as not pro-Israel enough but the perception, at least from where I stand, is that it very much has a pro-Israeli slant.

It is true that most people see the NYT, especially with the current bureau chief in Jerusalem, as being pro-Israel, and the BBC as well. But the thing is that they do report from both sides; and to Israelis, this right away seems like a bias. Reporting is only about our side, what our heroic military is doing, and what the way we are suffering. Even talking about Palestinian suffering is bias.

On some right-wing Israeli sites, there is a lot of criticism of Obama in particular, whereas most of the world sees the US and Israel in lockstep, with the US supplying arms and diplomatic cover etc to Israel.

An Israeli army bulldozer destroys the house of Palestinian Zakaria Al-Aqra, 24, after he was killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank village of Qabalan, Nablus. —Photo by Ahmed Al-Bazz/ActiveStills

If you are not 100pc following the Israeli line, you are not pro-Israel — according to many Israelis.

I think that criticism of Obama is mostly coming from the Right because they think that everything they do is beyond reproach; so, if there is any kind of criticism, it’s illegitimate and it makes the person anti-nation.

You also have the history with Obama, where he came to office and succeeded in imposing a 10-month freeze on construction in certain settlements. No other president has done so.

The result was a kind of sense that he is anti-Israel, and this was linked to very common kind of racist stereotypes in Israel against Muslims — even though he is not a Muslim — and against Africans.

For example, there was a poll on a news site which asked: ‘What should Obama get for his birthday?’ and 48pc of people said ‘Ebola’. You can see again the racism because this is raging in Africa, and he is African. In Israel, especially among the Right, attacking Obama is a kind of a way to prove that you are a real right-winger, that you criticise even our allies because what is important to you is the Israeli public, and what’s good for Israel; that you don’t care about what those foreigners are saying.

How much of a part in this current conflict does extremist religious sentiment play? How much of a justification is that for many in the Israeli armed forces, or in Israel proper?

The Israeli public supports this war because of the regular reasoning that there is no way to have peace with them, that we are fighting for our survival ... you know, the typical kind of paranoia, fear and racism.

In the past, a large percentage of the people in IDF combat units were from the Kibbutzim, which are kind of leftist communes. Gradually, the balance shifted to religious kind of national Zionists who are the ones who now wear the knitted yarmulke (as opposed to black yarmulkes worn by orthodox people). This kind of sect is represented in the Knesset by The Jewish Home Party.

Those are most of the ideological settlers, as opposed to settlers who live in settlements because it is cheaper or because of the quality of life; and the number of religious Zionists in the armed forces, and especially in the combat units, has definitely grown over the past decade or so. And you see that now commanders in high ranks are also members of this religious Zionist movement.

There is a lot more religious rhetoric inside the IDF now. I think it’s very, very concerning because I don’t see the dispute that we have with the Palestinians as a religious war. But the Right in Israel and the Right in Palestine see it as a religious conflict.

I still think that the people who are in-charge ... Netanyahu, he is non-religious. Other members of the Knesset too are not motivated by religious ideology. But inside the IDF, this kind of religious sentiment is definitely growing. And of course, this affects conduct during the war.

There are also some rulings by extremist rabbis in Israel that allow war crimes and crimes against humanity. I think it does have an impact on soldiers during combat, when they are faced with the option of harming an innocent person or not harming an innocent person. If the soldier is a religious Zionist and he listens to his rabbi.

What is the endgame for Netanyahu?

Based on our past experience it’s very clear that Netanyahu is a conservative, not just in terms of a kind of worldview about enemies and military forces etc, but also in terms of preferring the status quo over a bold move forward in any direction.

He didn’t want to reoccupy Gaza, as many in Israel wanted him to. And the previous war that was waged under him, the Pillar of Defence, was also very, very careful. There was not even an invasion at that time.

The Israeli Right is basically about managing the conflict as opposed to solving it. Because they don’t think the conflict can be solved, at least not the way they think it should be solved.

For example, Netanyahu supported the two-state solution only once, in a speech, but that too because he was forced to do so by the Americans. Because the Likud didn’t want to define their stance regarding the one-state or two-state solution, they didn’t even have a platform in the last elections. Clearly, most of the Likud party list oppose the two-state solution, and he (Netanyahu) has no interest in annexing the West Bank and creating an apartheid state. Because that would generate a lot of international criticism, and could lead to boycotts etc. So, I believe he just wants to maintain the status quo — this means not overthrowing Hamas, not seriously negotiating, just maintaining things as they are.

What kind of solution would you want to see to the end of this, given that nobody can wish the other party away?

I think the current unity government between Fatah and Hamas is very, very moderate. The stated ideology of the government is very moderate, and it was pretty much dictated by Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah. I think the government is also not staffed by Hamas members, it’s just technocrats. I think this government gives us an opportunity to seriously start negotiating to end the occupation.

I personally support the two-state solution. Currently it would be dangerous to put together the two populations in a kind of a one-state kind of solution, I think it would lead to a civil war. So for me, the ideal solution would be to evacuate settlements, establishing Jerusalem as the capital of both states ... that would be the solution that I would support.

Clashes erupted between Palestinians and Israeli army during a demonstration in solidarity with the Gaza Strip at Beit Furik military checkpoint, Nablus, west bank. —Photo by Ahmed Al-Bazz/ActiveStills

I think eventually, this is going to be the solution, I just think it will take a very, very long time to reach that. I think the Israeli public unfortunately will not be the force leading the change; I think most Israelis believe the lies that their government tells them, that there is no way to reach peace, that the other side is not interested in peace.

So, even though polls consistently show that most Israelis support the two-state solution, that most Israelis want peace, but there is no pressure on the government to follow the desires of the citizens because people believe that peace is not achievable in the near future.

I think eventually, with every war that Israel conducts and with every crime that is carried out, I believe that world opinion will turn against Israel and will eventually force Israel into a settlement. I think that Israel is very, very dependent on trade with the West, with Europe, with the United States, and it really can’t afford to antagonise the entire world, just to maintain control over the Palestinian people. 

Elizabeth Tsurkov is a blogger and the Projects Director at the Hotline for Refugees and Migrant, an Israeli human rights NGO that assists refugees, migrants and human trafficking victims in Israel

Not in our name

By Madeeha Syed

After completing his three-year mandatory service in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in March 2004, Yehuda Shaul found himself confronted with some very uncomfortable questions. As a 21-year-old, he was now free to live a ‘normal’ life, but his experience serving in the military had changed him forever.

“I served from March 2001 till March 2004 as an infantry combat soldier and a commander,” he related over a Skype call from Jerusalem, Israel. “I finished my service as a company sergeant. A company is a group of around 120 soldiers. Two years of my time were spent fighting war in the West Bank. And out of them, 14 months were in Hebron, which is the largest Palestinian city in the south of West Bank. It was more or less the peak of the violence during the second Intifada in 2002-3. From my service I had many doubts — even though I come from the political Right.”

Born and bred in Jerusalem, 31-year-old Shaul attended high school in a settlement in the West Bank. “My sister is a settler today, my cousins were settlers in Gaza before 2005, and I’m also a practicing orthodox Jew,” he added, “Throughout my service the things I’ve done and I’ve seen things that didn’t feel always the right thing. But the thing is, when you’re a soldier, you always find a way to move on, yeah?”

“Somewhere in the back of our mind we all felt that something was wrong and that’s how Breaking the Silence was born. We just started sitting down together in our barracks talking about things we’d done and seen. And the one thing that shocked us was that people back home in Israel have no clue.Our own society that is sending us to ‘do the job’, so to speak, doesn’t know what ‘doing the job’ means. We decided, back then, our slogan was ‘Let’s bring Hebron to Tel Aviv’.” — Yehuda Shaul, former IDF soldier

It was only towards the end of his service when he began to plan his life after the military that his experiences began to trouble him. “I just found myself in this place where for the first time in my life as an adult, I was thinking through a civilian perspective rather than things through a military perspective,” he said, “That was for me, in a way, the turning point. It was a very terrifying moment because once you stop thinking as a professional combat soldier, without military terminology and it stops making sense anymore. I just felt I lost justification for 90 per cent of the actions I took part in.”

Shaul turned to the only people he felt would understand his inner turmoil, his comrades from the military. He soon discovered that they all felt as morally conflicted as he did. “Somewhere in the back of our mind we all felt that something was wrong and that’s how Breaking the Silence was born,” he said, “We just started sitting down together in our barracks talking about things we’d done and seen. And the one thing that shocked us was that people back home in Israel have no clue.

Our own society that is sending us to ‘do the job’, so to speak, doesn’t know what ‘doing the job’ means. We decided, back then, our slogan was ‘Let’s bring Hebron to Tel Aviv’.”

Breaking the Silence is a group of veteran IDF combatants that are focused on collecting stories by other soldiers, both serving and retired, to the reality of life in the Occupied Territories. They hold public readings, exhibitions, talks in educational institutions and give tours to people of the Occupied Areas for a first-hand experience as well.

Yehuda Shaul. — Photo by Quique Kierszenbaum

In the organisation’s own words, “Soldiers who serve in the Territories witness and participate in military actions which change them immensely. Cases of abuse towards Palestinians, looting, and destruction of property have been the norm for years, but are still explained as extreme and unique cases. Our testimonies portray a different and much grimmer picture in which deterioration of moral standards finds expression in the character of orders and the rules of engagement, and are justified in the name of Israel’s security.”

They held their first photo and video exhibition on June 1st 2004 in Tel Aviv. “We were 64 people from my unit who served in Hebron. Our photos in Hebron are on the wall; our faces are on the screen with video testimonies. We didn’t have any plans about where we’re going from here. It just felt like the right thing to do.” And then all hell broke loose. It was the first time a group of veterans had organised themselves this way. Needless to say, they were the talk of the country and over 7,000 people came to see the exhibit. The group was also invited to hold their exhibit in the parliament for a month.

How could they speak out against their experiences in the military and not face any kind of threats? “That’s the thing about Israel — it has both Hebron and Tel Aviv,” responded Shaul, “Meaning … we have been carrying out for 47 years already (more than two thirds of the time we’ve existed as a state) a cruel military regime over millions of Palestinians, stripping them from their rights and dignity and abusing them on a day-to-day basis. But on the other end there is Tel Aviv — there is an Israel where an Israeli Jew like me can do this kind of work.”

“Again, mind you, I’m not a Palestinian from the Occupied Territories. I’m not a Palestinian from Israel, I’m an Israeli Jew. So, in a sense it’s a very different reality. I know sometimes, things from outside, people from outside, we seem like worse or from outside it’s a bit more difficult to see this grey area. But we are definitely in this white grey area.”

The backlash was delayed, but it did arrive. In the second week of the exhibit, they were ‘investigated’ by the military police. “They broke into the gallery, confiscated stuff, calling us for interrogation but I think once they realize that it just brings more media attention to us they kind of like left us alone,” he related.

Shaul then related an experience that seemed difficult to talk about. Pausing numerous times in the middle and taking deep breaths before continuing, as if the memory brought back the same emotions he experienced as when the incident happened, he mentioned how during the exhibit, the IDF sent the Brigadier Deputy General of his unit, the Nahal brigade, to give ‘answers’ to them. They showed him around the exhibit.

“After about 20-25minutes he told us, in front of all the cameras, ‘You know what guys? I completely understand and agree with everything you’re saying, but there is one thing in which we disagree. What you show here in the exhibit, the process the soldiers go through and dub it as numbness or insensitivity, I call it growing up.’”

“To be honest, I did not have the guts to answer, I was so shocked,” related an audibly incredulous Shaul, “But my friend, Jonah, who served with me as a sergeant and is involved in Breaking The Silence from the beginning, is a very sharp guy. He looked straight at the Brigadier’s face and said, ‘You know what, you’re completely right. This is how people grow up in Israel and that’s why we do what we do.’”

It’s been 10 years since Breaking the Silence came into being. They’ve interviewed over 1,000 people so far and conduct an average of 100 interviews a year. “Around 30pc who speak to us do it during their service,” he related, “So we have members of Breaking the Silence who are today in Gaza.”

These are times of war, but “in ‘normal’ days, so to speak, there are people from the Right getting angry, people from the Left are a bit acceptable, but the main thing is that we talk a lot with young Israelis before they draft. That includes military academy students, youth wing, high school kids. They’re usually shocked because this is not a narrative and a story that they tend to get in the mainstream education system.”

“Silence is not an Israeli disease. Silence is a human epidemic,” stated Shaul strongly, “Yeah, you know, still this is our home and we’re going to fight to clean it as we say. To make it look the way we want it to look.”

“Breaking the Silence is about forcing a discussion — about the moral crisis about maintaining a prolonged occupation. It’s about trying to use our experience, our identity as veterans to open these questions here. To try to raise the one question which I believe is the most important: what are our moral boundaries in society? To what extent do we stand behind our military and when do we say, ‘No, not in our name.’”

Dispatches

“Who’s going to monitor the Border Patrol?” Testimony number: 87694 Rank: Staff Sergeant Unit: Nahal Brigade Area: Bethlehem Period: 2005

When we were in Bethlehem, I met a captain of the Border Patrol. He was high like a 15-year-old, explaining to me how smart he is and how he ‘gets’ Arabs who annoy him.

He said to me, “I wouldn’t lift a hand against an Arab openly, never, but I have no problem killing Arabs.”

IDF soldiers relate their experiences What does that mean? “Simple. I come in my Border Patrol vehicle, stop by the shop or home of some person, shake his hand, kiss him on the cheek and sit down for coffee with him on his veranda. Two days later the guy’s gone.”

The Border Patrol in Bethlehem is the unit that gets into the insides of the insides — they’re in places where no one can see them. But who’s going to monitor the Border Patrol inside Palestinian alleys? I don’t know who.

This is a captain of the Border Patrol. If this is how he behaves, then I guess that’s okay. I mean, had I not known better, this would give me legitimacy for anything. Why not?

“A moving human shield” Testimony number: 17453 Rank: Lieutenant Unit: Civil Administration Area: Bethlehem

There were two episodes that upset me; first, because to me they were very serious, and second, because it was officers in the paratroops who did them — a captain who was a company commander in the paratroops. I’m talking about a complaint we got one day, at the entrance to Takua, where we weren’t stationed, which is why it happened — because we weren’t there. The soldiers went in without telling us, which is completely against procedure.

The complaint was just incredible: that captain had gone to Takua, which is a pretty hostile village. The villagers were throwing stones at the jeep. So he just stopped a 40-something-old Palestinian guy who was passing and tied him to the hood of the jeep and drove into the village. No one threw any more rocks. The Palestinian man was a human shield. Drove with him through the village, it’s horrific.

I was at the District Coordination Office and I was part of the investigation, and I know the guy that did it. In the end he admitted it and was sentenced to two weeks prison, and was dismissed from his command position.

A month earlier, with the same guy, we went into Takua. He gathered everyone and said, “Guys, I’m putting three snipers on the hilltop, and I’m parking the jeep right smack in the middle of the village.”

You have to understand, when they go out on patrol in Takua, it’s legitimate to locate vehicles and to demonstrate a presence. But what he tried to do was get the Palestinians to crowd around and start throwing rocks.

He said, “I don’t respond to rocks. When there’s enough of a crowd, the soldiers on the hill will take out their legs.” The Palestinians didn’t know there were soldiers behind them, and the soldiers would just spray their legs.

It was prevented only because I was there with another officer. We reported it but it was smoothed over. It was just appalling. His one goal was to lure Palestinian children and just to cut off their legs. It was horrific.

“He started firing indiscriminately” Testimony number: 82100 Rank: Staff Sergeant Unit: Armored Corps Period: 2001

The commander threw a grenade outside the post to make people think they’re being attacked, to inflame the atmosphere, and it worked. The company commander of the paratroopers arrived (he was inflamed anyway) and he started firing indiscriminately, and we got out and started firing too. I was inside the post so I don’t know what happened there.

There was a debriefing and it turned that he was the one who did it. So they more or less swept it under the carpet. I don’t think they put him on trial. Every grenade is numbered, and losing it warrants an investigation by the Military Police.

They just transferred him to headquarters. That was the punishment: if you can’t count on the man, then put him here.

“There is a field that supposedly belongs to Palestinians. One day, they (the settlers) got fed up, so they burned it.”

Testimony number: 840135 Rank: Lieutenant Unit: Shimshon Area: Nablus area Period: 2009

Were there cases of settlers uprooting olive trees or burning fields?

It happened around Nablus. There’s a field inside the settlement in Havat Gil’ad. It’s a field that supposedly belongs to Palestinians. One day, they (the settlers) got fed up, so they burned it.

What did you do?

We were there. We had to prevent them from throwing stones at each other. We felt like contractors, just standing there. The funny thing was that we’d talk to them rationally and leave, and the minute we left, they’d come back.

Most of the olive harvests around Nablus went really well. No clashes, lots of military security, the army let them harvest a different grove each time. They did that, so when the time came for the Palestinians to harvest that grove near Havat Gil’ad, they had nothing to harvest.

Why?

You could say that all their olives had been picked already or the trees had been burned.

You mean that when the time came for the Palestinians, who owned the fields, to harvest their olives …

They had nothing left to harvest. 

*Testimonials have been edited for brevity and clarity

**Testimonials courtesy BreakingTheSilence.org.il