THE INDEPENDENT
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/our-reign-of-terror-by-the-israeli-army-811769.html
Our reign of terror, by the Israeli army
In shocking testimonies that reveal abductions, beatings and torture,
Israeli soldiers confess the horror they have visited on Hebron
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Saturday, 19 April 2008
The dark-haired 22-year-old in black T-****rt, blue jeans and red Crocs is
understandably hesitant as he sits at a picnic table in the incongruous
setting of a beauty spot somewhere in Israel. We know his name and if we
used it he would face a criminal investigation and a probable prison
sentence.
The birds are singing as he describes in detail some of what he did and
saw
others do as an enlisted soldier in Hebron. And they are certainly
criminal:
the incidents in which Palestinian vehicles are stopped for no good
reason,
the windows smashed and the occupants beaten up for talking back - for
saying, for example, they are on the way to hospital; the theft of tobacco
from a Palestinian shopkeeper who is then beaten "to a pulp" when he
complains; the throwing of stun grenades through the windows of mosques as
people prayed. And worse.
The young man left the army only at the end of last year, and his decision
to speak is part of a concerted effort to expose the moral price paid by
young Israeli conscripts in what is probably the most problematic posting
there is in the occupied territories. Not least because Hebron is the only
Palestinian city whose centre is directly controlled by the military,
24/7,
to protect the notably hardline Jewish settlers there. He says firmly that
he now regrets what repeatedly took place during his tour of duty.
But his frequent, if nervous, grins and giggles occasionally show just a
hint of the bravado he might have displayed if boasting of his exploits to
his mates in a bar. Repeatedly he turns to the older former soldier who
has
persuaded him to speak to us, and says as if seeking reassurance: "You
know
how it is in Hebron."
The older ex-soldier is Yehuda Shaul, who does indeed "know how it is in
Hebron", having served in the city in a combat unit at the peak of the
intifada, and is a founder of Shovrim Shtika, or Breaking the Silence,
which
will publish tomorrow the disturbing testimonies of 39 Israelis -
including
this young man - who served in the army in Hebron between 2005 and 2007.
They cover a range of experiences, from anger and powerlessness in the
face
of often violent abuse of Arabs by hardline Jewish settlers, through petty
harassment by soldiers, to soldiers beating up Palestinian residents
without
provocation, looting homes and shops, and opening fire on unarmed
demonstrators.
The maltreatment of civilians under occupation is common to many armies in
the world - including Britain's, from Northern Ireland to Iraq.
But, paradoxically, few if any countries apart from Israel have an NGO
like
Breaking the Silence, which seeks - through the experiences of the
soldiers
themselves - as its website puts it "to force Israeli society to address
the
reality which it created" in the occupied territories.
The Israeli public was given an unflattering glimpse of military life in
Hebron this year when a young lieutenant in the Kfir Brigade called Yaakov
Gigi was given a 15-month jail sentence for taking five soldiers with him
to
hijack a Palestinian taxi, conduct what the Israeli media called a
"rampage"
in which one of the soldiers shot and wounded a Palestinian civilian who
just happened to be in the wrong place, and then tried to lie his way out
of
it.
In a confessional interview with the Israeli Channel Two investigative
programme Uvda, Gigi, who had previously been in many ways a model
soldier,
talked of "losing the human condition" in Hebron. Asked what he meant, he
replied: "To lose the human condition is to become an animal."
The Israeli military did not prosecute the soldier who had fired on the
Palestinian, as opposed to Gigi. But the military insists "that the events
that occurred within the Kfir Brigade are highly unusual".
But as the 22-year-old soldier, also in the Kfir Brigade, confirms in his
testimony to Breaking the Silence, it seems that the event may not have
been
exceptional. Certainly, our interview tells us, he was "many times" in
groups that commandeered taxis, seated the driver in the back, and told
him
to direct them to places "where they hate the Jews" in order to "make a
balagan" - Hebrew for "big mess".
Then there is the inter- clan Palestinian fight: "We were told to go over
there and find out what was happening. Our [platoon] commander was a bit
screwed in the head. So anyway, we would locate houses, and he'd tell us:
'OK, anyone you see armed with stones or whatever, I don't care what -
shoot.' Everyone would think it's the clan fight..." Did the company
commander know? "No one knew. Platoon's private initiative, these
actions."
Did you hit them? "Sure, not just them. Anyone who came close ...
Particularly legs and arms. Some people also sustained abdominal hits ...
I
think at some point they realised it was soldiers, but they were not sure.
Because they could not believe soldiers would do this, you know."
Or using a 10-year-old child to locate and punish a 15-year-old
stone-thrower: "So we got hold of just some Palestinian kid nearby, we
knew
that he knew who it had been. Let's say we beat him a little, to put it
mildly, until he told us. You know, the way it goes when your mind's
already
screwed up, and you have no more patience for Hebron and Arabs and Jews
there.
"The kid was really scared, realising we were on to him. We had a
commander
with us who was a bit of a fanatic. We gave the boy over to this
commander,
and he really beat the **** out of him ... He showed him all kinds of
holes
in the ground along the way, asking him: 'Is it here you want to die? Or
here?' The kid goes, 'No, no!'
"Anyway, the kid was stood up, and couldn't stay standing on his own two
feet. He was already crying ... And the commander continues, 'Don't
pretend'
and kicks him some more. And then [name withheld], who always had a hard
time with such things, went in, caught the squad commander and said,
'Don't
touch him any more, that's it.' The commander goes, 'You've become a
leftie,
what?' And he answers, 'No, I just don't want to see such things.'
"We were right next to this, but did nothing. We were indifferent, you
know.
OK. Only after the fact you start thinking. Not right away. We were doing
such things every day ... It had become a habit...
"And the parents saw it. The commander ordered [the mother], 'Don't get
any
closer.' He cocked his weapon, already had a bullet inside. She was
frightened. He put his weapon literally inside the kid's mouth. 'Anyone
gets
close, I kill him. Don't bug me. I kill. I have no mercy.' So the father
...
got hold of the mother and said, 'Calm down, let them be, so they'll leave
him alone.'"
Not every soldier serving in Hebron becomes an "animal". Iftach Arbel, 23,
from an upper-middle class, left-of-centre home in Herzylia, served in
Hebron as a commander just before the withdrawal from Gaza, when he thinks
the army wanted to show it could be tough with settlers, too. And many of
the testimonies, including Mr Arbel's, describe how the settlers educate
children as young as four to throw stones at Palestinians, attack their
homes and even steal their possessions. To Mr Arbel, the Hebron settlers
are
"pure evil" and the only solution is "to remove the settlers".
He believes it would be possible even within these constraints to treat
Palestinians better. He adds: "We did night activity. Choose a house at
random, on the aerial photo, so as to practise combat routine and all,
which
is instructive for the soldiers, I mean, I'm all for it. But then at
midnight you wake someone up and turn his whole house upside down with
everyone sleeping on the mattresses and all."
But Mr Arbel says that most soldiers are some way between his own extreme
and that of the most violent. From just two of his fellow testifiers, you
can see what he means.
As one said: "We did all kinds of experiments to see who could do the best
split in Abu Snena. We would put [Palestinians] against the wall, make
like
we were checking them, and ask them to spread their legs. Spread, spread,
spread, it was a game to see who could do it best. Or we would check who
can
hold his breath for longest.
"Choke them. One guy would come, make like he was checking them, and
suddenly start yelling like they said something and choke them ... Block
their airways; you have to press the adams apple. It's not pleasant. Look
at
the watch as you're doing it, until he passes out. The one who takes
longest
to faint wins."
And theft as well as violence. "There's this car accessory shop there.
Every
time, soldiers would take a tape-disc player, other stuff. This guy, if
you
go ask him, will tell you plenty of things that soldiers did to him.
"A whole scroll-full ... They would raid his shop regularly. 'Listen, if
you
tell on us, we'll confiscate your whole store, we'll break everything.'
You
know, he was afraid to tell. He was already making deals, 'Listen guys,
you're damaging me financially.' I personally never took a thing, but I'm
telling you, people used to take speakers from him, whole sound systems.
"He'd go, 'Please, give me 500 shekels, I'm losing money here.' 'Listen,
if
you go on - we'll pick up your whole shop.' 'OK, OK, take it, but listen,
don't take more than 10 systems a month.' Something like this.
"'I'm already going bankrupt.' He was so miserable. Guys in our unit used
to
sell these things back home, make deals with people. People are so
stupid."
The military said that Israeli Defence Forces soldiers operate according
to
"a strict set of moral guidelines" and that their expected adherence to
them
only "increases wherever and whenever IDF soldiers come in contact with
civilians". It added that "if evidence sup****ting the allegations is
uncovered, steps are taken to hold those involved to the level of highest
judicial severity". It also said: "The Military Advocate General has
issued
a number of indictments against soldiers due to allegations of criminal
behaviour ... Soldiers found guilty were punished severely by the Military
Court, in pro****tion to the committed offence." It had not by last night
quantified such indictments.
In its introduction to the testimonies, Breaking the Silence says: "The
soldiers' determination to fulfil their mission yields tragic results: the
proper-normative becomes despicable, the inconceivable becomes routine ...
[The] testimonies are to illustrate the manner in which they are swept
into
the brutal reality reigning on the ground, a reality whereby the lives of
many thousands of Palestinian families are at the questionable mercy of
youths. Hebron turns a focused, flagrant lens at the reality to which
Israel's young representatives are constantly sent."
A force for justice
Breaking the Silence was formed four years ago by a group of ex-soldiers,
most of whom had served in Israel Defence Forces combat units in Hebron.
Many of the soldiers do reserve duty in the military each year. It has
collected some 500 testimonies from former soldiers who served in the West
Bank and Gaza. Its first public exposure was with an exhibition of
photographs by soldiers serving in Hebron and the organisation also runs
regular tours of Hebron for Israeli students and diplomats. It receives
funding from groups as diverse as the Jewish philanthropic Moriah Fund,
the
New Israel Fund, the British embassy in Tel Aviv and the EU.
|
