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Breaking the Silence: the occupation testimonies (part I)
Breaking the Silence, an organization of veteran IDF
soldiers working to expose the everyday reality of the
occupation, is releasing a new book of soldiers'
testimonies from the years 2001-2010.
The collection of 101 testimonies shows the degree of
control Israel has over the lives of Palestinians. Unlike
previous publications by BTS, this one is not about war
crimes. More than anything, the testimonies reveal the
banalities of the Occupation: the roadblocks, the nightly
raids, the mass arresrs and the daily humiliations which
take place everywhere in the West Bank.
The book is divided into four chapters, corresponding to
the four code-words given to IDF operational modes in
the West Bank, "separation," "fabric of life," "law-
enforcement" and "prevention".
The following are four testimonies reprinted in full from
each section of the book (An English edition will be out
soon; these testimonies are taken from an advanced copy).
The testimonies are followed by links to commentary posts
by +972 magazine bloggers. We will post more testimonies
in the next few days.
Prevention:
Testimony 2: Stun grenades at three in the morning.
Unit: Paratroopers Location: Nablus District Year: 2003
"We had all kinds of situations of very dubious work
in Area A [i.e. under the control of the Palestinian
Authority]. If that means going in on Friday, when the
market is packed, in Tubas for example, to make a checkpost
? a surprise checkpoint ? in the middle of the village.
One time, we arrived to make a surprise checkpoint like
that on Friday morning, and we started to spread out as
if at a checkpoint: inspecting vehicles and every car that
passed. 300 meters from us a small demonstration of kids
who were throwing rocks started, but they went maybe ten
meters, and weren't hitting us. They starting cursing us
and everything. At the same time people start gathering.
Of course it was followed with the aiming of weapons at
the kids, you can call it self-defense.
- What was the point of the checkpoint?
To show the presence of the IDF inside the village.
Inside the village, where the women go shopping, where the
children play, just to show presence, and to enter a fire-
fight, which within a second we didn't know if we would
get it there. In the end we got out without a scratch,
without anything happening, but the company commander
lost it. He asked one of the grenade launchers to fire
a riot control grenade toward the demonstrators, the
children. The grenade launcher refused, and afterwards he
was treated terribly by the company commander. He didn't
receive a punishment because the company commander knew
it was an illegal order, but he was treated really disgust-
ingly by the staff. In the end that's how it ended. Another
story was going into Tubas at three in the morning in a
safari, with stun grenades and just throwing them in the
street. For no reason, waking people up.
- For what purpose?
"We are here. The IDF is here." In general, they told
us that some terrorist, if he were to hear the IDF presence
in the village then maybe he would leave. He never left.
It seems that the objective was just to show the local
population that the IDF is here, and it's a policy which
repeats itself: "The IDF has here, in the territories, and
we'll make your life bitter until you decide to stop the
terror." The IDF have no problem with After the fact, the
objective was to show the local population that the IDF was
there, it's a policy that repeats itself... "The IDF is
here, in the territories, and we'll make your life hell
until you decide to stop the terit. We, the ones who were
throwing the grenades didn't understand why we were doing
it. We threw agrenade. We heard the "boom" and we saw
people waking up. When we got back they said to us: "Great
operation," but we didn't understand why. It was every day.
A different force from the company each time, part of the
routine. Not an especially positive way of life...
Separation:
Testimony 5. What is it if not a ghetto?
Unit: Paratroopers Location: Qalqilya Year: 2004
"As an instruction officer I would go around the
tactical headquarters of the battalion commander, it was
actually very interesting. The battalion commander would
ask a lot of questions, talk with people. It was my first,
and I think also his first, certainly my first, interaction
with the separation fence. We would go around at night on
a jeep, to get to know the sector, and he would ask, see
that basically there are villagers that can't cross, and
it's their work. He would stop, all of sudden see some
family sitting in their yard. "Tell me, how do you get to
this and that?" And they would say, "You can't get there."
"No, but what do you mean you can't get there? You certain-
ly need to, so how do you get there?" "No. you don't get
there." He would talk a lot with the residents there. Or
they would close routes up on them, the central artery of
some village. Just like that, the fence would close it off.
- What was your reaction?
That's something less army-related, it's about policy,
it's the path of the fence. Again, it's an understanding
of how terrible a thing it is. Especially in Qalqilya, the
area of Qalqilya, is closed on all sides and it has only
one gate. Enclosed with a wall and a fence. It won't help,
what is it if not a ghetto? It's just closed. There is one
gate, maybe there are more gates. When I was there they
decided, there was something, they decided there would be
no more gates, that they are closing them. There is one
gate through which they exit and enter the city, Qalqilya.
Indeed, it's not Nablus, but it's a big city. Among the
small ones, but it's still a city, with a lot of residents.
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Fabric of Life
Testimony 16. I made him crap his pants
Unit: Border Police Location: Wadi Ara Year: 2003
"The work with the population was the entertainment.
At least in Katzr, I don't know what was going on at that
time in Jenin, but it was entertainment. To work with the
people was...
- "Working with the people" is a nice turn of phrase.
Yes. Work over. That was what there was to do. Then
all of a sudden, when they built the fence there was no
population. There was the Israeli population who you have
to be careful with, there is Barta'a which you could still
a little...
- So the operations move to Barta'a?
A little more, yes. But again there was the tendency
with Barta'a, they kept Barta'a for the IDF, so the work
was mostly along the fence.
- And when they caught someone?
Then we went in. If you capture someone then you can
go in. Really the majority of the time when I saw the
violence was in the period before the fence, when it was
just routine. Pouring out the kids' bags and playing with
their toys. You know, to grab one and to play "keep away
with their toys."
- Did the kids cry?
All the time. They cried and they were afraid.
Meaning, you couldn't miss it.
- The adults cried too?
Of course, they were degraded. One of the goals was
always: I got him to cry in front of his kids, I got him
to crap in his pants.
- You saw situations where people went to the bathroom
in their pants?
Yes.
- Why?
From being beaten, for the most part. Being beaten to
death, and threatened, and screamed at, you are just
terrified. Especially if it's in front of your kids, they
yell and threaten and scare them, so you also are scaring
the kids. One time, again, there was some man we stopped
with his kid, the kid was small, like four or something.
They didn't beat up the kid, but the policeman was annoyed
that the adult brought the kids so they would have mercy
on him. He says to him: "You bring your kid so they'll
have mercy on you, let's show you what that is." He goes
and beats him up, screams at him, saying, "what, I'll kill
you in front of your boy, maybe you'll feel more..." It's
terrifying. Again, there are a lot of stories of honor.
- Did he piss his pants out of fear?
Yes.
- In front of the boy.
Yes. A lot of stories of honor, like check me out, I
got him to crap, I got him to whatever. They talked about
it routinely all the time, it's not some kind of...
- Where did they talk about it, in the cafeteria, in
front of the officers? Was it openly?
It was openly. I think that if an officer says that
he didn't know, he's totally lying. At the officer, the
high ranking officers knew. The platoon commanders had
less to do with it, but the company commander, the
assistant company commander, the operations officers ?
even encouraged it to a degree. Again, not directly,
they didn't come and say, yalla beat them up, but there
was a kind of legitimization, otherwise it wouldn't
have happened. Again, it's a fact that it happened less
in Jenin, and in my opinion not just because there was
less work with the population.
Law Enforcement
Testimony 4. He is basically a civilian, and he's telling
the army what the laws are. Unit: Maglan Special Forces
Location: South Hebron Hills Year: 2002
"I did settlement security detail with soldiers in
Eshkolot, and in another settlement nearby. It wasn't in
Eshkolot, I don't remember what settlement it was. But
when we were there, there is the settlement, and some
[Palestinian] village that's a kilometer or two away.
And [the Palestinians] work their land in the area there,
500 meters away in the valley below. The settlements sits
on the hilltop, and below in the valley there is some...
they work the land. What I remember, it's a little hazy,
that one time they were there working the land. They come,
all of a sudden [the settlers] go out ? this is already
past the fence of the settlement, although it was exactly
where the expansion was... so we ran to where the expansion
was, where it was under construction... They just yelled
at them... they didn't shoot or anything, but they ran
them out of there. I don't know if they left.
- Who expelled them?
The [settlement's civilian] security coordinator came,
called us, deployed us, me and the soldier... "this and
that, they are crossing the border, they are scouting,
they are..." Like I know? In short, he yells at them, I
don't know if they left. But I remember he came, and
started yelling at them: "get out of here, get out of
here." Later I go on patrol with him in the vehicle, so
he sees a little girl playing at the entrance to the
settlement, on the access road into the settlement but
still below it, still outside the fence ? it was totally
not part of that settlement ? but from below, in the
valley. He sees a girl, I hear him yell something at her
in Arabic, from the megaphone, something like "Rasak." I
didn't understand. I go to him: what did you yell at the
girl? So he goes: "If you come around here again I'll
break your head." Something like that. The situation
there is basically your commander is that civilian from
the settlement who tells you what's allowed and what's
prohibited, where they [the Palestinians] can be, where
they can't be ? he gives you authorization to shoot in
the air, although in principle I am the senior army
commander ? as senior as that is, right? ? in the field
he can tell them to shoot, and also, with discretion.
But in principle, he delineates policy. It's not some
military authority, some company commander, an officer
in the area, it's the settlement security officer
coordinator who decides what is allowed and what is
prohibited. It's a pretty funny situation when you think
about it, where a civilian tells the army what its
limitations are and what the laws are."
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