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The Occupation Testimonies (Part II): It's not about
security

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 (only) 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 from an advanced copy
of the book. With the exception of the second testimony,
they are of the "milder" events exposed by breaking the
silence. We chose to publish them ? and not the more
"sensational" testimonies ? because these are the sort of
events that take place everyday in the West Bank, for more
than forty years. They demonstrate how the occupation is
present in the lives of all ordinary Palestinians; how
arbitrary it is; and how it leaves people at the hands of
18 year old kids, who are, more than anything, bored and
indifferent to their fate. The occupation is not about
security ? its about control over the lives of millions
of human beings.

--------------

Testimony 48: "In reality you are just abusing the popul-
ation" Unit: Field Intelligence; location: South Hebron
Hills; year: 2005-2008

- What operations did you do in South Mount Hebron?

It's the same operations, lookout activity. Sometimes
we would... the brigade would try to play with us. We
would go on missions of... we would join some infantry
company or organize some kind of team, they would go
into a house, just do whatever... as a demonstration of
presence. In order to draw... it's a mission which has
a kind of logic, but in reality you are just abusing
the population. You arrive... the idea is like this:
The infantry team takes control of some house; and we
take one under cover so no one will know.

- The Same House?

No. The house across from it. Meaning the same street.
One here, one here. They make noise and chaos so there
will be a protest. They really burned tires there on
the house.

- The Soldiers?

No, the Palestinians, because they took control of the
house as a protest, meaning they put up flags, made
noise, stun grenades. That was their mission.

- What time was this?

It was during the day. We came at night and all the
action was during the day.

- At dawn?

Yes. The idea was that maybe some armed man would come
to the area and then we'll succeed in taking him down,
because we are there secretly, because we are at a
different corner. In reality an armed man didn't come,
fine, OK, and their house was destroyed. Tires were
burned on the house. An innocent house, just a house
on the map, that the Shin Bet checked and there wasn't
any...that it's really innocent population... that's
what they check.

- They are innocent, so you enter their house?

Yes and we destroyed the house. The windows were
broken, they threw stones into the house. That's it,
an entire house was destroyed.

- Where was the family?

I think they threw them out

- Where was this?

It was in Yatta. So do you, like, understand? The
thought at the beginning, when you sit with a map with
the brigade commander, then it seems very nice... 'you
take control of this house with a demonstration of
presence, you'll be hidden, and an armed man will come
and everything will be fine and dandy.' But in the
field you destroyed the house of a family and left,
that's it. And it happened every day, all the time.

- It's not an unordinary activity?

It is an activity that the infantrymen do.

- Did you do it more than once or twice?

Yes, yes.

- It was routine?

Yes, But that was more unique because it was in the
heart of Yatta and we did it secretly.

----------------

Testimony 57A: patrol in order to beat up Arabs
Unit: Kfir Brigade; location: Hebron; year: 2006-2007

There are a lot of incidents. Just all kinds of
nonsense that we would do. We would beat up the Arabs
all the time, nothing special. Just to pass the time.

- Do you remember an incident where you opened fire on
Palestinians?

You know how many times it happened, when there would
be disturbances and we would open fire?

- Live ammunition?

When you had to, yes, when you had to, when enough
came at us ? then yes, at the knee, the knees.

- You said that you would think about how to heat up
the atmosphere all the time.

Of course.

- What does that mean?

You know, we wanted it to be interesting, we would only
look for methods to rile up the Arabs a bit, so that we
would shoot a lot of rubber bullets, and it would be
interesting, and so the time would pass a little faster
in Hebron.

- Who thought of methods?

You think there was a lack? Soldiers, commanders.

- Sitting with the company commander?

What do you mean, company commander? Never, I'm telling
you, it would never leave the platoon. The platoon is
like state secrets, that?s what we would say. No one
knew.

- So you sat only with the platoon commander?

What the hell. The platoon commander also didn't know.

- So who sat?

Commanders and a sergeant.

- Where did you sit?

In a room. There is the senior room, and the junior
room, [we sat] in the senior room.

- So what do you say: "today on patrol we do this and
that"?

Yes.

- You plan ahead?

Of course.

- So what would you do?

All kinds of nonsense. We would do a lot, we would say:
a patrol for what? A patrol is in order to beat up
Arabs. Children, Arabs, all kinds of nonsense.

- Who would initiate the patrols?

All kinds of people. The patrol commander wasn't to
know about it.

- Sergeants and squad commanders?

Yes, officers are not connected.

- They would say: "now we're going out to..."

We would know where we were going, we had a briefing
before. We would go out on patrol.

- The squad commander would come and say: "now we're
going out on patrol?"

You know you are going out on patrol. Again listen,
it's not with every squad commander that you do it,
you know with which squad commander you do it. When
a force goes out on a patrol, it's not by its own
choice. Everyone knows there is a patrol. That's the
mission: to patrol, to protect. We just continued,
you know.

- What does the company commander say to you when you
go out? What does he say?

He also knows it's going to happen. He also takes, he
would choose the people that would go with him. Let's
say, I told you about ***, I would never go out with
him, there is no chance in the world he would let me
go out with him.

- What would happen?

We would go out on patrol, just an example, some kid
would look at us, it didn't seem like a good look
to us ? he would get slapped.

- Who would slap him?

The squad commander, the soldiers

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Testimony 49: "We go into innocent people's homes, every
day, all the time" Unit: Field intelligence; Location:
General; Year: 2004-2006

The thing that shocked me, that caused me to be
shocked, was that you, every day you do missions in
which you go into houses and it's... to families...
We got to this family which didn't even have a
bathroom in the house ? it shocked me. That's why
it also, it's something that sits on my heart a lot...
that day the Palestinian [living there] was planning
to take out the chickens. We were able to somehow
communicate a bit, I had someone on the team who spoke
Arabic. So his work... he collects the eggs, he sells
the eggs, that his job. His wife doesn't work; she's in
the house with the kids. So you grab your head and say:
"that's it, I stopped him from making a living for a
day." That's what we do: we go into innocent people's
homes. Every day, all the time.

- There are those who would say that they are not
innocent, that it could be they are hiding things.

Of course. No, there are also those who would say:
it's good to go even into innocent people's homes;
the sanctity of the mission is above all, OK? Meaning,
there isn't some kind of problem here, they'll tell
you there is no ethical problem with what you are
doing. You aren't harming the army?s moral code, you
aren?t beating them up. If they resist, then you have
the permission to give it to them, to respond or what-
ever, so there is no problem with regard to the punish-
ment. So everything is OK, and it's for the good of
the mission, it justifies the means, and that's it.
But in the field, when you summarize the period, most
of the missions aren't always thought out to the end.
There were a lot of missions which didn't have much
purpose, or we were sent on a mission where the
intelligence was so weak that maybe it would have been
better to avoid it. In the end, bottom line, that
family got it and that's it, that's what happened on
that mission. And it doesn't happen... that's most
times. Let's say 95 percent of the incidents, their
whole purpose was to strike a family and go back.

- Deliberately?

That's what happened in practice. And then you start
thinking. OK, but you can't know. Speaking from
experience, we saw which missions succeeded. Those
which had very, very focused intelligence, very, very
clear, and that work was done with the whole web of
intelligence, meaning the Shin Bet and whatever. But
[for other missions] the army always has all kinds of
reasons, which means basically: even if you don't feel
it, it has other ramifications. There is the presence
of the army, there is always that thing of presence,
the large missions.

------------------

Testimony 38: It's called "segregation"
Unit: Civil Administration; location: Nablus; year: 2006

In 2006, we received a complaint from students of the
A-Najah University in Nablus, because they didn't allow
them to enter from the Bet Iba checkpoint, which is a
checkpoint that was open, I think it was open until a
few months before this, and then it was just closed. I
don't remember why. I think it's related to the settle-
ments there, because the checkpoint leads to them,
among other things. The checkpoint closed for almost
every possible case. The army, the brigade, calls it
"segregation."

Segregation means that you only allow residents of
certain ages to enter. Men above a certain age, say
around 35, 40. And women from a younger age. They
didn't allow the young students to enter. They live
in the villages near Nablus. It's as if you were a
resident of Ness-Tziona and you would want to go to
Rehovot [names of Israeli suburbs] and they wouldn't
let you. I remember it specifically because it was
the first complaint I received. A nice English-speak-
ing student called, I was happy that I was able to
communicate with him, and it's very disappointing to
give the answer, there is segregation...

- Did they give you the reason for the segregation?

I also gave it to him. I explained to him what it was,
and that he can't enter at his age. I don't remember
the exact age, but that if he was a different age he
could have entered. In a different incident four women,
some sick and some escorting, were detained at the Bet
Iba checkpoint. They were sick and needed medical
attention. This was two months after the thing with
the students.

- Was it still the same segregation?

I can't say, but it was still segregation.

- You don't know the ages?

Now I don't know, then I certainly knew. We applied
tremendous pressure, both myself and *** who was a
coordinator in the civil administration. We applied
pressure so that at least the sick women could cross
the checkpoint. The escorts had to take a long detour
to the checkpoint in Ein Bidan, and then they apparent-
ly met up.

- Who gave the segregation order, and when was it
repealed, allowing entry again?

There are segregations which can last for months. I
remember a segregation that stretched from all of
Samaria to Jericho, the whole Eastern part. A
Palestinian from Ramallah who wants to get to Jericho
only has one route, via Jenin. A resident of Jerusalem
who wants to get to the Dead Sea? Go via Afula.

- Which checkpoints can you pass through?

I don't remember the names, I think via Beqaot, Tiasir.

- Did you know exactly which checkpoint you could pass
through?

Yes, the Palestinians also knew.

- What was the reason?

Terrorist attack warnings. It was explained to me that
it's in order to prevent terror attacks.

- How long did it last?

I don't remember. There are certain segregations on
certain days and at certain hours, and sometimes it
lasts weeks.

- Who removes the segregations?

Someone on the major-general level if it's more than a
few days, and it can go up to the brigade commander.

- Are there segregations which don't have a time limit,
if you were to want to verify when the segregation
ends?

I think there is a certain limitation. There is a
military orders group, which there is no reason to
get into, but there is segregation, they establish
it for an amount of time, and they extend it for an
amount of time.

- And you know when it ends?

Yes, and I tell the Palestinians. The Palestinians know
because there are rumors that run from mouth to mouth,
and the village leaders and the Palestinian police
announce it.

- You are less involved in the announcement?

I don't announce at all. I have no connection to the
village heads. But if a Palestinian calls me and asks
if he can transfer goods via Efrayim, which is a "back
to back" checkpoint in the area of Tul Karem [a check-
point through which only goods, but no vehicles, can
pass], even though today is Memorial Day for the fallen
IDF soldiers, then I tell him yes, until 12 noon. We
are also a kind of information service, which are
another few undocumented conversations during the day.
It's a whole story to roam between the checkpoints...
The real story is that this lousy checkpoint only
protects the settlements.

- Bet Iba?

Yes. Another interesting story is the story of a taxi
driver who took a sick person to the hospital in
Nablus, and he wanted to return to his house in Bet
Furik so he had to cross the checkpoint there. The
checkpoint closes at eight. Israelis move to daylight
savings time in April, the Palestinians change the
clock two weeks later. He and the sick person are
waiting at the checkpoint, but the checkpoint is
closed. The soldiers that were there didn't open it
for them, and they only let them cross in the morning.
They stayed the night in Nablus.

- No one did anything?

No. Here is a sixty year-old Palestinian with cancer.
He was called, and he had permission to receive treat-
ment in the Asuta hospital. A volunteer waited for him
at the Reihan checkpoint who would take him to his
appointment in the hospital at ten in the morning. The
soldiers wouldn't let him cross. It was seven in the
morning and it takes three hours [to get there] and he
doesn't want to miss his appointment. It seems that
this man had a permit for the Gilboa checkpoint, and
not for Reihan, so it was made clear to him that he
was requested to go to the Gilboa checkpoint which is
an hour ride for Palestinians, and from there he could
leave to [enter] Israel. I can only say one thing:
Why? He is a sixty year-old with cancer, what
difference does it make if he accidentally went to a
different checkpoint...

- But what's did you do?

All of a sudden you'll start following procedure. It
goes without saying that he missed his appointment,
and I think he just went back. A twenty day-old baby
sick with jaundice. This happened. They didn't let the
ambulance with the baby cross the A-Zaim checkpoint, a
Jerusalem checkpoint. They let her pass only after
forty-five minutes. [unclear]... Another incident: In
Jenin, at the Reihan checkpoint [....] they didn't
allow humanitarian equipment, for example, to be
transferred into Barta'a and Reihan. A truck driver
who transports fruits or vegetables called me and said:
"I'm coming from Jenin, I want to enter the village
because the people there don't have anything to eat."
Only at the end of the day, after he spoke with us at
nine in the morning, only at a quarter to five did they
allow him to cross.

- A truck or a van?

He sat there for eight hours and waited and afterwards
they let him cross. There were a few trucks there.

- Did they inspect it?

They inspected it, but that's not its [the checkpoint]
function. They just didn't let him cross, because it
was the orders of someone, and that guy was stuck some-
where. There were very basic complaints that they
didn't open the agricultural gates. I didn't see it
as intentional but soldiers were one, two, three hours
late. Meaning that a Palestinian would wait for three
hours to get onto or leave his land and to get back
home, and it happened more than a few times. It happens
because of the negligence of the soldiers, or [the
orders from] HQ, or an operation which presumably
prevents soldiers from opening it. Because who opens
the agricultural gates? Soldiers.

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