CHECKPOINTS
Medical Teams Detained at Huwara Checkpoint Near
Interviewee: I go up to the checkpoint, and there is some garbage there, and suddenly a squad commander who is only 20 stops everything, and says that until all the drivers (who are 50 year olds) come here to clean the checkpoint, no one passes.
Questioner: What was dirty about the checkpoint?
I: Their garbage, but not just theirs.
Q: What, the soldier posts?
I: No, not the posts, but yes, between the cement blocks. Not the guard post, but between the cement blocks.
Q: Empty snack packages…
I: They [Palestinians] cannot choose what to pick up, and until they clean everything here, no one passes. Meanwhile, a queue is formed, of around…
Q: And a squad commander decides all that.
I: At a checkpoint, a squad commander is king. As long as there is no inspection by the regiment commander or that, he does not…
Q: And if the regiment commander shows up and sees a giant queue?
I: He does not ask. For him, it is legitimate to have a giant queue at a back to back checkpoint.
[Translator’s note: a back to back checkpoint - a checkpoint where goods are transferred from trucks on one side to trucks on the other side]
Q: And this is a regiment commander inspection?
I: Such an inspection does not really help. He moves around the area. He doesn’t…
Q: And if a regiment commander shows up and sees that a squad commander stopped all traffic in order for the Palestinians to clean the checkpoint?
I: I doubt he’ll say anything.
Q: Did he see anything like this?
I: I don’t remember but it’s not something that serious.
ORDERS TO SHOOT
IDF Soldier During House-to-House Searches in El-Ein Refugee Camp (Photo by Giampiero)
Q: I am asking because in
I: No? Because in Balata [refugee camp, near
Q: You ask for permission? Are there cases in which you don’t ask for permission?
I: No.
Q: It’s enough to see him talking on the cellphone?
I: It’s enough to see him talking on the cellphone and looking down.
Q: You shoot only at his legs. What if you can’t see his legs?
I: I can’t believe it is... but sometimes you do miss. You miss the legs and hit him above the legs: in the belly.
100 SHEKEL FINE FOR KILLING A KID, NO TRIALS/INQUIRIES
Boy shot in the neck during IDF operation in
Q: Do you know guys who did this?
I: Hmm...not on purpose, but we did have cases in the city in which kids were killed, not necessarily scouts...as a result of trying to hit them in the legs, but they were hit in the back, in their belly...the consequence is that…you get punished. So usually an officer gets fined 100 shekels for killing a child and…
[NOTE BY KOLE: From my experience most of the shooting I’ve witnessed in the past nine months of those killed or critically injured was to the head or upper portions of the body].
Q: What?! I don’t know about this.
I: Yes.
Q: I want to understand this: if I aim at the legs and hit the child instead in the...
I: No , no, no. If we enter the city in a vehicular patrol or something, on an Abir [translator comment: armored military vehicle], and stones are thrown at us and all that, you will not get permission. But if you see a kid throwing a brick at you, you can shoot him in the legs.
Q: He throws this at the Abir?
I: Yes
Q: Is the Abir armored?
I: Absolutely. We were shot at, they threw everything at us, and nothing happened. But in the case of bricks you can shoot at the legs with permission from a captain.
Q: The officer at the scene?
I: No, no. From the commander inside the Abir. Not 08 [IDF term for officer]. This is usually a permit from the company commander. The one who shoots if I'm on my way to an arrest or in a "Livnat shibush" procedure.
Q: What is "Livnat Shibush"?
I: It's when you have a specific alert that there's going to be a transfer of weapons inside the city, inside Balata…if someone wants out, so they focus attention at us, we just drive a lot, make a commotion inside the city, throw a lot of stun grenades, lots of gas, just to give the impression that there's a large force, and make them scared of getting out. The idea is to make them come out to us and cause riots. When there are riots, you get permission to shoot at the legs of kids who throw bricks, and if I happen to shoot, and I’m just a shooter [not a sniper], and I aim at the knee...
Q: Can any soldier shoot?
I:
Yes, from his personal weapon. If the commander during the
procedure is a deputy company commander, he can authorize this.
And if by mistake I hit him in the back or kill him, and we had
this…2-3 times just in the last service term in
Q: Soldiers killed kids.
I: Killed kids by mistake.
Q: Aimed at the legs, shot them in the back and killed them. How do you know afterwards if soldiers killed them?
I: …Reports arrive from the DCO [Translator's note: District Coordination Office], the Palestinians report, there is cooperation in that sense. So kids get killed. It's nothing to a soldier. And an officer can get [fined] for this hundred, two-hundred shekels.
Q: 100, 200 shekels for a kid?
I: Yes.
Q: Prison?
I: No, No.
Q: A trial ? Any serious inquiry about this thing?
I: …No. I’m sure it doesn't go above the regiment commander. I don't know about people undergoing an inquiry. I can't say for sure…but I didn't see people undergoing an inquiry and I know nothing was done with it later.
USE OF DEMONSTRATION DISPERSION EQUIPMENT – BEHAVING LIKE ‘RETARDED KIDS’
Teargas deployed by IDF in Balata Refugee Camp (Photo by Giampiero)
I: Someone comes to the alert squad: "Let's go guys, there's a Livnat Shibush. “Why, what happened?” “There's an attempt to swap weapons in Balata.” What do we do? Go around Balata and we can use the demonstration dispersion equipment, 2 stun grenades…
Q: Any restriction on the use of this equipment?
I: None. You can be there with 4 stun grenades on you. We have a box of equipment inside the Abir and everyone can use as much as they want. How many rounds of gas does the 08 shoot? As many as he wants. No restrictions.
Q: In any such vehicle there's a 08… He says where to shoot…
I: No, he sits with the driver in the front, we sit in the back. “Listen Erez, there are some kids here I’m throwing at them.” “Very well, chief this is 2A, the demonstration dispersion equipment is OK.”
“Check, got you.” You throw stun grenades, you throw gas. No authorization needed, no nothing.
“Erez, I’m throwing gas,” and this comes to a point when people behave like little kids: “Let me throw gas, let me throw gas.”
Q: Do you say anything about this?
I: Yes, in the company I'm in the minority. In a platoon of 9 people, we were 3 against behaving like retarded kids every time you enter the city and throw stun grenades like…
Q: What do you mean by "retarded kids"?
I: It's when they throw stones at you, while you're in an armored Abir, and you know nothing can happen to you. So there's no need to throw stun grenades at them, making them deaf for a month.
Q: The orders are to throw stun grenades at them?
I: There aren't any defined orders.
If there are defined orders then nobody knows them. Use of
demonstration dispersion equipment – no one has ever told us anything
about it. Inside the city, inside
Q: Inside
I: Rubber, yes.
Q: Anything.
I: Yes, anything. Maybe you have to report on the communication radio about rubber shooting. I never heard anyone say "no." No matter what. 4 soldiers in the back, the commander in the front, he has no idea what's going on.
Q: Can you tell him “I saw something – I'm gonna shoot”?
I: As long as it's not live bullets – anything.
Q: Have you guys ever shot rubber too?
I: Yes, sure.
Q: On what.
I: I myself never shot rubber, but if we're really getting dismantled, and I see that they're standing on the roofs and throwing refrigerators and almost breaking the Abir, we shoot rubber or live bullets in the air.
Q: Where do you aim rubber bullets?
I: The lower part of the body.
THE FIRST SERVICE TERM, OCTOBER 2002
IDF soldier in an armored vehicle patrolling the streets of
Q: And do you ever hit?
I: I don't know. I didn't see it hit, this thing. I didn't get to shoot this. But in the beginning, in the first service term we had, when we were part of the regiment, sitting inside the city, it was …
Q: When was that?
I: October 2002. Two years to the Intifada. Something like 4-5 months after operation "Defensive Shield". We would seize an abandoned house in order to prevent villagers from entering…That was one of the missions and there was another mission with an APC, imposing curfew, going around wherever you like. 08 commands this. Destroying their streets like this…
Q: What do you mean destroying their streets?
I: The APC drives on it and destroys the streets.
Q: What, with cars and such things?
I: Sometimes they went for it and sometimes they wouldn't. Sometimes you drive over cars and sometimes…
Q: Military necessity?
I: No, no military necessity.
Q: No, I mean, if you want to enter some place and a car is in the way, then we have a military necessity.
I: No, no, by mistake… you cannot see the place is too narrow... at that time we could do whatever we wanted. We would shoot, we would stand at the blocking point, the abandoned house, and you could see people from 1 km or 500-600 metres ahead before they arrive, and you don’t have the energy to speak with them and kick them back. So you try to push them back, so that they won’t come near at all. So what do you do? Shoot near them.
Q: Live ammunition?
I: Live ammunition. Back then we would use only live ammunition. We were inside the city, you would shoot at whatever you wanted. We would shoot at streetlights…you would shoot near this…you would shoot to deter, in the air, you didn’t need authorization from someone higher than a 08, nothing. They would ask you on the communication radio, the company, the regiment. You would say “I did it – OK.” No one would ask why, no one would ask anything. At some stage we were inside the Hummers, shielded Hummers. We would impose curfew in a city where no one really obeys you when there is curfew. We would crash into live cars...
CRASHING INTO LIVE CARS, BEATING MOTORISTS
APC enforcing curfew in
Q: I didn’t get this.
I: You…cars go by, and then the driver sees you, realizes that they have to get, that they cannot drive, so they they start going in reverse, and you go faster, so you go over them, with a shielded Hummer, crash into it.
Q: Did it happen to you, in your Hummer?
I: I was in a Hummer when this happened.
Q: How many times?
I: I, specifically – once. And other than the sergeant who was with me in the Hummer, no one knew about it.
Q: Do you know that this happens a lot in the unit?
I: If not this, it happens very often that you take them out of the car and beat them, so that they understand that there is a curfew.
Q: What do you mean beat them?
I: You know, a few hits, a few kicks. “Come here, shut up! Why are you here, why”… and then “Yalla, get lost and go home!”
Q: Do you know if it happened another time with the Hummer?
I: With the Hummer? No.
Q: Who was present at that specific event?
I: We were with a shielded Hummer. Four people: commander, driver, me and another one. And I would like to say that at the time I was only 8-9 months into my service…I had no awareness. It looked OK to me all this. It looked OK with everything happening around you so you’re not aware at all…We came down the hill, and he came to the junction, started going in reverse, and escaped from us.
Q: Did the sergeant give the order?
I: Yes. “Chase, chase him.” And the driver, he had no doubts whatsoever. A driver from the company, a combat soldier. And then the car got stuck, because there’s traffic in the city…We drive in front of him and just keep going.
Q: The Hummer just went on top the car?
I: It didn’t crush it, went on top of the hood. And then we jumped out of the Hummer, we pulled the driver out, he didn’t believe his car was a total loss. You catch the person, put him against the wall, immediately starting to…from the back comes the car that made him stop. He was a photographer. So he immediately started taking pictures. My sergeant got pissed off and all that, and took his film and photographer card.
‘LIKE THE WILD WEST’ - CONFISCATION OF DOCUMENTS, CAR KEYS, PROPERTY
Soldiers carrying out house-to-house searches in
Q: Was it a foreign photographer?
I: No, Arab. But yes, a journalist card. And we took his film. No one knew. No one…
I: No, I didn’t realize I was doing something wrong. I mean, you don’t have the awareness. I…I don’t know. It sounds stupid, but you don’t know how what you’re doing is bad. Only later, maybe after 2 years, maybe after you become a commander, and you become more balanced, grown up. You start realizing what you did there. I’m not saying I’m the one who…but I saw my friend putting them against the wall, and these are 30, 40 year olds, and not…I said ‘Wow!’ but I didn’t see the red light. I said, what a stinking reality this is and that’s it. Going around the city, doing nothing, yelling. And sometimes we would have with us a border police Sufa vehicle [Note: This is a blue armored vehicle]. Just like that. They would stop, see an open shop, and beat the hell out of everyone. Just placing them. It was amazing, I remember it. We stopped and stood in front of an open shop when there was still a curfew. The border police guys, right away the commander opens his door and puts everyone in a line, they all know very well how to stand. They say: “Why are you…” bang, bang, 2 slaps, go home, like that 11 people, 2 slaps in the face. I only learned from Y that it’s illegal to confiscate car keys from Palestinians.
Q: Oh, you got that from Y [NOTE: name omitted by request. Y is the one who has been organizing such interviews over the last few months]?
I: Yes, because it’s something…When we were in Halamish [Translator’s Note: a settlement near Ramallah], it was the most natural thing to do. Just take the keys and drive away. It also happens in
Q: You took their car?
I: No, no. They stayed with their car there. Without the keys. Like in the city, in
Q: This would happen during the patrol with the Hummer. OK, you arrive in the Hummer to the car and you tell the driver what?
I: This and that. Start yelling at him…After a few times we realized that they all have spare keys. So we would take the spare key as well. Leave him with his car, and drive away. “Come to the house in 2 days, to the checkpoint, and we’ll give you back the keys.”
Q: Was it orderly?
I: What order?! Even if it were, it would still disappear…You change…
[…]
I: Yes. When we were in the abandoned house where people were not allowed to pass a car would pass – “Hopa! This! Why?” and you take his keys, the spare keys, “Go home on foot, your car is here, come back in 2 days.” You put the keys upstairs in the abandoned house, and the shift after us would also take their ID cards, take many.
Q: And was it returned to them afterwards?
I: Many times it wasn’t. You suddenly see a Nargila in someone’s closet: “What, Benny, why do you have a Nargila in your closet?” He goes: “What, I didn’t know what to do with it…and this and this…” and I go: “Walla, I’ll take it” and he goes:“ I don’t know if you’ll be happy about it, it’s a Nargillah from Balata” – “And why do you have a Nargillah from Balata in your closet?” – “We were once in an “Almanat Kash” procedure… and there was a house full of Nargilas so I took one.” So I told him: “I won’t take the Nargila, thanks.”
ACTIVE DUTY (DECEMBER 2003 TO MAY 2004) - X MARKS THE COMPANY KILLS
Civilian Yasser Tantawi (17), killed by IDF snipers in Balata camp in July (Photo by Phil)
Q: Your company was on active duty. When was that?
I: It was between December 2003
and May 2004. Now, until 6 weeks ago.
Q: And did this happen
inside
I: No. Our headquarters
were at the regional brigade, and we would enter the city for
ambushes every time.
Q: When you say “every time”
you mean…
I: Something like 4-5 times
a week. Arrests, “Almanat Kash” procedures, “Livnat Shibush” procedures.
Q: How many X’s does the
company have? [Xs are marks employed by IDF soldiers to denote kills].
I: Hmm…we have 11
armed, I think. And something like 4, 5 kids.
Q: 4, 5 kids?
I: To the extent that at
some point they told us that since we took down only 4 kids, they give
our company tasks because we are known as a company that doesn’t hit
innocent civilians.
Q: Who told you that?
I: The company commander
said it was the brigade commander. We get tasks because we know how to be
selective and we don’t hit the innocent.
Q: But these are just
4 kids…
I: Just 4 kids…
Q: And these 4 kids were
killed when?
I: Between December and May
[2004].
Q: Between December and May
– 4 kids.
I: It’s a company of 60
people that know how to distinguish…there was an operation, “Mei Menuhot” [Operation
Calm Waters – which lasted from the last few weeks of December 2003 to the
beginning of January 2004] it lasted 2 and a half weeks, all the brigade
entered Balata. Each time for a few days. Going in, going out. I think that
just there, as part of the brigade, the paratroopers, we took down a lot of
civilians. We got newspapers every time and I would see that an old
man was killed. We were not aware of this. They didn’t tell us that the nearby
force took someone down. “An old man and 4 children were killed in Balata
because they entered a battle zone.” Now, you are there, you know what a battle
zone is.
Q: What is a battle zone?
<>HOUSE OCCUPATIONS, MOCK ARRESTS
Aftermath
of IDF house-incursion (Photo by Phil)
Q: Just a minute, is there a
reason for doing this?
I: I don’t know. There’s no
intelligence or something. It’s just something that the company commander
chose.
Q: What, during movement?
I: No, no, no. It’s a battle
procedure of three days. You look at the aerial photos, you say “If I choose
this shop, then this is the house where I will put him,” and, sort of
strategically, this shop is the most convenient. It has the best entrance, it
has the best escape exit.
Q: And the curfew is open or
not?
I: What, there’s no curfew
in the city.
Q: There are people in the
alley.
I: Full of people
everywhere. That’s the aim. The market alleys, in
Q: And you go in.
I: We go in with stun
grenades, shooting in the air. A shop is something this size [motioning with
his hands], with the entire wall exposed to the street. A door here, a door
there and all of it exposed to the street. And as soon as we enter, people
start running away.
Q: What’s the point?
I: Make the gunmen come, and
let the guys bring them down before they hit us. We’re the ducks.
Q: OK, so what do you do in
the meantime?
I: Nothing, inside the shop,
try to find shelter. In case they come to the alley in front of us and…
Q: Scary?
I: Yes.
Q: How long?
I: 40 minutes. The aim is to
make it look like an arrest all the way. So that they won’t get the method. So
you also arrest a guy. Arrest a guy inside the shop, run him through all the
process of…take him to the detention center with his eyes covered, to the
regional brigade headquarters, they will interrogate him and release him at
the end of the process. Let them think it was a real arrest and we
just got the wrong man. And there was a case when we went in once and the shop
was empty and another time there were three people there, one 70 years old, one
50, and a 60 year old woman.
Q: You had no one to detain,
just…
I: Yes, but it did not
prevent the platoon commander from blindfolding and handcuffing the 70 year old
and taking him.
Q: And detain him and…
<>USE OF HUMAN SHIELDS
IDF using
human shields at a student housing complex in
Q: I don’t understand.
I: They say the
procedure of “Nohal Shahen” [translator’s note: using Palestinian civilians as
“Human Shields”] is no longer legitimate. So you don’t call it by this name. You
call it “Mevi Haver” or something like that. It has a name…
Q: What does it mean?
I: It means that if I go to
arrest someone and I know the guy is dangerous, he’s armed and all that,
then there’s nothing to prevent me from going to his neighbour, and I go
in and I don’t know exactly where the location is – I have 5 houses, let’s say
in the Kasba or in Balata. Intelligence says that the guy is supposed to be in
this block. So I knock on the door: Which family is this? OK, that’s not the
one. “Ok, you come with me”. Make him knock and bring everyone out.
Q: So now he goes around the
place – knocking on door after door ?…
I: No, he goes to one house
and then we’ll take someone else from the other house.
Q: And when he goes, where
are you?
I: A bit behind him. He goes first.
Q: You aim your weapon at him?
I: No. He goes first and
you aim, but not specifically at him. He realizes he has nowhere to run. He
knocks on the door: “Ya zalame…” [“Hey man…”]. He summons them.
Q: What…this is happening
now?
I: Yes, it’s a well known
arrest procedure in the case of…
Q: When was the last time
you did this?
I: April…I don’t remember
exactly.
Q: Did it seem strange to
you when you did this?
“THEY TOOK PHOTOS LIKE 20 YEAR OLDS IN A
Young
IDF recruits during an operation in Askar Refugee Camp,
I: On our last active
service term, we had an arrest where the guy tried to escape. They saw a weapon
on him. They killed him. He took one leg and an Uzi out…tried to jump. They
shot his leg, he fell and died of blood loss. We pressure cooked the house,
because there was another one inside. There are photographs in the company that…
Not anymore, because the guys have been discharged by now…
Q: What kind of photos?
I: Of people with a V
sign over his head, they don’t touch the corpse….There was no
mutilation…but they took photos like 20 year olds in a normal world do.
Q: What did they tell you
after you had killed him?
I: Nothing. What, that they
took photos? Nothing.
Q: Did the company commander
also participate in this?
I: I don’t know, but it’s
not impossible.
Q: Does he know they took
photos?
I: Yes, yes, sure.
Q: Didn’t say anything?
I: Nothing
Q: You were the company
commander’s communication operator.
I: Now. Started doing this 2
weeks ago.
Q: I see.
FRONT OPERATIONS COMMAND, TAKING OUT KNEES
Blood
stains left behind on an alley-wall in the Balata refugee camp by boy who’s arm
was shot off by IDF snipers (Photo by Phil)
Q: And how do you find the
attitude there?
I: Quite often
childish…stone throwing…kids…so shoot at the wall next to them. Live bullets.
Q: How many metres from him?
5 metres, let’s say?
I: 5 meters is an
overestimate.
Q: Overestimate, you say?
And who shoots, the company commander?
I: Yes, we drive around with
the front operations command, they are dismantling us with stones…Always
with a brick, we and a Hummer vehicle or another Sufa vehicle is 2 vehicles at
the minimum. It’s usually 4 vehicles.
Q: So you started saying
that the company commander goes in – they throw stones…
I: So he’s authorized
to shoot at the wall near them. Not to shoot at the legs…
Q: Did he ever hit someone?
I: Not that I know. I
have lots of stories about kids’ legs and knees that he took out, but
according to martial law.
Q: What do you mean?
I: Kids throwing Molotov
Cocktails, throwing this…You take out their legs.
Q: So there are Xs on the
weapon?
I: No, they weren’t killed,
I think. Just took out their knees.
Q: Is that how you call it?
I: Not necessarily…but
people talk: “Ahmm, yes, I was in Beit Surik and I took out at least 5 knees
there”. You often feel that people treat this loss more like a game.
Because you are sitting inside a shielded Abir vehicle and nothing can
happen to you, so you laugh at the stones and Molotov cocktails thrown at you,
and then you shoot gas at them and throw stun grenades at them. It’s a kind of
Hasta La
Q: Do you feel that the
company commander incites the guys or cools them down?
I: No, he cools them down.
Yes, in this respect he says before every entry…I’m not sure that for the right
reasons: “Guys’ don’t hit civilians…look, they think we’re not a company
that hits civilians. We get the good operations.” That’s his reason no to
hit civilians.
Q: Yes? That’s the way he
presents it?
I: Maybe there’s another
reason, but think about it before any time you shoot. Because again, this
operation that we’re entering the city in
Q: What do the guys infer?
I: I don’t think they hit on
purpose…
Q: Surely not on purpose.
But you said about the kids killed during this year and a half, do you know
specific people who hit? The guys talk about it? I know I shot a kid
today?
<>
Palestinian
families in
Q: And how do they speak
about it?
I: Some take it like this
and some like that. There are people who…OK, I killed a kid, OK. They laugh.
Yes, now I can draw a balloon on my weapon. A balloon instead of an X. Or a
smiley. Some people take it hard. I remember that during squad
commander training I was in Jenin, let’s say, we were in an “Almanat Kash”
procedure, and everyone who climbs on Israeli APC’s or armoured vehicles –
shoot to kill. And the aim of all this was to have people climb. Because you
have APC’s under the house all the time. They tell us of course that the
aim is to make the wanted men come out. But what wanted man would shoot just
like that at an APC?
They also say that if they jump on
the APC and take the machine guns…shoot to kill. And then a friend of mine came
with his M29, sniper’s weapon, and a kid just climbed. He shot, all happy – I
took someone down. And then they told him he took down an 11 year old kid or
something like that. He took it very hard.
Q: Killed someone, so he
was happy. Why?
I: Yes, because you prove
yourself. You’re a man.
Q: It is known he is
unarmed.