13 oct 2002
Leaders of the STARVATION War: Gilad and Tzadaka
Gilad
On Sunday, October 13th, 2002 the Major General Amos Gilad, Coordinator of Government Activities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, told a meeting of senior government officials, "There is no starvation in the territories because Israel allows donations to be delivered there on time ..."
On July 20, 2002, I faxed the Major General Amos Gilad, Coordinator of the Government Activities in the West Bank and Gaza, asking him where did he learn to be a liar, and if there is a University offering a special degree in lying in Israel.
I included in my fax a copy of a press release by Ms. Lynn Gefsky, Press Officer at Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. , who released a statement in the U.S.A. saying that the government of Israel is not delaying my travel through Allenby Bridge. The Embassy released it's response after some Americans from Ohio University requested information about my case. The General Gilad's office was -at that time- obstructing my travel to Vienna for political reasons. He had already delayed my travel for over one month, denying me the right to travel through Allenby bridge.
This is just one example to show how things are going on at the General's office, he is always saying one thing but in fact doing the opposite.
As a journalist I know Major General Gilad, I know his assistant Aviv and his spokesperson Ofer Hakam. I do also know General Dov Tzadaka, who represents Gilad's activities in the DCL office at Beit Il.
Both of the Generals Gilad and Tzadaka should be given the epithet of being the Generals of “LIE and STARVATION”.
The strong Israeli propaganda taught these Generals that they are always right and others are always wrong. They reach the International organizations and public opinion by turning the truth up side down and spreading lies and false rumors.
When the American Ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, delivered a message sharply criticizing Israel's failure to implement humanitarian measures and the IDF activities in the territories, the Major General Gilad made his denial statement claiming that there is no starvation in the territories because Israel allows donations to be delivered there.
Actually, there is a very real situation of starvation made by the occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and no humanitarian measures are implemented. These are the values and considerations under these generals military orders.
Since the outbreak of the Intifada or uprising on late September 29, 2000 in the occupied territories, the Palestinian economy has been operating far below productive capacity due instability and economic sanctions imposed by the military occupiers, the generals Gilad and Tzadaka.
The percentage of unemployment has been increased during the last year alone to over 90% in Gaza strip and the territories. In some cities the unemployment has reached 100%. One example is the old city of Hebron, which is under the Israeli control.
The Curfew has been imposed on Hebron, the old city since before the "Intifada", and for over 600 days the Palestinians were living under the Israeli curfew imposed by the military commander colonel Dror Wienberg. Wienberg delivered over 300 military orders which included closing closing the old markets, Palestinian shops, stopping the infrastructure construction and occupying the rooftops of hundreds of Palestinian houses, mine among them.
There are about 750 extremely poor families living in Hebron under colonel Weinberg's authority who depend for their daily food on a volunteer meal donated by a chartable organization. General Dov Tazadaka, who represents the Major General Amos Gilad had stopped the charitable organizations work of supplying the poor people with their daily meal.
I requested the military commander of Hebron Colonel Dror Wienberg to take the humanitarian need of these poor people under the poverty line in his considerations. I sent him an official appeal but he didn't respond ...
Mrs. Ronet Yadeyah, the wife of Oded Yadeyah, who had been worked with General Tzadaka in the south of Lebanon, tried to convince General Tzadaka to grant a permit for supplying the poor people with their own meal, She explained him the real starvation in the city. The General Tzadaka said that a political decision had made the military to stop the food donations, and he couldn't change that ...
The last couple of months before I fled to Austria, I observed real starvation in Hebron, the old city. I was following the IDF soldiers searching Palestinian houses. The soldiers raided the house of an old woman aged 92 (Im Mahmoud Herbawi). Finally they found a bag of rests of dry bread she had collected from the military garbage to soak it in water and to eat for over months. The soldiers, of course, took this away from her. The woman cried endlessly after the suspension of the meal donations made by the chartable organization, "I used to have my only meal from this donated food, but now I was collecting crumbs of bread from the soldiers to survive !"
Inhuman stories like this one example nobody has heard or read until now. Both Generals Gilad and Tzadaka should be aware of what they are doing and saying ...
There is real shortage of food in the territories, a real starvation caused by the tight military closure. Donations to be delivered to the territories and Gaza, “like what General Amos Gilad said”, need to seek a special form of request from the offices of both generals Gilad and Tzadaka. The Generals usually delay their response for over one month. During the "normal" situation before the Intifada raised, the Generals used to delay their response for only two weeks.
In cases such as donations of fresh food, the food stands rotting in lorries behind the Israeli border checkpoints at Tarkomia and Eriz as a result of the delays in their responses which the generals implement only for the sake of humiliating the Palestinians. Any journalist (or just anybody) who wants to see how the Generals Gilad and Tzadaka implement their genocidal measures aimed at humiliating and starving a whole people, needs to just go to the israeli border checkpoints at Tarkomia and Eriz.
The generals offices have a well studied method of dealing with requests aimed at alleviating the dire humanitarian conditions in the territories and Gaza: they postpone, bargain and humiliate.
Any organization or person wanting to send donations for Palestinians should apply and follow the formal way of the Generals offices. The instruction would be:
1.- The office of General Amos Gilad and Dov Tzadaka should receive an official request by fax concerning the humanitarian help to be donated one week before the specific time of entry ...
2.- The application should include, a copy of I.D, passport, the car number ...
3.- Each request should include CV and further informations about the donating organization or person, about the receiver of the donation, the purpose of donation, and the exact place (address) where it is going to ...
4.- If the originating person or institution of the fax request is Palestinian, he should have a magnetic card, “an intelligence certificate of good behavior”...
5.- The Palestinians should follow different steps to apply for the magnetic card, if they do not have one:
a) He should apply personally for this card through the Israeli civil administration office...
b) He should fill in the special application form for this card, at a cost of 45 Shekel (about 12 Euro) ...
c) The form should include a copy of I.D, and two pictures ...
d) The application form should be given by hand to the Israeli officer ...
e) Each request should pass through the intelligence “Shabak” office, which will give its final response
after 1 to 3 weeks ...
After about three weeks, the person should ask the civil administration office about the outcome of his application for a magnetic card application. The default response will be either “REFUSED, or that you are WANTED for an INTELLIGENCE meeting” with the Shabak.
During this "INTELLIGENCE" meeting, which normally is delayed three to five times (that depends on the the assigned intelligence officer), the Shabak asks the person for his help to work with them as an informant, a “SPY”. Requests of humanitarian nature such as the request for medical treatment, economic or educational treatment must pass through the same steps mentioned above, so everybody who needs anything will be delayed, humiliated and coerced into "cooperating". For sure both of the Generals Gilad and Tzadaka know about these steps and have instructed them, but they don't talk about them ?!
After the person manages to pass these INHUMAN measures, he will be placed on a waiting list for humanitarian requests at the offices of the Generals Gilad and Tzadaka. This takes at least one more month of waiting ...
When the person calls back the offices to ask the officer in charge, like Gilad's assistant Aviv or Tzadaka's assistant Beny about the "progress" of their case, they will receive the default answer “the officer is not here, call in three hours!". After three hours, he receive the answer “the officer assigned to your case is not available to talk right now, he is in a meeting, calls after five o'clock!!”. After five o'clock, another answer will be delivered: “the officer is on the telephone, call in five minutes!”. After five minutes, the final response will be ”the officer left, call tomorrow !”
In the same way, people can be delayed for two weeks or a month. In this case, the officer in charge is "sent" on a vacation. Everybody knows this is the formal way of the Generals activities in the territories and Gaza.
Everybody knows that he must request the generals offices to grant them a permit for allowing a truck of food to enter Gaza or get out to the territories. Everybody must request from these Generals to grant them a permit for Cancer medical treatment. In this way, many patients have been quietly "died" for political reasons, just by delaying their requests for access to medical treatment ...
There are no human considerations under the occupation. There is a real starvation going on in Gaza and the West Bank, there is shortage of food, children diseases and deaths related to malnourishment death. There are deaths due to killing and siege ...
The Israeli siege deprived more than half a million of Palestinians working in Israel of their income, and deprived all the Palestinians from the villages to worked in the cities.
Over two million Euros a day are the daily losses of the Palestinians due the Israeli measures implemented to prevent them from working in Israel, and even more because they can't work even in the and in Palestinian cities themselves.
On Sunday, October 13th, 2002 the Major General Amos Gilad, Coordinator of Government Activities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, told a meeting of senior government officials, "There is no starvation in the territories because Israel allows donations to be delivered there on time ..."
On July 20, 2002, I faxed the Major General Amos Gilad, Coordinator of the Government Activities in the West Bank and Gaza, asking him where did he learn to be a liar, and if there is a University offering a special degree in lying in Israel.
I included in my fax a copy of a press release by Ms. Lynn Gefsky, Press Officer at Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. , who released a statement in the U.S.A. saying that the government of Israel is not delaying my travel through Allenby Bridge. The Embassy released it's response after some Americans from Ohio University requested information about my case. The General Gilad's office was -at that time- obstructing my travel to Vienna for political reasons. He had already delayed my travel for over one month, denying me the right to travel through Allenby bridge.
This is just one example to show how things are going on at the General's office, he is always saying one thing but in fact doing the opposite.
As a journalist I know Major General Gilad, I know his assistant Aviv and his spokesperson Ofer Hakam. I do also know General Dov Tzadaka, who represents Gilad's activities in the DCL office at Beit Il.
Both of the Generals Gilad and Tzadaka should be given the epithet of being the Generals of “LIE and STARVATION”.
The strong Israeli propaganda taught these Generals that they are always right and others are always wrong. They reach the International organizations and public opinion by turning the truth up side down and spreading lies and false rumors.
When the American Ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, delivered a message sharply criticizing Israel's failure to implement humanitarian measures and the IDF activities in the territories, the Major General Gilad made his denial statement claiming that there is no starvation in the territories because Israel allows donations to be delivered there.
Actually, there is a very real situation of starvation made by the occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and no humanitarian measures are implemented. These are the values and considerations under these generals military orders.
Since the outbreak of the Intifada or uprising on late September 29, 2000 in the occupied territories, the Palestinian economy has been operating far below productive capacity due instability and economic sanctions imposed by the military occupiers, the generals Gilad and Tzadaka.
The percentage of unemployment has been increased during the last year alone to over 90% in Gaza strip and the territories. In some cities the unemployment has reached 100%. One example is the old city of Hebron, which is under the Israeli control.
The Curfew has been imposed on Hebron, the old city since before the "Intifada", and for over 600 days the Palestinians were living under the Israeli curfew imposed by the military commander colonel Dror Wienberg. Wienberg delivered over 300 military orders which included closing closing the old markets, Palestinian shops, stopping the infrastructure construction and occupying the rooftops of hundreds of Palestinian houses, mine among them.
There are about 750 extremely poor families living in Hebron under colonel Weinberg's authority who depend for their daily food on a volunteer meal donated by a chartable organization. General Dov Tazadaka, who represents the Major General Amos Gilad had stopped the charitable organizations work of supplying the poor people with their daily meal.
I requested the military commander of Hebron Colonel Dror Wienberg to take the humanitarian need of these poor people under the poverty line in his considerations. I sent him an official appeal but he didn't respond ...
Mrs. Ronet Yadeyah, the wife of Oded Yadeyah, who had been worked with General Tzadaka in the south of Lebanon, tried to convince General Tzadaka to grant a permit for supplying the poor people with their own meal, She explained him the real starvation in the city. The General Tzadaka said that a political decision had made the military to stop the food donations, and he couldn't change that ...
The last couple of months before I fled to Austria, I observed real starvation in Hebron, the old city. I was following the IDF soldiers searching Palestinian houses. The soldiers raided the house of an old woman aged 92 (Im Mahmoud Herbawi). Finally they found a bag of rests of dry bread she had collected from the military garbage to soak it in water and to eat for over months. The soldiers, of course, took this away from her. The woman cried endlessly after the suspension of the meal donations made by the chartable organization, "I used to have my only meal from this donated food, but now I was collecting crumbs of bread from the soldiers to survive !"
Inhuman stories like this one example nobody has heard or read until now. Both Generals Gilad and Tzadaka should be aware of what they are doing and saying ...
There is real shortage of food in the territories, a real starvation caused by the tight military closure. Donations to be delivered to the territories and Gaza, “like what General Amos Gilad said”, need to seek a special form of request from the offices of both generals Gilad and Tzadaka. The Generals usually delay their response for over one month. During the "normal" situation before the Intifada raised, the Generals used to delay their response for only two weeks.
In cases such as donations of fresh food, the food stands rotting in lorries behind the Israeli border checkpoints at Tarkomia and Eriz as a result of the delays in their responses which the generals implement only for the sake of humiliating the Palestinians. Any journalist (or just anybody) who wants to see how the Generals Gilad and Tzadaka implement their genocidal measures aimed at humiliating and starving a whole people, needs to just go to the israeli border checkpoints at Tarkomia and Eriz.
The generals offices have a well studied method of dealing with requests aimed at alleviating the dire humanitarian conditions in the territories and Gaza: they postpone, bargain and humiliate.
Any organization or person wanting to send donations for Palestinians should apply and follow the formal way of the Generals offices. The instruction would be:
1.- The office of General Amos Gilad and Dov Tzadaka should receive an official request by fax concerning the humanitarian help to be donated one week before the specific time of entry ...
2.- The application should include, a copy of I.D, passport, the car number ...
3.- Each request should include CV and further informations about the donating organization or person, about the receiver of the donation, the purpose of donation, and the exact place (address) where it is going to ...
4.- If the originating person or institution of the fax request is Palestinian, he should have a magnetic card, “an intelligence certificate of good behavior”...
5.- The Palestinians should follow different steps to apply for the magnetic card, if they do not have one:
a) He should apply personally for this card through the Israeli civil administration office...
b) He should fill in the special application form for this card, at a cost of 45 Shekel (about 12 Euro) ...
c) The form should include a copy of I.D, and two pictures ...
d) The application form should be given by hand to the Israeli officer ...
e) Each request should pass through the intelligence “Shabak” office, which will give its final response
after 1 to 3 weeks ...
After about three weeks, the person should ask the civil administration office about the outcome of his application for a magnetic card application. The default response will be either “REFUSED, or that you are WANTED for an INTELLIGENCE meeting” with the Shabak.
During this "INTELLIGENCE" meeting, which normally is delayed three to five times (that depends on the the assigned intelligence officer), the Shabak asks the person for his help to work with them as an informant, a “SPY”. Requests of humanitarian nature such as the request for medical treatment, economic or educational treatment must pass through the same steps mentioned above, so everybody who needs anything will be delayed, humiliated and coerced into "cooperating". For sure both of the Generals Gilad and Tzadaka know about these steps and have instructed them, but they don't talk about them ?!
After the person manages to pass these INHUMAN measures, he will be placed on a waiting list for humanitarian requests at the offices of the Generals Gilad and Tzadaka. This takes at least one more month of waiting ...
When the person calls back the offices to ask the officer in charge, like Gilad's assistant Aviv or Tzadaka's assistant Beny about the "progress" of their case, they will receive the default answer “the officer is not here, call in three hours!". After three hours, he receive the answer “the officer assigned to your case is not available to talk right now, he is in a meeting, calls after five o'clock!!”. After five o'clock, another answer will be delivered: “the officer is on the telephone, call in five minutes!”. After five minutes, the final response will be ”the officer left, call tomorrow !”
In the same way, people can be delayed for two weeks or a month. In this case, the officer in charge is "sent" on a vacation. Everybody knows this is the formal way of the Generals activities in the territories and Gaza.
Everybody knows that he must request the generals offices to grant them a permit for allowing a truck of food to enter Gaza or get out to the territories. Everybody must request from these Generals to grant them a permit for Cancer medical treatment. In this way, many patients have been quietly "died" for political reasons, just by delaying their requests for access to medical treatment ...
There are no human considerations under the occupation. There is a real starvation going on in Gaza and the West Bank, there is shortage of food, children diseases and deaths related to malnourishment death. There are deaths due to killing and siege ...
The Israeli siege deprived more than half a million of Palestinians working in Israel of their income, and deprived all the Palestinians from the villages to worked in the cities.
Over two million Euros a day are the daily losses of the Palestinians due the Israeli measures implemented to prevent them from working in Israel, and even more because they can't work even in the and in Palestinian cities themselves.
Poor kids in Hebron. They are denied donated food since 2000 by the generals Gilad and Tzadaka
___________________________ |
Implementing the generals genocidal orders, this bulldozer is destroying agricultural land near Hebron, which will soon be given to settlers
______________________________ |
These soldiers are destroying vineyards belonging to a Palestinian farmer. The land will be appropriated for jewish settlers
_________________________ |
|
IDF soldiers stealing Palestinian Olive trees at mount Jabbar near Hebron. They cut the trees leaving the Palestinian farmer without their livelihood, then load them in army trucks and sell them to rich Israelis.
The white Jeep in the foreground is from the civil administration. The soldier standing behind the Jeep is Rafi Geuli from general Tzadaka's office. This picture was taken during 1998, when the West Bank was under the command of the generals Tzadaka and Gilad. |
24 july 2002
Getting away with murder: Israeli impunity triumphs again
Laurie King The Electronic Intifada 24 July 2002 Throughout the world, Israel’s extrajudicial killing of Hamas leader Saleh Shehadeh, which “accidentally” resulted in the deaths of 15 others, many of them children, has elicited official expressions of shock and outrage. Even Israel’s bankrollers and diplomatic guardians in Washington, DC had to admit that this act was wrong and “heavy-handed,” in the words of President Bush. A visitor from another planet, watching the downward spiral of politics in Israel and Palestine over the last two years, might imagine that this event will galvanize the world, mark a turning point, and shock all parties into the overdue realization that violence is not the answer.
Our extraterrestrial guest would, alas, be wrong.
Israel’s long history of getting away with murder suggests that it will probably get away with Monday’s brutal attack on an apartment building in Gaza—the most crowded residential area on the face of this planet—just as it got away with the murders of nearly 16,000 civilians in Lebanon in the summer of 1982, the murder of over 100 civilians (most of them children) sheltering in a UNIFIL base in Qana in 1996, and the more recent carnage in Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron, not to mention the many Palestinians massacred in 1948 at Israel’s birth.
Continuing impunity for these and other crimes against humanity allows Ariel Sharon to crow that the murderous act of 22 July was “a great success,” without any noticeable shame or fear of censure. Impunity also allows the supposedly liberal and peace-loving Shimon Peres, who bears ultimate responsibility for the murders at Qana, to intone, in a strangely hollow moral commentary, that the deaths of innocents in Gaza constitute “a tragedy.”
In actual fact, these deaths—along with all the others referenced above—constitute war crimes. As such, they must be investigated and prosecuted by the international community.
By the same logic and according to the same principles, killings of Israeli civilians orchestrated by Hamas and Islamic Jihad must also be investigated and prosecuted. But we must be clear that these killings are a direct result of the impunity Israel has enjoyed for its killings for the last 54 years. In the absence of justice, the effective application of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, and a host of UN resolutions, Israelis and Palestinians have slid down into the dark, malodorous depths of vengeance. The usual exit from this bloody cycle is death.
Happily, there is another way, and some are beginning to pursue it, such as the Gush Shalom initiative launched by Israeli citizens to compile war crimes charges against their own government; such as the attempt, still ongoing, to bring Ariel Sharon, Amos Yaron and others to justice for their significant role in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres; such as last week’s announcement of a civil suit brought against Israel by Palestinian-Americans
As both the Qur’an and the Torah emphasize, to save a single life is to save the entire world. To take a single life is thus to destroy the entire world. The only way to short circuit the cycle of revenge and counter-revenge that is destroying worlds day by day in Israel and Palestine is to reach for the “circuit-breaker” of International Humanitarian Law right now, before Hamas makes good on its promises to exact revenge and Sharon realizes his ultimate goal—one he has been hoping for since taking his provocative walk-about on the grounds of the Haram Ash-Sharif/Temple Mount on September 29, 2000: To goad Palestinians into doing something so dramatic that Israel will be excused for its subsequent large-scale massacre/population transfer of tens of thousands of Palestinians.
It does not take a rocket scientist to see where Sharon wants to go, and where, with the compliance of the intellectually challenged George W. Bush, he may be allowed to go, taking the entire region to the edges of hell.
Who has to reach for that circuit breaker? All of us. Governments won’t do it, and as the UN demonstrated with its shocking cave-in to Israel’s limitation of its role after the IDF destroyed much of the Jenin refugee camp last April, Kofi Annan won’t do it. This is a job for global citizen. That’s you and me. International Humanitarian Law is our law.
Let’s use it now. It is still not too late.
Our extraterrestrial guest would, alas, be wrong.
Israel’s long history of getting away with murder suggests that it will probably get away with Monday’s brutal attack on an apartment building in Gaza—the most crowded residential area on the face of this planet—just as it got away with the murders of nearly 16,000 civilians in Lebanon in the summer of 1982, the murder of over 100 civilians (most of them children) sheltering in a UNIFIL base in Qana in 1996, and the more recent carnage in Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Hebron, not to mention the many Palestinians massacred in 1948 at Israel’s birth.
Continuing impunity for these and other crimes against humanity allows Ariel Sharon to crow that the murderous act of 22 July was “a great success,” without any noticeable shame or fear of censure. Impunity also allows the supposedly liberal and peace-loving Shimon Peres, who bears ultimate responsibility for the murders at Qana, to intone, in a strangely hollow moral commentary, that the deaths of innocents in Gaza constitute “a tragedy.”
In actual fact, these deaths—along with all the others referenced above—constitute war crimes. As such, they must be investigated and prosecuted by the international community.
By the same logic and according to the same principles, killings of Israeli civilians orchestrated by Hamas and Islamic Jihad must also be investigated and prosecuted. But we must be clear that these killings are a direct result of the impunity Israel has enjoyed for its killings for the last 54 years. In the absence of justice, the effective application of international humanitarian law, the Geneva Conventions, and a host of UN resolutions, Israelis and Palestinians have slid down into the dark, malodorous depths of vengeance. The usual exit from this bloody cycle is death.
Happily, there is another way, and some are beginning to pursue it, such as the Gush Shalom initiative launched by Israeli citizens to compile war crimes charges against their own government; such as the attempt, still ongoing, to bring Ariel Sharon, Amos Yaron and others to justice for their significant role in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres; such as last week’s announcement of a civil suit brought against Israel by Palestinian-Americans
As both the Qur’an and the Torah emphasize, to save a single life is to save the entire world. To take a single life is thus to destroy the entire world. The only way to short circuit the cycle of revenge and counter-revenge that is destroying worlds day by day in Israel and Palestine is to reach for the “circuit-breaker” of International Humanitarian Law right now, before Hamas makes good on its promises to exact revenge and Sharon realizes his ultimate goal—one he has been hoping for since taking his provocative walk-about on the grounds of the Haram Ash-Sharif/Temple Mount on September 29, 2000: To goad Palestinians into doing something so dramatic that Israel will be excused for its subsequent large-scale massacre/population transfer of tens of thousands of Palestinians.
It does not take a rocket scientist to see where Sharon wants to go, and where, with the compliance of the intellectually challenged George W. Bush, he may be allowed to go, taking the entire region to the edges of hell.
Who has to reach for that circuit breaker? All of us. Governments won’t do it, and as the UN demonstrated with its shocking cave-in to Israel’s limitation of its role after the IDF destroyed much of the Jenin refugee camp last April, Kofi Annan won’t do it. This is a job for global citizen. That’s you and me. International Humanitarian Law is our law.
Let’s use it now. It is still not too late.
feb 2002
Soldier testimony: "The spirit of things was to make life unbearable for the Palestinians."
H.L., Staff Sgt. (Res.), Infantry Brigade
The brigade commander decided that since he can't completely prevent Palestinian movement, with the exception of a few locations where all the entrances are closed, we would "make them not want to travel there." So a makeshift checkpoint is set up, we stop cars, and we turn them back. Fifteen minutes later, we allow them through. The point is that people will think twice before taking that route.
We were told to do this in briefings given by the company commander. Simply so they won't want to travel there. Then you stand on the road and stop vehicles. A truck with food comes along bringing supplies to a village, which is totally closed off. It is like supplies being brought to a remote military post. And you stop the truck and order it to turn around. For no apparent reason. It is simply closed and if he doesn't turn around immediately and starts arguing then you start checking his papers etc.
We also initiated some makeshift checkpoints, entirely at random, not because of any General Security Services' warnings. The objective is that if the IDF pops up at a different place every time, they won't know where to come from - and you can understand the operational rationale behind that. But there is not much operational rationale behind erecting a checkpoint on a rainy day, having people get out and get wet, the car gets wet, checking their papers and letting them continue on along a route that simply connects two villages.
They have no way of getting to Israel from that road. It is an activity that genuinely stems from orders which are logical, but you end up pointing a gun at a woman with two children. It makes you a little uncomfortable. It seems as if the orders are to make them hate us, until they do something and then we will have just cause to let them have it.
We did not get any briefing regarding what happens when an ambulance approaches the checkpoint. I tend to believe that in such situations we would call over the walkie-talkie saying that an ambulance has arrived and asking what to do. There were no clear cut orders to let ambulances through, but there were no orders not to. Because we are veteran reservists we were given discretion on such issues.
The spirit of things was to make life unbearable for the Palestinians. Stop them, inspect them a thousand and one times so that they wont want to drive that route. It seemed stupid to me. You harm people's livelihood, harm people's life, detain children on the way to school, what good can come from this to the army, or to the country?
The brigade commander decided that since he can't completely prevent Palestinian movement, with the exception of a few locations where all the entrances are closed, we would "make them not want to travel there." So a makeshift checkpoint is set up, we stop cars, and we turn them back. Fifteen minutes later, we allow them through. The point is that people will think twice before taking that route.
We were told to do this in briefings given by the company commander. Simply so they won't want to travel there. Then you stand on the road and stop vehicles. A truck with food comes along bringing supplies to a village, which is totally closed off. It is like supplies being brought to a remote military post. And you stop the truck and order it to turn around. For no apparent reason. It is simply closed and if he doesn't turn around immediately and starts arguing then you start checking his papers etc.
We also initiated some makeshift checkpoints, entirely at random, not because of any General Security Services' warnings. The objective is that if the IDF pops up at a different place every time, they won't know where to come from - and you can understand the operational rationale behind that. But there is not much operational rationale behind erecting a checkpoint on a rainy day, having people get out and get wet, the car gets wet, checking their papers and letting them continue on along a route that simply connects two villages.
They have no way of getting to Israel from that road. It is an activity that genuinely stems from orders which are logical, but you end up pointing a gun at a woman with two children. It makes you a little uncomfortable. It seems as if the orders are to make them hate us, until they do something and then we will have just cause to let them have it.
We did not get any briefing regarding what happens when an ambulance approaches the checkpoint. I tend to believe that in such situations we would call over the walkie-talkie saying that an ambulance has arrived and asking what to do. There were no clear cut orders to let ambulances through, but there were no orders not to. Because we are veteran reservists we were given discretion on such issues.
The spirit of things was to make life unbearable for the Palestinians. Stop them, inspect them a thousand and one times so that they wont want to drive that route. It seemed stupid to me. You harm people's livelihood, harm people's life, detain children on the way to school, what good can come from this to the army, or to the country?
