Things are getting hot over here. I've been reading lately some interesting opinion columns from local writers who think the third intifada is about to start, and if things keep going as they have been, that may well happen.
Firstly, Israel sealed off the West Bank beginning on Thursday and plan to keep it that way until at least Wednesday. What that means is that some Palestinians who are usually allowed to cross the checkpoints in order to pray at Al-Aqsa mosque will not be allowed to do so until the closure is over. Women are allowed to cross as usual but only men over 50 will be allowed during the closure.
This Ynet article describes five incidents of violence this week, which is not alltogether out of the ordinary, but one of those incidents was at the Old City's Damascus Gate, which is not usually a site of tension.
Recently there was also an incident of stone throwing and other tomfoolery at Al-Aqsa. The closure is a result of Israeli intelligence getting information that such an event was going to happen again this past weekend.
The decision was based on police intelligence received on a group of Arab youths planning to enter Temple Mount and causing disturbances. Accordingly, the Jerusalem District Police and Border Guard will deploy in force around the Temple Mount complex and the alleys of Jerusalem's Old City.
Speaking of Israeli intelligence, this other article brags about the intelligentsia's ability to preempt bad stuff.
The IDF emphasized that Udda's arrest illustrates the freedom the military enjoys in the West Bank and the precise intelligence hold it has which enables such arrests. "Anti-terror activity is constantly ongoing. We take action against anyone involved in terror now and against elements that were involved in terror in the past and have yet to be brought to justice. This is the approach that guides us, and will continue to guide us," an IDF source said.
This was in reference to the arrest of Maher Udda, a Hamas big fish that they consider the last man they were seeking in connection with the second intifada's terror attacks.
Haaretz says today that Israel dismantled a small outpost outside of the Kiryat Arba settlement, which had been expanded on Tuesday to include two new families. But the article says, "The settlers are expected to build the outpost again on Wednesday, as is customary following their dismantlement by security forces."
This was after the Youth for Israel movement established 11 new outposts earlier this week.
Also earlier this week, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said, "the IDF has not received orders to prepare for the evacuation of outposts in the West Bank." One of the movement's members, Shlomit Amitai, said:
"What we do is like bandaging a mother's wounds," Amitai says, explaining the proverb's meaning. "This empty earth is a wound that must be bandaged with a settlement."
And by "empty earth" she means, "earth currently being cultivated by Palestinian farmers who, as non-Jews, have no rights to the land."
At the beginning of this whole spat with the US over settlements, activists and the blogosphere predicted that Netanyahu would order a few far-flung outposts dismantled, which would inevitably make it into the news and make it look like he was making an effort to stop settlement expansion. And that prediction seems to be all too true.
We have to admit that despite the unpleasantness involved in the American reprimands over the unauthorized outposts, this confrontation has several benefits. The Israeli government and its settlers enjoy every moment, as every minute dedicated to the quarrel over the removal of illegal mobile homes in Judea and mobile washrooms in Samaria is a minute that is not devoted to the truly important evacuations.
Besides, the preoccupation with the “illegal outposts” is a good thing, as it implies that all the other settlements are legal; as if alongside the lawbreaking thieves we see legally sound thieves, who rob and steal in line with the rules.
In addition, the outpost festival allows the official Israel to present an image whereby the problem – that is, the enemies of the peace process and of an agreement – has to do with reckless hilltop youth, devoid of any restraints or Ritalin.
What isn't mentioned here is that even these random, youth-initiated, illegal outposts are protected by the army and are sooner or later provided with paved roads, electricity and plumbing by the Israeli government. They literally could not even set up a tent without the support of the IDF. If Netanyahu didn't want them to set up house, there would be no need for a settler-military confrontation, he could simply ignore them. But what he's after is the creation of "facts on the ground", a phrase that become synonymous with Israel's race to populate the West Bank with Jews before the world puts its foot down about the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.
I am sitting here on a rooftop in Bil'in with Sami, Luis, and some ISM activists. It is near midnight and we are waiting for the soldiers to come. They do arrests in the middle of the night- it is standard practice- and these activists try to observe the arrests to prevent brutality and at least film it and act as witnesses when it does happen.
Besides the foreign activists, nearly every rooftop at the edges of the village has a Palestinian look-out watching for the soldiers. Gaggles of pre-teen boys follow us wherever we go, joking with us, practicing their English, and excitedly telling us about themselves and their friends. Their smaller brothers toddle behind, sucking their thumbs.
On nights they do arrests, the lights of their jeeps can be seen on the Israeli-only roads near the wall, on the outskirts of the village. The lights go out and then the soldiers wait, as do we. Between one and three in the morning usually, the soldiers quietly cross the fields and enter this tiny village of 1,700 residents by foot to make what arrests they can.
There are some 150 names on the list of Palestinians to be arrested, but generally the soldiers are only able to make one or two arrests per night. The List has come into the hands of some anarchist Israeli activists and so by now everyone on it knows they're on it. They have begun to take precautions against arrest accordingly by moving locations at night.
One may wonder why nearly 10% of the village's population (and about 29% of the adult male population) is wanted for arrest, and there is an answer. Bil'in holds protests against the wall and the occupation in general every Friday. These protests are peaceful and are attended by international observers and news media, but the villages' participants are persecuted anyway with impunity.
Perhaps #1 on The List is Ashraf Abu Rahma, who has been dubbed the Palestinian Che Guevara for his non-violent but fearless and relentless protests against the occupation. (My previous writings about his travails here) Standing on the roof with me, he asks if I know the story of how he was shot by an Israeli soldier after being blindfolded and handcuffed. Indeed, I remembered vividly the event from last summer since it was captured on camera by 14-year-old Salam Amira. Salam's father was later arrested in what was believed to be an act of retribution for the filming.
Ashraf's character is significantly different from what I expected, given his exploits. He is small, kind, childlike, talkative, and a little goofy. He freely admits he is crazy for doing what he does. He speaks little English and the words he does use are frequently slightly incorrect. For example, he says baby for maybe, five for fine, and, my personal favorite: menstruation instead of demonstration. Everyone in the village knows him and as we walk the streets together, looking for more signs of soldiers, everyone enthusiastically welcomes him to sit with them.
So far this evening, we have seen 8 pairs of headlights converge upon the hill and go out. This means somewhere between 70 and 100 soldiers will probably enter the village tonight. So we await their arrival.
*****
At one in the morning, we left our perch atop the roof of the house and walked to the edge of the village, where the soldiers usually emerge from the field. Our plan was to alert the other members of the mission, by phone, so everyone could follow the soldiers together to observe their behavior. We all sat side by side in the road, under a clouded half-moon, waiting for the soldiers to step out of the shadows.
We chatted in hushed tones, smoked cigarettes, and dozed. The two Israeli activists who had just arrived discussed their passions and taught us Hebrew words. The Palestinian residents of Bil'in taught us Arabic words we didn't know, and the foreign participants taught the others some English words. With a combination of the three languages used, we all made it a merry, if subdued, night.
At 3:50, the muezzin sang the call to prayer and we all agreed that most likely the soldiers would not come now that everyone was up and about. We waited another half hour and then sleepily made our way home.
It may be that the soldiers knew we were there, waiting for them. Certainly they are light years ahead of this grassroots movement in terms of available technology. And it is rumored that the tower perched atop the highest hill in the village holds a camera which captures the village's movements. Throughout the night, the soldiers set small, controlled fires at what seemed random locations around the outskirts of Bil'in. They do this even on nights they don't make arrests, I am told, perhaps to cause confusion among the activists.
Some believe the last week (during which no arrests were made) served to cause the activists to lose interest and leave so that the Israeli military can swoop in and make several arrests in one night, without international supervision to hinder them.
Three weeks and 1,285 lives later, both Israel and Gaza are cleaning up the mess. As I mentioned a few days ago, weakening Hamas was not the sole objective of the offensive. IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted in the summer of 2006, is still behind enemy lines, although whether he is alive or dead remains to be seen. Public pressure to retrieve Shalit is tremendous. Protests are held demanding that the government facilitate his release, letter writing campaigns are run, and Ha'aretz newspaper has a perpetually-running PSA on its front page, reminding readers how long Shalit has been in captivity (942 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes, and 42 seconds, as I'm writing this). The fact that time ran out on this operation before Shalit could be rescued is a crushing blow to the current administration, especially Tzipi Livni, who may be blamed for the failure, hurting her chances in the upcoming election for Prime Minister.
So Israel is doing its media spin thing. The AP's Ben Hubbard writes today:
Israel indicated Thursday that it wants to swap Palestinians held in Israeli jails for an Israeli soldier captured in 2006 as part of a longer-term truce after three weeks of fighting in Gaza.
Israeli media said some Cabinet ministers have softened their positions on releasing dangerous Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, signaling the government is trying to work out a deal with Hamas ahead of Israeli elections next month.
What makes this story a big yawn-fest for those who have been paying attention is that Israel has been saying this for at least six months. The two governments were negotiating, through the ubiquitous moderator Egypt, back in July about how many prisoners Hamas would get in exchange for Shalit. Israeli leaders will have to balance the unpopularity of releasing convicted murderers against the popularity of bringing Shalit home.
In an effort to make it seem like everything is going according to plan, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said recently, "I believe the war created levers that could hasten Gilad Schalit's return home." Meaning Israel had applied sufficient pressure to make Hamas more docile.
Olmert could be referring to the destruction of hundreds of underground tunnels Hamas uses to smuggle weapons into Gaza. The recent offensive destroyed or damaged 60-90% of those tunnels (depending on which side you ask), which numbered upwards of a thousand. But, according to the AP's Alfred de Montesquiou, tunnel operators are already fixing the damage and could be back in business within days. As a result of the collective punishment methods Israel utilizes to try to weaken Hamas, goods, not just guns, are in short supply in Gaza. Tunnel operators describe the goods they smuggle as potato chips, cigarettes, baby formula, underwear, and even animals for the zoo.
About weapons smuggling, Montesquiou writes:
While both traffickers insisted they had never considered bringing weapons for Hamas, Abu Bilal, another colleague repairing his own tunnel, said he wouldn't mind doing so. "But frankly, the resistance never asks us to," he said. "I think they've got their own tunnels and don't want to pay us," he said.
What's materializing as the smoke clears is that neither side has achieved its goals- both are right back where they started, politically- but both are claiming victory. Meanwhile, 6,000 Gazans are dead or injured and southern Israel will continue to be bombarded with Hamas' qassam rockets until both Israel and whoever rules Gaza learns to use diplomacy instead of brute force.
A couple of weeks before the IDF began bombing Gaza, I warned some of my Palestinian friends that a major Gaza operation would be coming. They asked me how I knew. I said a good friend of mine, an Israeli former Special Forces soldier, had been called for reserve duty and the only information he was given was that it had to do with Gaza.
My Palestinian friends shrugged this off, saying, "They do this shit all the time. It means nothing."
When the bombing began, my friends said it would last a few days and then stop. They said Israel was only making a statement, sending a warning to Hamas about the rocket fire. I told them there would be a ground invasion, and I said that weakening Hamas was not their prime objective.
Well, there's certainly no satisfaction in being right about this. I wish I had been wrong. But my predictions haven't stopped coming. Weakening Hamas is a pleasant side effect of the operation, but the IDF's primary objective is recovering Gilad Shalit, alive or dead. Dead, most likely, at this point.
Shalit was abducted by Hamas in the summer of 2006 during a cross border raid. He has been held all this time. As of July of 2008 he was alive, but this week Hamas has been hinting that he may or may not be alive anymore. Words were to the effect of, "It is no longer our concern." This leads me to believe he's dead, which isn't going to be good for anyone. Not for Hamas, not for the morale of the Israeli people, and not for the politicians running in the upcoming election.
That's right, Israelis will vote for their prime minister presently and whoever is responsible for bringing back the country's beloved Missing Soldier will win the prize. Gilad Shalit is no longer just a person. He is a symbol. If he is found alive, national pride in Israel will flourish. If he is found dead, Israelis' hatred of "the other" will be further cemented and the Gaza operation will likely end later and with more civilians dead. The possibility that Shalit is alive is quite possibly the only factor applying what little restraint there is in this campaign.
On a personal note, I am deeply saddened by the hatred I see coming out of both my Palestinian friends and my Israeli friends. Those who could enjoy each others' company before this operation began can no longer be in the same room together. They see each other as monsters, no longer human beings. Sometimes it is too complicated for the mind to grasp the complexities of humanity in others, or even in ourselves.
But I know the truth. Each soldier who bombs a house, shoots a man, arrests a child...these soldiers are also someone's son, husband, or father. The same as the Hamas operatives who shoot qassam rockets across the border into civilian areas are sons, husbands, and fathers. It is not easy to accept, but it is true. I believe that true progress can only be made with this in mind.
If you believe your own actions are justifiable, then you must believe someone else's actions are too.
Israel said it was approaching the "endgame" of its three-week offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers and scheduled a Security Cabinet vote Saturday on a truce proposed by Egypt. Under the cease-fire plan, fighting would stop immediately for 10 days, but Israeli forces would initially remain in Gaza and the border crossings into the territory would remain closed until security arrangements are made to ensure Hamas militants do not rearm.
According to my theory, Israel scheduling a vote on the ceasefire for Saturday means they think they have located Shalit and are probably planning a night rescue for...that would be tonight. If they were right and they were successful, tomorrow's news will reveal that. If they were wrong or unsuccessful, I doubt anyone will ever hear about it.
As the Gaza operation drags on and violence once again becomes the norm, people around the world have been sounding off about their opinions and concerns. There isn't much difference presently between rumor and "respected" news (partially due to the fact that Israel has blocked all outside media people from entering Gaza). News we receive by word of mouth carries just as much power as if it were disseminated by a major outlet, maybe even more. In 1948, news of the Deir Yassin massacre had reached every ear in Palestine before it hit the papers. Media blackouts in Nazi Germany kept journalists from reporting what actually happened to the Jews in the camps, but word spread anyway.
This week, there has been word that Israel is purposefully bombing schools and hospitals, that Hamas has not allowed the sick and injured to flee into Egypt. There has been word from supporters of Israel that Hamas gunmen use crying children as human shields. And there has been word from supporters of Gaza that Israel drops leaflets to the Palestinians, telling them where it is safe to hide, and then bombing said safe place with an unmanned drone.
It is easier on the psyche to make your enemy into a monster. In fact, it is well-documented that human beings have a strong tendency to assume the worst about the out-group and assume the best about their own in-group. It is survival, and it is as old as our species.
I will let the video and pictures from this last protest speak for itself. The people will tell you what they think through the signs they carry.
[Note: The lack of signs supporting Israel is due to a lack of any counter-protesters at these events, not my disinterest in letting them be heard.]
[Enough chit-chat in Gaza!]
[This one looks to be a leftover from this week's Oakland protests, wherein a police officer shot a subdued and unarmed young man in the back. Perhaps they thought their sign would be appropriate for this protest too.]
[There is no god but God and Mohammad is his prophet.]
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Israeli settlers living in illegal West Bank outposts sometimes attack when soldiers come to evict them or take away their building supplies.
One such resident, Itai Zer, tells the New Zealand Herald that these are not uncoordinated attacks in response to isolated incidents. These attacks are all part of "Operation Price Tag," an effort designed to disorient both Palestinian villagers and IDF soldiers so that outpost evacuations must be postponed.
Recommended methods reportedly include arson and road-blocking to force troops to abandon the evacuation and deal with the protesters’ actions, as well as demonstratively entering Palestinian villages - a tactic used repeatedly in the village of Asira al Qibliya.
Due to these acts of what some would call protest and others would call terrorism, 50% of the olive trees in the village of Burin, adjacent to the Yitzhar settlement, have been burned recently, and with the olive harvest just around the corner, some residents wonder where their livelihood will come from.
Yitzhar settlers also poison and shoot livestock and cut telephone and power lines in their effort to keep the situation chaotic. Some of these protesters draw the line at attacking people, but say they wouldn't stop others if they chose to attack Palestinian villagers directly.
There are nearly 300,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, from all different walks of life. Some are hardcore Jewish ideologues who seek to secure the entire West Bank for Israel in the fulfillment of a biblical promise. Others simply moved there in search of cheaper housing.
Palestinians acting in reprisal of the settler attacks have suffered doubly. Throughout the Israeli-Palestinian conflict there have been four times as many casualties on the Palestinian side with eight times as many children killed or injured. Recent events prove no different.
Two weeks ago, Yitzhar settlers went on a rampage in Assira al-Kubliyeh, following an arson and stabbing attack that injured a 9-year-old boy from the settlement. Dozens of stone-throwing settlers, some firing in the air, smashed windows of several homes and overturned a car in the village. Six villagers were hurt, including a 17-year-old girl shot in the right arm. Yesh Din said Israeli soldiers did little to prevent the riot.
Later that week, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was shot to death while throwing a firebomb at Yitzhar.
Unfortunately, by not protecting the Palestinians, the IDF leaves them no choice but to retaliate for the settler violence, a natural act which nevertheless only hurts them once again and reinforces the settlers' mission to expel them.
In covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict I've heard a lot of complaints from both sides. Why can't they just... is a common prefix for such complaints, framed as questions. And they're logical questions, ones I've had myself.
Well, there's an article on Haaretz today that might answer one of those questions. And this article is by no means out of the ordinary.
The jist is this:
Some 90 right-wing activists on Thursday besieged an Israel Defense Forces post north of Ramallah, in protest against the civil administration's decision to remove construction supplies from an illegal outpost in the West Bank.
The settlers rallied around the civil administration officials, pierced the tires of a supervisor's car, and sicked a dog on one of the soldiers.
Israeli settlers were about to start building a house, or houses, in an unapproved area, so the IDF showed up and carted their construction materials away. This may partly answer the question, Why can't they just stop letting in more settlers?
Illegal settlements have been dealt with in a multitude of ways. Sometimes the government ignores them. Sometimes the government gives passive support. Sometimes the government gives active support, like providing IDF guards to protect the settlers. Sometimes the government evicts them. No doubt the Israeli government's reaction to each settler has more to do with the strategic placement of that particular settlement, and whether it supports the land grab, but illegal settlers are not always supported wholeheartedly.
However, when the IDF does take any action against Israeli settlers, the backlash is fierce, both immediately and long term. In the short term, you have attacks like in the Haaretz article above. You have settlers spitting, yelling curses, and the like, at their IDF brethren. Calling them traitors. In the long term, well.
In 1947, David Ben-Gurion struck a deal with the orthodox Agudath party. In exchange for implementing Jewish law as national law in the new state of Israel, Agudath supported Ben-Gurion politically and he became the well-loved first Prime Minister of Israel.
Ever since then, the orthodox Jews in Israel have had extraordinary power over the government. One cannot win office without their support. And once in office, one would be swimming against the tide to try to accomplish anything without their support.
And they support Jewish settlement of the West Bank.
So any Israeli politician who dares to remove settlers from Palestinian areas will first have the soldiers they send spit on, cursed, and possibly beaten, and then they will be booed out of office.
There have been developments on The Saga of the Rubber Bullet. Lieutenant Colonel Omri Bruberg has resigned from his post and it is likely that criminal charges will be filed against both the commander and the soldier who shot their bound Palestinian detainee.
Ashraf Abu-Rahma was shot in the foot with a rubber-coated bullet at close range while he was handcuffed, blindfolded, and in IDF custody. The unnamed soldier who shot him claims his commander ordered him to fire.
The IDF's Judge Advocate General, Avi Mandelblit, also decided that the commander and the firing soldier will face criminal charges of improper conduct. Such offences are considered relatively minor and do not result in a criminal record. The trial is expected to end in a plea bargain.
Humanitarian organization B'Tselem, who publicized the now-famous footage of the incident call the minor charges "shameful."
In response to the decision, Bruberg said: "I’m the commander, I'm responsible, and I'm paying the price. I believe this decision is good for the soldier (involved in the incident,) for the regiment, and for the army as a whole." In a talk he held with his subordinates, Bruberg said he is "proud of the army."
A note on stone throwing. My sentiments might be as unpopular to Israelis as they are to Palestinians. But the potential to offend someone when discussing this conflict is limitless.
The latest news about the ill-fated village of Nil'in in the West Bank is about Ahmed Mousa, a 10 year old who was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier. When I originally read about this event, it was from the left-wing Israeli media, which basically expresses sorrow about the boy but also reminds us that he was throwing stones. Then they add a mention of an IDF soldier who was hit in the eye with a rock.
Non-Israeli media makes no mention of stone throwing, or any reason at all for the soldiers' actions.
I was not there and therefore cannot comment on the exact causes of this event, but I can comment on the phenomenon of stone throwing. Every day, and especially after protests, teenage boys throw stones at Israeli soldiers. They are filled with adolescent rage and frustration and their browbeaten parents can neither control them nor offer them a feasible alternative.
So they throw rocks.
Sometimes these rocks fall far from their intended targets and the effort goes ignored. Sometimes the rocks hit the soldiers, and there is retaliation. We must not forget that both the stone throwers and the soldiers are acting in response to the same emotions. They are limited by the same level of brain development.
My sentiment is: those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
But this sentiment is directed not at those who literally throw the stones but the puppeteers behind them: the international media.
It is no accident that every time a Palestinian suffers unduly, an outsider with big opinions is there to publicize it. Each protest in the West Bank villages of Nil'in and Bil'in ends with Palestinian teenagers throwing stones. And this often leads to injuries, sometimes fatal ones. But the international activists who organize these protests make no effort to stop the stone throwing. They stand by with their cameras, waiting for someone to get hurt so they can reinforce the image of the Palestinian as Victim.
The internationals who, with the best intentions, insert themselves into this conflict are as integral to the problem as the stone throwers and the IDF. They form a triangle that continuously feed the roles of victim, conquerer, and hungry audience. It's a gladiator show.
Without the violence, would anyone be watching?
With nobody watching, would there still be violence?
Many argue that these kids throw stones because it is the only option left to them. But what if it is just the only option anybody told them about? If it is considered fair by anti-Israelis to abduct IDF soldiers to leverage for ransom, why not to shoot teenage stone throwers? The abducted soldiers were combatants, legal targets, but they did not volunteer for service. The stone throwers, then, are also combatants, who by virtue of their perceived lack of options, didn't volunteer either.
The differences between them are weak. Take an IDF soldier, subtract four years and a uniform, and you get a kid with a rock.
Everyone who profits from this conflict, from the Canadian construction firms building settlements to the mainstream media, are doing so at the expense of the region's children.
In a previous post I wrote about the case of Lieutenant Colonel Omri Fruberg, who was accused of ordering an IDF soldier under his command to open fire on a handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian prisoner.
In more recent news reports Fruberg is referred to as Bruberg, perhaps in a correction of an earlier mistake.
The IDF's first response to the accusation was:
Lieutenant Colonel Omri was unaware of the incident and that the door of his patrol vehicle blocked his line of vision.
But then they reviewed the video footage of the event and figured out nobody would fall for that crap.
Then they launched an investigation, during which Bruberg took a polygraph at a private institute. The test confirmed he did not give the order to fire. But then he took another polygraph under military supervision, and this time he failed.
Bruberg said he told the soldier only to shake his rifle to frighten the Palestinian, according to a military investigation.
This guy is dumber than a box of rocks. He, and whoever is letting him talk, keeps forgetting that there is a video of this. Why would shaking the rifle scare the prisoner? He was blindfolded.
And furthermore...really??? You thought it would scare him because...people normally shake their rifle before firing it?
Bruberg must have also assumed that the prisoner had his ears plugged as well because that's the only way he wouldn't have heard "Shake your rifle to scare him."
UPDATE: I have now uncovered all sorts of things the Israeli media is not reporting.
First of all, the prisoner who was shot, Ashraf Abu-Rahma, is well-known by the IDF and is considered to be the "Palestinian Che Guevarra" because of his frequent but non-violent resistance to Israeli activity in the West Bank.
Ashraf has been shot multiple times and arrested three times before this incident, which could, in part, explain his obvious lack of surprise at being shot this time. In an interview with IPS, he explained that he doesn't understand Hebrew very well and therefore could not confirm or deny that Bruberg gave the order to fire. However, he did recognize the word for rubber bullet, gumi. It was a rubber coated steel bullet that he was shot with.
Ashraf has gained his reputation for nonviolent resistance by doing things like camping out in homes that were set to be demolished or halting settlement construction by climbing onto the cranes themselves.
Another aspect of this story that nobody is reporting on is the actual situation of the IDF soldiers. For example, even though the media is not reporting his age, it is likely that Lieutenant Colonel Bruberg is between 22 and 25 years old. This is an advanced age for a soldier in his position but incredibly young for a soldier of this rank in any other army. Most active-duty IDF soldiers, especially those in direct contact with Palestinians, are between 18 and 22 years old.
They are dealing with complicated situations where they must often choose between their own life and the life of a stranger. A common example of this concept is the image of a dark figure approaching a guard tower at night. The figure holds what could be a stick or could be a gun. The soldier yells "stop!" but the figure continues to advance. This dark presence could be an adult militant, intent to kill. Or it could be a child.
These soldiers make the choice whether or not to fire before Americans of the same age are even allowed to drink alcohol. They do not have the life experience to act with wisdom and there is nobody supervising them.
If such a thing is possible, the fate of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit is even more on the minds of Israeli citizens today. Last week, in a prisoner exchange deal, the bodies of soldiers Udi Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were released in exchange for several Hezbollah prisoners.
This, mercifully and tragically, allowed the families of the two soldiers to turn their energies toward pressuring the government for a prisoner swap involving Shalit, who was taken in a cross-border raid in 2006.
Shalit's company was released from the army today and his fellow soldiers used the opportunity to draw attention to his plight and remind leaders that he would not be forgotten. After their release, the soldiers marched the nine kilometers from Bakum base to the Defense Minister's Bureau in Tel Aviv, where they met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Shalit's comrades met with Barak and asked him - as someone who once served as a commanding officer - to work toward achieving his release. They said that the meeting was pleasant, and that Barak told them efforts are under way to secure Shalit's freedom.
A rally was then held in Rabin Square, where hundreds of supporters gathered to express their hope for Shalit's release.
They reported after their meeting with Barak that he was keeping mum about the swap for good reason:
The reservists also said Barak told them part of the process is being conducted in secrecy so as to avoid the talks being sabotaged.
However, Hamas higher-ups are possibly not being as tight-lipped because the Arab press has begun reporting details about the negotiations.
Al-Bayan, a newspaper published in the UAE, reported the process currently being discussed:
Under the initiative, Israel would release several dozen prisoners a confidence-building measure, including Hamas parliamentarians and ministers arrested after Shalit's abduction in June 2006. In return, Shalit would be brought to Egypt, where his family would be able to visit him. After this stage, negotiations for the release of more Palestinian prisoners and Shalit's return home would continue.
Israel has already approved 71 names on a list of over 800 prisoners, including some who are serving multiple life sentences for involvement in terrorist attacks. Israel expects to release several such prisoners, but is also hoping Egypt will pressure Hamas to be more flexible about the negotiations.
Because military service is mandatory in Israel, the government has a very strong sense of responsibility toward keeping soldiers out of danger and securing their release should they be captured. A missing Israeli soldier is likely to receive much more attention than a missing soldier in any other army.
UPDATE:
Since the above footage was released by B'Tselem, a government investigation was launched about the incident. The IDF's reaction was predictable.
The IDF originally said that Lieutenant Colonel Omri was unaware of the incident and that the door of his patrol vehicle blocked his line of vision. However, the footage seems to counter his claims.
Yawn. Try harder.
Then, when they realized that the footage could in no way corroborate this story, they tried again:
"This is an inappropriate incident which is against the IDF's values," an IDF spokesperson said yesterday. "Army regulations strictly prohibit the abuse of detainees and require their fair and honorable treatment. After examining the footage, the Military Advocate General, Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit, ordered military police to open an investigation into the incident."
The soldier was arrested, but beyond that I know not.
I doubt this will be the last footage we see about this type of incident:
As part of its "Shooting Back" project, B'Tselem has distributed about 100 cameras to Palestinians throughout the West Bank over the last year.
Very apropos of my last post, where I mention the Palestinian guests of Israeli jails, Seth Freedman reads my mind again. He also discusses the treatment of these detainees, especially those under 18.
A snippet:
In February, Muhammad was snatched by a four-man squad of Israeli special forces while playing with friends near the security wall, a mile away from his home. He was subjected to a vicious beating by the men, who punched him repeatedly and smashed him across the face with the butt of a gun in broad daylight. "No one said a word to me during [the attack]", recalled Muhammad, whose description of the assault bore marked similarities to Rodney King's ordeal.
The difference, however, is that Muhammad is just 14 years old, yet was deemed a sufficient enough threat by the soldiers that he needed to be beaten to the point of almost losing consciousness. His crime? Allegedly throwing stones at the separation wall; something Muhammad strenuously denies.
Whereas Israeli youths are treated as children in the eyes of the law until they turn 18, Palestinians are not accorded such humane treatment, and can be imprisoned from the tender age of just 12. Since September 2000 Israel has arrested and detained almost 6000 children, with 700 under-18s arrested in 2007 alone.
And the reaction of advocates for people like Muhammad remind us again that all lawful avenues of recourse have been blocked.
Gerard Horton of DCI, an NGO which has taken up Muhammad's case, pointed to the IDF's flagrant violations of children's rights as yet another example of Israel thumbing its nose at international law. "These abuses have been well documented for many years, yet our pleas for intervention have fallen on deaf ears", he said. "The lack of will by the international community to uphold the rule of law when it comes to the Occupied Territories is deeply disturbing."
These point to the sentiments I have heard again and again since dipping my hand into this conflict: the violent reaction of Palestinian militants might not be advisable, but it is understandable.
Muhammad's mother says:
The Israelis do all of this to put pressure on us, in order to show that the army controls the Palestinians, and also to try to force us to leave – but whatever they do to us, we will remain here.
After months of writing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I decided that I need to visit some actual Palestinians, ones who are currently living in the West Bank. I realized that most of my information about Arabs was coming from Israelis. And I realized this was pointless and even a bit dangerous. I wanted to see what Palestinian culture was like, apart from the conflict.
So I arranged to meet with a friend of a friend in Ramallah, who has asked that I call him Mr. T. It took me five buses and four hours to get roughly 30 miles from Tel Aviv to the Al-Jalzoon refugee camp north of Ramallah. Mr. T has a background in international law (which he says has no practical application in the occupied territories) and works for two non-profits in Ramallah, both of which are concerned with Palestinian culture and refugees. He welcomed me into his home and provided everything I needed for the three days and two nights I stayed there.
I was unsure about host/guest protocol at first so when he ordered and paid for my carrot juice at a juice bar, I asked him how much it was as I pulled out my wallet. He gave me The Look.
I have become very familiar with The Look during my time in Israel. It is one of the many cultural aspects Israelis and Palestinians have in common. It says, “What, you’re trying to pay? Oh, do put that away, it’s a pathetic attempt.”
Hosting, in Palestine, seems to be even more of a high honor than it is in Israel, which is something I never thought possible, since Israelis had been the most welcoming and thoughtful people I had yet encountered. Although, when I really examine my life experience, I should have known.
Just after high school, I used to baby sit at hotels for tourists. Almost invariably, the guests at the most expensive hotels, with the largest rooms, tipped the poorest. Guests at the Best Western tipped better than guests at the Ritz.
And so it was that a man who lives with his parents and eight siblings in a refugee camp purchased everything I needed during my visit.
But I quickly found that Palestinian culture could not be separated from the conflict. They feel its effects every day. It governs everything they do, every decision they make.
Mr. T took me to the Al-Jalzoon refugee camp, which is home to some 12,000 people, mostly from cities in the interior of Israel, such as Ramla and Lod. As we walked through the narrow streets, he explained that Israel has legal control over the camp, under the Oslo Accords, but that all services (sanitation, health, education) are provided by UNRWA (United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees). However, these services are slowly being scaled back.
The school for boys sits at the edge of the camp, behind which one can see the characteristic red-tiled roofs of an Israeli settlement.
The streets of Al-Jalzoon show all the predictable signs of poverty: grafitti, garbage, crumbling walls, poorly-paved, narrow roads, and the occasional empty lot filled with rubble. Mr. T points these lots out here and there and says these homes were demolished by the IDF. When I ask why, he gives me an answer I will hear many, many times during this visit: for security. He says it with a sad sort of chuckle and when the look on my face prompts him for a more complete answer, he adds, “That’s what they say. That’s what they always say.” He adds that often the water supply to the camp is sometimes withheld and that Israel does not permit either the Palestinian Authority or UNRWA to dig wells below a certain depth.
The insides of the homes are remarkably different from the outsides. They are carefully decorated, with matching furniture and drapes, and sets of knick-knacks proudly standing guard in each corner. There is a large family room, a sitting room, a kitchen, bathroom, and several bedrooms. I asked Mr. T why there was such a big difference between the outsides and the insides of Al-Jalzoon. Before he could answer, my mind started generating possibilities. The most logical one is that the residents of the camp do not own their houses and the IDF does not allow them or UNRWA to make improvements to the infrastructure of the camp. Therefore they can only make improvements that cannot be readily seen. Another thought I had was that this home represents 56 years of life. Mr. T was born here. His elderly parents have lived here since the building was built in 1952.
But Mr. T’s answer was much simpler than mine. In response to my question, he quoted Palestinian poet Mahmoud Derwish, “We enjoy life whenever we can.”
We sat together in his sitting room and I asked him another question, one I have been asking many people during my stay in Israel. The question has two purposes: to help me expand my understanding of the conflict and to make people examine their own assumptions. The question is: what is the difference between a terrorist organization and a political party?
Mr. T thought quietly and then answered, “My own view is that terrorism does not have a definition so far. Under any circumstances, conflicting parties do not have to target a civilian population. But at the same time, if an occupying power oppresses an occupied people all the time and does not leave them any other option, then their action would be violent. I’m not trying to justify suicide bombings. But at the same time I can tell you that I understand them. Because if you hit me, if you continue hitting me, you have to expect my reaction. You are telling me, ‘Come and hit me.’”
He thought a moment more and then added, “One night about two years ago, there was a knock at the door. It was 2 a.m. Some soldiers came into the house and made me stand there, and took a picture of me. There was no reason for this. I believe this is terror.”
After this, we walked to the camp’s gathering place and smoked a hookah and talked about many things. An Arabic radio broadcast discussing the prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah came on. I asked Mr. T if he thought it was fair to exchange five live prisoners for two dead bodies. He said, flatly, “yes.” I pressed him, “Do you know what crimes the prisoners were held for?” “No I do not.” “So how do you know it’s fair?” “If this is the only way Israel will release them, what difference does it make?”
This led to a discussion of Israeli prisons. I asked him if he was ever in an Israeli jail and he said that he was once, for two weeks. When I asked him what the charge was, he said that he was not charged at all.
40% of adult male Palestinians have seen the inside of an Israeli jail. Prisoners can be held on “administrative detention” for years without being charged, and then released inexplicably. Other methods of punishment are house demolition, crop burning, and deportation. All of these actions can take place without charges being brought.
The next day, Mr. T brought me to Jericho where we saw Hisham’s Palace. As we sat quietly in the shade of a public park, trying to cope with the heat of the day, Mr. T said, “You know, things in the Arab world are changing. It will not benefit Israel to continue acting this way. Before two years ago, before the second Lebanon war, the world believed Israel was a superpower that could not be defeated. That is changing.”
Back in Tel Aviv, my Israeli host tells me the phone has been blowing up with inquiries about my trip to the other side. She rapid-fires questions at me, one of which is, “Did you discuss the prisoner swap?”
Sami Kuntar was one of the prisoners Israel released to Hezbollah. He spent the last 30 years in jail for murder. She said that prison was like Club Med for him- he got an education, he was taken care of. I said that she does not have a very accurate idea of her own prison system.
She frowned and I debated whether to continue. Should I educate her on her own country’s jails? She did bring up the subject, after all.
So I went on, and told her carefully that, based on many, many first-person accounts I have heard, no matter what crime you are arrested for, you are tortured. Israelis almost without exception torture their Palestinian detainees.
For detainees who are suspected of the most innocuous crimes, this torture may consist of forced nudity, stress positions, and sleep deprivation. For those who are accused of more serious crimes the torture may consist of subjection to surgery without anesthesia.
When I told her that nearly all Palestinian prisoners are tortured, she took the defensive. She did not deny that this was true, but instead pointed out that other countries do this, and nobody is accusing them of anything. She mentioned the United State’s bombing of civilian areas in Yugoslavia and asked why the world doesn’t cry about this.
What I thought, but did not say, was that the point was simply to know the truth. The truth is where it all begins.
But the truth is a cold rock in the belly that most Israelis cannot digest.
Note: As a supplemental visual aid in discussing the West Bank, I offer this map.
When most people imagine the West Bank, they assume that it is synonymous with the country of "Palestine" and that this area is under Palestinian control. The reality is that very little of the West Bank is under sole PA jurisdiction. Most of the West Bank is under Israeli military control. Other areas that are under full or partial PA control are still subject to Israeli intervention at the will of the IDF.
There are hundreds of IDF checkpoints in the West Bank and the passage of people through them is also at the will of the IDF and whichever commander is on duty at any given time.
Yesterday, Haaretz published an article that discusses the reasons the organizations were shut down, the possible repercussions for all involved, and the limitations of these types of tactics. I will do my best to sum up here.
The only information I had before this article about why the IDF shut the charities down was that they were somehow related to Hamas, either being funded by them or were funding them. This article reveals that the strongest connection they have to Hamas is probably secondhand:
Legally, the technology incubator is also criminalized by the fact that it takes money from an organization that aids charities run by Hamas. An educational institution in Hebron that helps underprivileged children via money from an United Arab Emirates charity fund, and the Hamas summer camp which that fund also aids, both have become criminal institutions.
In other words, if you accept donations from a fund that also aids Hamas, your organization is now illegal. And this is what has happened to most of the 36 organizations that Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared illegal on May 26.
Next, let's pretend that Hamas does not have roots all the way into the core of the Palestinian territories and that this economic blacklisting will actually stop them. Where will the Palestinian people then receive these services?
For those who believe Hamas' development and expansion can be delayed, finding the money source is an important means...Hamas' civil activity has no substitute in the Palestinian Authority. The small clinic in Gaza, the summer camps for children, the food distribution stations in the refugee camps, the enrichment classes for youth ¬ the PA and the municipalities are having difficulty offering alternatives. Hamas' civil activity often takes place in private homes and even in schools administered by the PA Education Ministry.
In effect, by hindering Hamas' power to offer constructive assistance to its people, Israel is causing the realization of its own fears. Without its "civil activity" Hamas is no more than a bunch of rogue revolutionaries.
And I wonder if it's better to prove this or to make its opposite true.
In any relationship, there must be compromise. And a prime example of this type of compromise is the struggle between being right and being happy. You cannot have both all the time. Perhaps it would be better for the couple if Israel would stop trying to prove that Hamas is up to no good, and start encouraging Hamas in its non-violence enterprises.
As for the limitations of this tactic, Haaretz says:
Israel has an even more difficult problem ¬ its ability to supervise the cash flow to these associations is much more limited. Monies transferred from Arab countries to the territories go through an Israeli clearinghouse by means of three banks, and each time the name of one of the organizations appears, the computer spits out the data, but it is very easy to rename the organizations or transfer money in cash.
So, realistically, this move has made a lot of people angry with Israel but the actual benefits could be minimal.
Haaretz offers an improvement to the plan:
Banning these organizations does have declarative importance and it does open a front against Hamas, but it appears that practically speaking, it will be difficult to realize...In order to succeed, Israel needs to cooperate closely with the PA, which can at least supervise the movement of money in banks or establish a "clean fund" that receives money from permitted sources. However, the PA is yet to establish such a fund.
But Israel can no more cooperate with the PA than the PA can cooperate with Hamas:
The PA does randomly strike at Hamas institutions in the West Bank (in Gaza it cannot do anything), but it also cannot appear to be damaging charities and welfare groups, especially when reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah is on the agenda.
These three entities are all weakening each other. And if they succeed in breaking each other, nobody will benefit. They will each be the subjects of someone else's occupation- perhaps Jordan and Egypt again. Or perhaps the United States.
First, there was when the IDF closed a mall in Nablus, along with a girls school and a medical center. Then, I went to Hebron and saw for myself the government-sanctioned segregation and economic strangulation.
There's a line somewhere back there. See it?It's so tiny. BECAUSE IT'S SO FAR AWAY.
The Guardian interviewed an aid worker at this orphanage, Rasheed:
"I believe that the soldiers who raided the sewing workshop and threw the equipment in the city dump are not truly Jewish. We in ICS know the difference between Zionism and Judaism.
The rest of the article is worth reading, too. But not very easy on the stomach. The Guardian's Seth Freedman also writes:
Appeals by EU politicians, UN representatives, activists in Israel, and even Israeli judges have all fallen on deaf ears, leaving the residents of Hebron under no illusions about the type of opponent with which they are dealing. If all proper channels of intervention turn out to be culs-de-sac, then it's little wonder that the locals turn to the only groups offering to defend their honour, namely the militants of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Does nobody have the hindsight to see that this approach does not work? It's not even a matter of right or wrong. They are going to destroy their own country before they kill or expel the last Palestinian.
In a move that cheapens Israel's efforts toward a cease fire, IDF forces have raided a mall and several other organizations in the West Bank city of Nablus today.
Haaretz says Israel's Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, signed an order directing the IDF to shut down 5 businesses reported to be in some way associated with Hamas, such as a mall, a medical society, and two charitable organizations that aid refugee camps. 36 other organizations worldwide were banned from Israel and Palestinian territories.
Haaretz says:
Over the last few years, Hamas has built an "organizational system that, if necessary, could serve as the basis for a state," a senior IDF official told Haaretz.
So, they negotiate a cease fire with Hamas that applies only to Gaza, but then step up their efforts to destroy West Bank infrastructure. It seems like Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas are all oblivious to the fact that they are dependent on each other. If the PA and Hamas were to treat each other like rival political parties and not rival nations, the destruction of this infrastructure might slow and eventually stop. And if Israel were to acknowledge each as such, they might turn their attention away from hating Israel for just a minute.
The main difference between a terrorist organization and a political party is acknowledgment. Imagine if Israel were to do the unthinkable and actually acknowledge all Palestinian factions.
Then they would become each others' problem.
Further news from Haaretz:
The IDF raided the Nablus mall and the five charities early Tuesday and left notices to the owners regarding the closure order, residents said. It said the mall will be closed for five years starting the middle of August, while the charities will be closed for two years. The army seized computers and files from the places.
I spent five days at kibbutz Ziqim, which is located just North of the Gaza border. Kibbutz Ziqim is bombed regularly by Hamas, and hiding from missile fire has become a way of life for them. This kibbutz is known for being very left wing politically, despite the constant attacks.
I made a movie in two parts. Part one was filmed during a period when there were no bombs for seven days, which is very unusual. Residents Rueven and Ora discuss politics during this relative period of peace and quiet.
Part two was filmed during and after a heavy missile attack. 20 qassam rockets fell inside the kibbutz over about 30 minutes, which is also very unusual. When I questioned the residents about why they thought the missile fire was resumed so heavily, they surmised that the period of quiet was actually a chance to stockpile more weapons, not Hamas' acceptance of a cease-fire agreement, which they originally thought.
As the dust settled, so to speak, on this whole matter, several facts came to light. The first news about the barrage was released barely an hour after it ended and stated that the heavy missile fire was designed to distract Israel so that a "heavy vehicle" which approached the border at "alarming speed" could carry out "a major terror attack."
Israel's Haaretz news says:
The IDF said that Gaza militants were planning to use the heavy barrage as a diversion in order to carry out a massive attack at the border fence between Israel and the Strip.
A heavy vehicle approached IDF troops stationed at the Gaza border fence at an alarming speed, the IDF described the attempted attack. The soldiers opened fire and forced the vehicle to stop. The IDF said that it was the soldiers' quick response that likely prevented a serious attack.
Could this be any more vague? Given that a major terror attack was carried out in the form of qassam rockets, it's understandable that Israel was desperate for news about the event, what caused it, and what the results were. But I'm left wondering where this information came from since it differs so drastically from later news reports.
A report released later said the missile attack was in retaliation for the destruction a Hamas member's house and the deaths of those inside:
The intense shelling was probably the result of an explosion in an apartment building in the town Beit Lahiya in the northern Strip yesterday afternoon, killing seven Palestinians and injuring dozens. Most of those killed were Hamas activists, and the two-story building and several other homes in the town were destroyed.
And then:
Hamas, which initially accused Israel of causing the explosion in the home of a Hamas man, later toned down its accusations after Israel firmly denied any involvement in the incident. Israeli sources said the incident was probably caused by Palestinians making a bomb.
If you look up "knee jerk reaction" in the dictionary, you will read a description of these events. If a Hamas member's house exploded, obviously it's because Israel bombed it. Or wait, if a Hamas member's house exploded, obviously it's because he was making a bomb.
You started it! No you started it! No, you! I'm telling mom!
The above article also states that, despite the attack, Israel is still pursuing a cease fire agreement with Hamas and is not seriously planning to attack Gaza.
And the latest update from Haaretz says that Israel is even planning to let the issue of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit drop for the time being, although this information, as usual, is not straight from the horse's mouth.
An Egyptian source said that Israel has agreed not to condition a cease-fire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip on the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported on Saturday.
If this last information is true, it marks a turning point in Israel's attitude toward Gaza and toward a cease-fire. Which is not surprising after the damage caused on Thursday. The question remains whether Israel will still be so flexible after the dust has settled and the people are not so rattled.
Left wing Israelis favor securing Shalit's release, even if it means putting up with more rocket fire until a peace agreement can be reached. Right wing Israelis, especially those in Sderot, where the damage is the worst, favor a major Gaza operation, even if it means Shalit's death. It seems that, in the long run, this soldier's life depends upon which side is more vocal and who the government is listening to.
A letter from Shalit to his family was released Wednesday, wherein he revealed knowledge of current events. Which means he knows that he is the center of these negotiations and that no matter the result people are dying. Either from missile attacks or in a battle in Gaza.
And what of the supposed terror attack attempted at the border?
The IDF foiled a large-scale terror attack yesterday when Palestinian militants attempted to bring an apparently booby-trapped bulldozer close to the border fence. Israeli soldiers fired anti-tank missiles at the bulldozer and stopped it. The militants jumped off and fled back to the Strip.
The IDF said that Gaza militants had been planning to use the heavy barrage as a diversion while carrying out the attack with the bulldozer near the fence.
Apparently? Booby trapped? Bulldozer???
Everything about that news snippet is bizarre. Just...everything. I have so many questions.
Where did they get a bulldozer? What were they going to do with it? In what way was it "booby trapped"? How did they jump off and run away after their bulldozer was hit with anti-tank missiles?
UPDATE: Alternative sources (my Israeli friends who can translate the tv news for me) reveal that the bulldozer was outfitted with heavy armor and that, actually, the one man inside the bulldozer stopped his vehicle 100 meters from the border fence and ran away before the IDF fired on him. As he ran away though, they did shoot at him. And kill him. The IDF then shot at the bulldozer, at which time it exploded.
Almost a year ago, Israel announced its plan to boost tourism by changing Israel's image from a purveyor of holy relics to a purveyor of sexy girls. This plan was aimed mainly at American tourists. For anyone who's been to Israel, it's no secret the country is filled with beautiful girls. But the media image of Israel--smashed windows, bombs, sirens--has become so well entrenched in the worldwide consciousness that the Israeli Ministry of Tourism knew they would have to come up with an alternate campaign more attractive than bloodshed. And what is the one idea more attractive to Americans than violence? Sex.
The campaign featured female IDF soldiers in bikinis who posed for Maxim magazine and was officially backed by the Israel Ministry of Tourism.
When the numbers came out in January of this year, the plan proved effective. The second half of 2007 saw more American (and Canadian) visitors ever in the history of Israel.
Personally, I prefer them in their uniforms. You can see girls in bikinis in any country.
