Every action has a consequence
7th September, 2004
Great news - The commander of our regiment signed the form. Tickets are available! Which one should I choose? 14-21/9? or 15-22/9? The latter costs much more. I need to consult with Angel, but she's changed her cellphone so I can't talk to her about it for now. I guess I'll order 14-21/9...
Another shift at the checkpoint of Beit Kahil. The Safari took us to the bridge. As we arrived, a crowd of approx. 500 Palestinians were waiting there, on their way from Beit Kahil to Hebron. We replaced the soldiers who were here during the night shift and then started working.
Raleb tried to make the crowd form 4 lines so they could be checked one by one. They keep pushing each other, each trying to get ahead of the others and reach us to be checked first and pass as fast as possible. Being rude and selfish is always the fastest way to get ahead in line and pass a checkpoint without having to wait an average of 2-3 hours. Dozens were shouting and waving, trying to attract our attention to them so that they would be checked first. Everyone had his own story and reasons why he should be the first to be checked.
Raleb is a Druze officer so it's no wonder he knows Arabic. Palestinians don't know it. Most soldiers don't know the language and Palestinians are not afraid to say whatever they want in Arabic in front of us, so Raleb heard all kinds of things. He caught some in their lies, caught others who planned to go around the checkpoint after being told to turn back and head home.
When Raleb realized he couldn't make 500 Palestinians listen to him and stand in 2 lines, he said: "I won't be checking anyone. Not until you form 4 straight lines in front of me."
One Palestinian heard him and decided to help us form 4 lines, for the sake of his own friends. He became our translator. He addressed the crowd and asked them to form 2 lines of men and 2 of women. Part of the crowd listened to his words, others were still standing scattered all over the place. Raleb was not satisfied.
A moment later Gil, the battery commander, arrived in his jeep along with his driver and a medic. They were standing on the bridge above us. One of them threw a shock grenade at the crowd. Then they started firing empty bullets in the air. (What the f**k was that for?!) The crowd quickly dispersed, everyone was running back to Beit Kahil.
A minute or two later most of them were back at the checkpoint. Oren and the jeep's driver easily managed to form a queue of 2 rows each, by physically cutting through the crowd and splitting them apart. We started checking them, and after a short while whoever was allowed to enter Hebron was inside the city. The remaining crowd contained Hebron workers, hospital visitors and university students. The people who were allowed to pass were doctors, schoolkids and teachers. The Palestinian press was present. They photographed everything.
A patrol of two soldiers on and around the bridge prevented Palestinians from skipping the checkpoint. That's probably why there were so many Palestinians at the checkpoint today. There were still a few guys who crossed the road a few hundred meters away, out of our reach. There wasn't much we could do about it.
Me and Daniel went up there to switch places with the patrol. It was very hot up there, no shade to hide ourselves from the sun. We took 2 bottles of water with us. A 16 year old girl was heading our way from Hebron. She was holding hands with a 4 year old girl. They wanted to cross the road and go home. She kept talking to us in Arabic, trying to explain something, but we couldn't understand a word she was saying. We tried both Hebrew and English, but her reaction was the same as ours. We used the radio comm. to ask if she's allowed to pass, but Kobi gave us a negative answer. (Why? She's just a schoolgirl.)
She was only allowed to pass through the checkpoint. She tried to explain to me and Daniel that she lives right across the road. The road cuts through the hill. South and below the road is where Hebron lies. North and above the road is where Beit Kahil is located. We could see a woman in one of the houses on the hill waving to the girl. It was really close. But going around is just extra ~300 meters of walking.
Unfortunately, we couldn't let her pass. I could understand her point of view, and I could understand Kobi's point of view as well. If we let her pass, other Palestinians who keep standing on both sides of the road would be heading this way and trying to pass like she did.
But wait, they're just 2 schoolgirls. Schoolkids are always allowed to pass through the checkpoint ahead of the others, so why not allow them to skip the checkpoint in the first place?
Orders were still orders. We couldn't let her pass. We kept arguing with her and speaking 2 different languages without understanding each other. I couldn't shout at her, I can't shout at girls at all, lol. Eventually she realized it was useless. She gave up and went back down to the checkpoint and then up the hill back to her home.
I wish I had let her pass. Maybe I should have done so... Maybe I shouldn't have contacted Kobi.
A while later there were two more schoolgirls who tried to pass at the same place. This time we let them. :)
A few minutes later we noticed two 4-6 year old girls standing on the edge of the hill, right above the road. They were shouting something to us, trying to draw our attention. At first it looked like they were just trying to entertain us by jumping and clapping hands, but then things started to be a bit more shocking for us...
The 2 little girls were showing their middle fingers at us. We couldn't tell what they were shouting, but it may have been cursing. Then they picked stones and started throwing them at us. Fortunately, they were just 2 little girls who couldn't throw a stone further than a few meters. The stones could not reach us, they fell on the road... The road! Then I noticed that they were throwing some stones down on the road. An Israeli car was just passing by on the right lane, the one closer to the girls. Just as it was about to pass, one of the girls lifted a relatively large stone and threw it down the hill. The stone fell down, rolled a bit and then jumped on the road almost hitting the car!
I was shocked! We started running a few meters ahead just to scare them away and they ran away. After a while they came back, but did nothing dangerous this time. A while later they went home.
Daniel later told me that while he was checking people in the checkpoint, there was one woman who wouldn't give him identification papers. He kept asking her over and over again, but she kept mumbling something he couldn't quite understand. Then she simply showed him - She had no hands! He was shocked! He apologized to her and let her pass.
In the evening we were finally replaced. The Safari had to refuel so it took us to some base East of Hebron. On our way there, we stopped at some point on the road between Halhoul and Hebron. There was a small path leading from Hebron across the Israeli road to large grove fields east of Halhoul. Dozens of Palestinians were walking there, despite the closure. Raleb and Oren walked out of the Safari joined by the AV, and dispersed the crowd by shooting empty bullets in the air. They enjoyed it and laughed with each other. But there was nothing pleasant in seeing women and children running scared and hiding in the fields afraid to get shot.
The AV driver walked out of the vehicle and fired some rubber bullets at the crowd that was already quite far away, forcing them to keep running further away. The driver then laughed in enjoyment. He isn't even a combat soldier and he isn't allowed to shoot at all, unless his life is in danger. There were other soldiers there who participated in the shooting. Some of them were shooting in the air, others were aiming at the crowd. The crowd doesn't know whether it's real bullets, rubber bullets, or just empty shells.
I'm absolutely certain that after we'd left the place the traffic resumed. What good did it do? Did they do it for entertainment? Is it going to prevent militants from going in and out of Hebron? I kinda tend to think that it might only cause the opposite. More hatred, more suffering, more militants.
The word "Defense" in Israeli Defense Forces is not always that accurate. There's always enough idiots who forget why they serve in IDF in the first place.
Showing posts with label Beit Kahil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beit Kahil. Show all posts
Friday, April 20, 2007
Saturday, April 14, 2007
The closure of Hebron - A regular shift at a checkpoint
6th September, 2004
Today I had a shift at the new checkpoint under the bridge connecting Hebron and Beit Kahil.
Following the suicide bombing, IDF's high command has given orders to put Hebron under full closure. That means that no one can get in or out of the city without being checked by IDF.
The bridge of Beit Kahil was one of the roads leading out of Hebron and it had to be checked 24 hours a day. Everyday, early in the morning, there were 200-300 people waiting at both sides of the bridge, hoping to cross. Doctors and children were given passage immediately. The rest had to wait in line and be checked. Far not everyone was allowed to cross.
The checkpoint wasn't 100% effective. Dozens crossed the Israeli road above and alongside the bridge without a problem. To prevent anyone from getting in and out of the city, you would have to position a few hundred soldiers alongside the road, physically covering the whole northern part of Hebron. But there we were, blocking passage under the bridge as if suspects and militants would choose to come straight to us.
At first there was a DCO guy with us. He kept yelling in Arabic, aiming with his weapon and giving orders. Raleb and Kobi did the same thing. I talked to some Palestinians and they obeyed me and turned back without me having to yell at them. I guess there was enough yelling already. Wouldn't they obey without all the yelling and gun-pointing?
Or and Raleb went up the bridge and prevented people from alternatively crossing it. Raleb, according to Or's enthusiastic story-telling, pushed people, grabbed them by their neckties, aimed his weapon at their foreheads within close range while yelling at them. "Are you fucking with me? Don't you see that everyone else is waiting in line at the checkpoint?!"
But they weren't up there all day. The moment they left the place and went back to the checkpoint, a new wave of citizens began crossing over without being checked. It was useless. Wouldn't we have done the same? Probably. But then they would've done the same in our place as well.
At noon, at around 1:30pm, kids crossed the checkpoint. They were coming back from school. They were cute, smiling. There were two kids that didn't look like Palestinians at all - a blonde girl and a blonde boy. They had bright-white skin. That was a rare thing to me.
The building around us were rich villas. The kind of houses that an average Israeli citizen could not afford to own. But Palestinians are excellent builders, or so they say, so it doesn't cost them that much.
Some Palestinians carried goods. There were flour bags with "USA" entitled on them, other flour bags that came from "UNRWA" with a Japanese flag on them. There were cement bags with USA's Target trademark on them. They all passed through the checkpoint. Most Palestinians were carrying black plastic bags with them.
There was a woman that tried to cross the road alongside the bridge quite close to us. Kobi told her to go back, but she refused and started running towards the other side. She stumbled onto some wires and fell down. Then she stood up, but this time she was just walking ahead. Kobi shouted: "Allo! Allo!" even though she was already quite far away. She heard him and started running again until she reached one of the houses on the other side. Kobi burst into laughter.
After a short while, TIPH guys came to the checkpoint and wanted to cross, but we didn't let them. They were taking notes all the time and even threatened us that they'll file a charge against us for not letting them pass.
One guy came with a truck full of tomatoes. He offered us tomatoes in exchange for his passage, but that didn't really work and he had to go back to Beit Kahil.
Apart from all the yelling, the gun-pointing, the chasing, the necktie grabbing, I haven't witnessed any violence there. No one was beat up or shot at. At times there was a friendly atmosphere, Palestinians were joking with us, everyone was laughing - something pleasant for a change.
There were also Palestinians who spoke Russian. They told me they studied Medicine at Russian universities. It was nice to talk to them in Russian.
The 10 hours at the roadblock were horrible. The job was not boring, the opposite - it was too intense. You had to be on your feet all the time, talking, listening to people's problems, checking documents, vehicles, bags, maintaining order and so on. I had head ache from the tight casket, my back was in pain from all the heavy equipment, especially the ceramic vest. My legs were praying for some rest...
We were replaced in the evening, until the morning. I write this instead of going to bed, cause I don't want to forget anything.
I can't imagine myself having to stand in that damn roadblock everyday for like 10 hours.
I called my Mom. She told me there are still no tickets for September 13th and the waiting list is full! My ticket is only for 5 and a half days in Germany, 14-20/9.
I have to do something about it! I have to change the dates!
There was a flight from 14th until 21st to Frankfurt and from 15th to 22nd to Munich (closer to Regensburg, the city where Angel resides). I don't know if tickets are available. I asked Lital if I could change the dates. She said I could.
Lital is very beautiful and is extremely nice. Normally, I would've had a crush on someone like her, but now that I have Angel, I'm resistant to any kind of attraction.
I also talked to Yair. He said that most likely I'll be able to change the dates to 14-21/9 and 15-22/9. Yay!
6th September, 2004
Today I had a shift at the new checkpoint under the bridge connecting Hebron and Beit Kahil.
Following the suicide bombing, IDF's high command has given orders to put Hebron under full closure. That means that no one can get in or out of the city without being checked by IDF.
The bridge of Beit Kahil was one of the roads leading out of Hebron and it had to be checked 24 hours a day. Everyday, early in the morning, there were 200-300 people waiting at both sides of the bridge, hoping to cross. Doctors and children were given passage immediately. The rest had to wait in line and be checked. Far not everyone was allowed to cross.
The checkpoint wasn't 100% effective. Dozens crossed the Israeli road above and alongside the bridge without a problem. To prevent anyone from getting in and out of the city, you would have to position a few hundred soldiers alongside the road, physically covering the whole northern part of Hebron. But there we were, blocking passage under the bridge as if suspects and militants would choose to come straight to us.
At first there was a DCO guy with us. He kept yelling in Arabic, aiming with his weapon and giving orders. Raleb and Kobi did the same thing. I talked to some Palestinians and they obeyed me and turned back without me having to yell at them. I guess there was enough yelling already. Wouldn't they obey without all the yelling and gun-pointing?
Or and Raleb went up the bridge and prevented people from alternatively crossing it. Raleb, according to Or's enthusiastic story-telling, pushed people, grabbed them by their neckties, aimed his weapon at their foreheads within close range while yelling at them. "Are you fucking with me? Don't you see that everyone else is waiting in line at the checkpoint?!"
But they weren't up there all day. The moment they left the place and went back to the checkpoint, a new wave of citizens began crossing over without being checked. It was useless. Wouldn't we have done the same? Probably. But then they would've done the same in our place as well.
At noon, at around 1:30pm, kids crossed the checkpoint. They were coming back from school. They were cute, smiling. There were two kids that didn't look like Palestinians at all - a blonde girl and a blonde boy. They had bright-white skin. That was a rare thing to me.
The building around us were rich villas. The kind of houses that an average Israeli citizen could not afford to own. But Palestinians are excellent builders, or so they say, so it doesn't cost them that much.
Some Palestinians carried goods. There were flour bags with "USA" entitled on them, other flour bags that came from "UNRWA" with a Japanese flag on them. There were cement bags with USA's Target trademark on them. They all passed through the checkpoint. Most Palestinians were carrying black plastic bags with them.
There was a woman that tried to cross the road alongside the bridge quite close to us. Kobi told her to go back, but she refused and started running towards the other side. She stumbled onto some wires and fell down. Then she stood up, but this time she was just walking ahead. Kobi shouted: "Allo! Allo!" even though she was already quite far away. She heard him and started running again until she reached one of the houses on the other side. Kobi burst into laughter.
After a short while, TIPH guys came to the checkpoint and wanted to cross, but we didn't let them. They were taking notes all the time and even threatened us that they'll file a charge against us for not letting them pass.
One guy came with a truck full of tomatoes. He offered us tomatoes in exchange for his passage, but that didn't really work and he had to go back to Beit Kahil.
Apart from all the yelling, the gun-pointing, the chasing, the necktie grabbing, I haven't witnessed any violence there. No one was beat up or shot at. At times there was a friendly atmosphere, Palestinians were joking with us, everyone was laughing - something pleasant for a change.
There were also Palestinians who spoke Russian. They told me they studied Medicine at Russian universities. It was nice to talk to them in Russian.
The 10 hours at the roadblock were horrible. The job was not boring, the opposite - it was too intense. You had to be on your feet all the time, talking, listening to people's problems, checking documents, vehicles, bags, maintaining order and so on. I had head ache from the tight casket, my back was in pain from all the heavy equipment, especially the ceramic vest. My legs were praying for some rest...
We were replaced in the evening, until the morning. I write this instead of going to bed, cause I don't want to forget anything.
I can't imagine myself having to stand in that damn roadblock everyday for like 10 hours.
I called my Mom. She told me there are still no tickets for September 13th and the waiting list is full! My ticket is only for 5 and a half days in Germany, 14-20/9.
I have to do something about it! I have to change the dates!
There was a flight from 14th until 21st to Frankfurt and from 15th to 22nd to Munich (closer to Regensburg, the city where Angel resides). I don't know if tickets are available. I asked Lital if I could change the dates. She said I could.
Lital is very beautiful and is extremely nice. Normally, I would've had a crush on someone like her, but now that I have Angel, I'm resistant to any kind of attraction.
I also talked to Yair. He said that most likely I'll be able to change the dates to 14-21/9 and 15-22/9. Yay!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Violence is entertainment
1st August, 2004
Today's AV patrol involved another checkpost. Our lieutenant and his jeep's crew were with us. This time the checkpost was done on a narrow Palestinian road. It seemed more reasonable if you think about it: there were less cars on the road, the checkpost was in a hidden spot so that cars wouldn't be able to turn back and escape. It is more likely that illegal activities would happen on narrow roads.
Later on we drove to Beit Kahil' accompanied by Lieutenant's jeep. Somebody reported shots coming from Beit Kahil', a clash between two Palestinian clans. Matan the commander, Oleg the driver and Oren reacted to the event with great excitement. Matan rushed outside to put all the windows' protective, "anti-stone" nets. "Quick, put on your caskets! Yalla Oleg - let's get there as fast as possible!"
Many soldiers are too bored by the everlasting routine of constant guarding, patrolling and document checking. They want some action for a change. I don't know how it's like in other units, but real action rarely happens around us. So whenever there's a chance to shoot at Palestinians or throw some shock/gas grenades or simply witness some action or perhaps provoke some, many soldiers are more than delighted to seize this opportunity and experience something interesting that they could later tell their friends about.
I'm sure the same goes for many Palestinians as well, mostly the younger ones.
I personally prefer the boring routine. Better yawn and guard for nothing, rather than see people get shot or beaten up, or having myself and my friends put in danger. You guard in order to protect your country, not for self entertainment of any kind.
The clash was none of our business, but Matan insisted on going to the scene and asked for a permission from Yair, the lieutenant. Since we were just a short drive ahead of Beit Kahil, and Yair was close enough to join us, he authorized it.
It was the western end of the village. A crowd of Palestinians was coming back from what seemed to be the location of the clash. Whatever had happened there, it was already over.
Everyone kept looking at us. We were leaving the village now.
Kids surrounded the vehicle. I saw a kid picking up a stone from the ground. A moment later he threw it at us. Another one followed shortly after. Matan requested permission to leave the vehicle and start shooting. Yair declined. He said that only if more people start throwing rocks at us, we are authorized to act. Few more rocks followed, apparently not enough. We didn't react.
Oleg is a very annoying guy. He is still a freshman, but he thinks that he can do whatever he wants. He smokes inside the vehicle, drives too fast, he disobeys Matan's orders. When Matan forbid him to smoke inside the vehicle, he decided to take revenge. When our shift was over and we were supposed to go back and switch, he decided that it's time to smoke a cigarette. "I can't smoke inside the vehicle, so I'm gonna smoke now and when I finish - I'll drive." He did his best to smoke it as slowly as possible, smiling at us and hoping we've learned our lesson - not to mess with him. To add to that, he decided to drive 20-30kmh back to Adora. It took us half an hour to get there. What an asshole! That was my last AV patrol for a while. I'm glad I won't hear him swearing in Russian again.
1st August, 2004
Today's AV patrol involved another checkpost. Our lieutenant and his jeep's crew were with us. This time the checkpost was done on a narrow Palestinian road. It seemed more reasonable if you think about it: there were less cars on the road, the checkpost was in a hidden spot so that cars wouldn't be able to turn back and escape. It is more likely that illegal activities would happen on narrow roads.
Later on we drove to Beit Kahil' accompanied by Lieutenant's jeep. Somebody reported shots coming from Beit Kahil', a clash between two Palestinian clans. Matan the commander, Oleg the driver and Oren reacted to the event with great excitement. Matan rushed outside to put all the windows' protective, "anti-stone" nets. "Quick, put on your caskets! Yalla Oleg - let's get there as fast as possible!"
Many soldiers are too bored by the everlasting routine of constant guarding, patrolling and document checking. They want some action for a change. I don't know how it's like in other units, but real action rarely happens around us. So whenever there's a chance to shoot at Palestinians or throw some shock/gas grenades or simply witness some action or perhaps provoke some, many soldiers are more than delighted to seize this opportunity and experience something interesting that they could later tell their friends about.
I'm sure the same goes for many Palestinians as well, mostly the younger ones.
I personally prefer the boring routine. Better yawn and guard for nothing, rather than see people get shot or beaten up, or having myself and my friends put in danger. You guard in order to protect your country, not for self entertainment of any kind.
The clash was none of our business, but Matan insisted on going to the scene and asked for a permission from Yair, the lieutenant. Since we were just a short drive ahead of Beit Kahil, and Yair was close enough to join us, he authorized it.
It was the western end of the village. A crowd of Palestinians was coming back from what seemed to be the location of the clash. Whatever had happened there, it was already over.
Everyone kept looking at us. We were leaving the village now.
Kids surrounded the vehicle. I saw a kid picking up a stone from the ground. A moment later he threw it at us. Another one followed shortly after. Matan requested permission to leave the vehicle and start shooting. Yair declined. He said that only if more people start throwing rocks at us, we are authorized to act. Few more rocks followed, apparently not enough. We didn't react.
Oleg is a very annoying guy. He is still a freshman, but he thinks that he can do whatever he wants. He smokes inside the vehicle, drives too fast, he disobeys Matan's orders. When Matan forbid him to smoke inside the vehicle, he decided to take revenge. When our shift was over and we were supposed to go back and switch, he decided that it's time to smoke a cigarette. "I can't smoke inside the vehicle, so I'm gonna smoke now and when I finish - I'll drive." He did his best to smoke it as slowly as possible, smiling at us and hoping we've learned our lesson - not to mess with him. To add to that, he decided to drive 20-30kmh back to Adora. It took us half an hour to get there. What an asshole! That was my last AV patrol for a while. I'm glad I won't hear him swearing in Russian again.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
The city and the people of Hebron
29th July, 2004
I called Angel and she seemed okay. She told me about yesterday. Her friend Anna and Anna's mother had a fight, and Anna told her she was going to runaway from home, but eventually she didn't. Instead, she and her have mother reconciled. Why is Angel so sensitive about her friends? She worries and cries at somebody else's problems and she really had me worried last night. I always worry that something bad might happen to her while I'm away, that I wouldn't be able to prevent it. Thank God everything's fine.
I plan to fly to Germany in August, when we get a "regila" (a week-long vacation). Only during a regila I can fly abroad, according to the military laws. But now Angel had told me that her mother, who refused to let her daughter fly to Israel to meet me, plans to go to Italy with Angel and her brother.
My mom gave me the phone number of that high ranking officer she was telling me about. That officer told her that according to military laws, I have the right to fly abroad during a regila. But officers from my battalion say that since it's a combat unit, the rules are more strict when it comes to vacations.
I called the officer and he told me I should fill in a paper - a request to fly abroad, and I should send him a copy so he'd hasten things. My unit should notify me a few weeks in advance so I could order tickets for certain dates (hopefully there will be tickets available). It all seems so unlikely to succeed, but I'm gonna try my best to see her. I always tell her that nothing is unachievable. Distance is not an obstacle, not in our modern world.
I moved to Adora again today, with Yoav and Or. Or asked me to switch places with him so he could patrol with Yoav in the settlement and visit that girl's house, and I would have an AV (armored vehicle) patrol on a hummer. I've gladly accepted his offer, knowing that AV patrol is considered better and far more interesting, although it's 8 hours, while the foot patrol is only 4. Of course after 8 hours of patrol you get the 8 hours of rest in return... theoretically speaking.
Bedouins near Adora reported to us about vehicles with armed Palestinians coming to their village. Our officers want to ambush them, but since I switched with Or, I won't take part in it.
Gunshots are heard daily from Hidna and Tarkumiya.
The ambush was eventually canceled.
30th July, 2004
After 2 1/2 hours of sleep I woke up for a long 9 1/2 hour patrol. It was very tiresome. We entered Hebron and it's neighboring village of Beit-Kachil. We were accompanied by our lieutenant's jeep. That's the rule - you cannot enter Hebron with only one vehicle, due to safety and operational reasons.
Everyone in the streets was staring at us. It was as if the time had stopped. People stopped walking or buying goods at shops. Instead they looked at our vehicles with clear hostility. Some people ran away, some signaled us to go away, others were looking at us from house entrances.
We obviously were an unwanted guest in a hostile environment.
Hebron provided a wide variety of buildings. There were old brick houses, unfinished deserted villas and rich, beautifully constructed.. mansions! (well, not quite mansions, but houses with at least 10-15 rooms) People on the streets were as varied as their homes - poor, moderate and rich - or at least they were dressed like that. Garbage was everywhere on the streets. The northern entrance to the city of Hebron welcomed its visitors with large commercial ads, beautiful buildings both of western-style and far eastern-style. The clean road with grass and palms in the middle gave the city an honorable look.
What was the purpose of the patrol? Why did we have to announce our presence to the citizens of Hebron? What good does it do? I know it's fun and exciting to drive in the streets of Hebron and see things you would never see as an ordinary Israeli citizen, but what does it have to do with defending my country? The commanders call it "demonstrating attendance" (or whatever you'd translate it...) It means that we have to show them that we're here, there and everywhere so that they will think twice before committing a hostile act.
I do not think that those who commit those acts are driven by fear and would change their minds when they see soldiers on their streets. If anything, it would make them be more cautious and more motivated to carry out their plans.
29th July, 2004
I called Angel and she seemed okay. She told me about yesterday. Her friend Anna and Anna's mother had a fight, and Anna told her she was going to runaway from home, but eventually she didn't. Instead, she and her have mother reconciled. Why is Angel so sensitive about her friends? She worries and cries at somebody else's problems and she really had me worried last night. I always worry that something bad might happen to her while I'm away, that I wouldn't be able to prevent it. Thank God everything's fine.
I plan to fly to Germany in August, when we get a "regila" (a week-long vacation). Only during a regila I can fly abroad, according to the military laws. But now Angel had told me that her mother, who refused to let her daughter fly to Israel to meet me, plans to go to Italy with Angel and her brother.
My mom gave me the phone number of that high ranking officer she was telling me about. That officer told her that according to military laws, I have the right to fly abroad during a regila. But officers from my battalion say that since it's a combat unit, the rules are more strict when it comes to vacations.
I called the officer and he told me I should fill in a paper - a request to fly abroad, and I should send him a copy so he'd hasten things. My unit should notify me a few weeks in advance so I could order tickets for certain dates (hopefully there will be tickets available). It all seems so unlikely to succeed, but I'm gonna try my best to see her. I always tell her that nothing is unachievable. Distance is not an obstacle, not in our modern world.
I moved to Adora again today, with Yoav and Or. Or asked me to switch places with him so he could patrol with Yoav in the settlement and visit that girl's house, and I would have an AV (armored vehicle) patrol on a hummer. I've gladly accepted his offer, knowing that AV patrol is considered better and far more interesting, although it's 8 hours, while the foot patrol is only 4. Of course after 8 hours of patrol you get the 8 hours of rest in return... theoretically speaking.
Bedouins near Adora reported to us about vehicles with armed Palestinians coming to their village. Our officers want to ambush them, but since I switched with Or, I won't take part in it.
Gunshots are heard daily from Hidna and Tarkumiya.
The ambush was eventually canceled.
30th July, 2004
After 2 1/2 hours of sleep I woke up for a long 9 1/2 hour patrol. It was very tiresome. We entered Hebron and it's neighboring village of Beit-Kachil. We were accompanied by our lieutenant's jeep. That's the rule - you cannot enter Hebron with only one vehicle, due to safety and operational reasons.
Everyone in the streets was staring at us. It was as if the time had stopped. People stopped walking or buying goods at shops. Instead they looked at our vehicles with clear hostility. Some people ran away, some signaled us to go away, others were looking at us from house entrances.
We obviously were an unwanted guest in a hostile environment.
Hebron provided a wide variety of buildings. There were old brick houses, unfinished deserted villas and rich, beautifully constructed.. mansions! (well, not quite mansions, but houses with at least 10-15 rooms) People on the streets were as varied as their homes - poor, moderate and rich - or at least they were dressed like that. Garbage was everywhere on the streets. The northern entrance to the city of Hebron welcomed its visitors with large commercial ads, beautiful buildings both of western-style and far eastern-style. The clean road with grass and palms in the middle gave the city an honorable look.
What was the purpose of the patrol? Why did we have to announce our presence to the citizens of Hebron? What good does it do? I know it's fun and exciting to drive in the streets of Hebron and see things you would never see as an ordinary Israeli citizen, but what does it have to do with defending my country? The commanders call it "demonstrating attendance" (or whatever you'd translate it...) It means that we have to show them that we're here, there and everywhere so that they will think twice before committing a hostile act.
I do not think that those who commit those acts are driven by fear and would change their minds when they see soldiers on their streets. If anything, it would make them be more cautious and more motivated to carry out their plans.
* * * * *
After the patrol, we had to clean the house. In Adora, we have a big villa with 7-8 rooms and 3 floors. Since we didn't clean it on time, we had to do it again by 5pm. At 5:30 I went to bed to finally get some sleep before the patrol at 7pm. But no, I didn't get no sleep because at 5:40 there was a drill: A terrorist had infiltrated the settlement. We'd been running for 20 minutes all around the settlement in this incredible heat. After that, I had just enough time to have a shower and eat dinner.
* * * * *
During the AV patrol, my commander, Matan, asked the Russian driver* to slow down. At night, we circle around the village to see if any part of the fence is cut and the driver has to drive very slowly so we won't miss anything. But he kept saying that it makes him sleepy and that it is taking up too much time. Matan insisted that he drove slowly, so the driver had decided to payback by driving 5km/h on the road as well. It took as half an hour to reach Telem that was only 3km away. He thought that Matan would run out of patience, but he didn't. Man, that was so boring and stupid!
*(AV drivers are not a part of our battery. They usually cause a lot of problems, because they have no commander in charge of them so they feel independent to do whatever they want. ie. If they get 7 hours and 50 minutes of sleep, they refuse to work. Well, not everyone, but most of them are very problematic and give our commanders a real headache.
When we arrived to Telem, we could see several different weddings being celebrated in 2 Palestinian towns. Shots and fireworks were fired. Technically, it's considered illegal for them to possess weapons. IDF (my battery and other forces in the region) wanted to enter the towns and arrest everyone who has weapons on them, but eventually they didn't do it.
Matan told us how once, during one of his AV patrols in a different area (Beit Sira) they had to cross a road where a wedding ceremony was being held - there was a wedding parade of some kind. They tried to cross, but the Palestinians began throwing rocks at them, they stopped the vehicles, threw shock and tear gas grenades at the crowd and fired rubber bullets. The crowd dispersed and the wedding couple, was probably injured as well. Then Matan started laughing at his own story. Damn, how it made me angry!
He also told us how once a Russian AV driver threw a smoke grenade inside a Palestinian store after the store owner yelled at the soldiers. Then the owner picked up a big stone, threw at the driver and missed. The driver chased him down and shot his back with a rubber bullet.
Another story involved the same Russian driver and a Palestinian boy who fainted right after he was shot by the driver with a rubber bullet.
*(AV drivers are not a part of our battery. They usually cause a lot of problems, because they have no commander in charge of them so they feel independent to do whatever they want. ie. If they get 7 hours and 50 minutes of sleep, they refuse to work. Well, not everyone, but most of them are very problematic and give our commanders a real headache.
When we arrived to Telem, we could see several different weddings being celebrated in 2 Palestinian towns. Shots and fireworks were fired. Technically, it's considered illegal for them to possess weapons. IDF (my battery and other forces in the region) wanted to enter the towns and arrest everyone who has weapons on them, but eventually they didn't do it.
Matan told us how once, during one of his AV patrols in a different area (Beit Sira) they had to cross a road where a wedding ceremony was being held - there was a wedding parade of some kind. They tried to cross, but the Palestinians began throwing rocks at them, they stopped the vehicles, threw shock and tear gas grenades at the crowd and fired rubber bullets. The crowd dispersed and the wedding couple, was probably injured as well. Then Matan started laughing at his own story. Damn, how it made me angry!
He also told us how once a Russian AV driver threw a smoke grenade inside a Palestinian store after the store owner yelled at the soldiers. Then the owner picked up a big stone, threw at the driver and missed. The driver chased him down and shot his back with a rubber bullet.
Another story involved the same Russian driver and a Palestinian boy who fainted right after he was shot by the driver with a rubber bullet.
* * * * *
We entered Hebron again. Young boys smiled and waved as we passed by. Older boys stared at us with hatred. Other people gave us an anxious, unwelcoming look.
We entered Hebron again. Young boys smiled and waved as we passed by. Older boys stared at us with hatred. Other people gave us an anxious, unwelcoming look.
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