Home vacation and a weekend in a pillbox

6th August, 2004

We were released home as early as 6:15a.m.!! Our lieutenant told us we may receive a phone call during the vacation, requiring us to attend a contribution day - Represent IDF in a public place where we help people or contribute in some way. Not that any of us doesn't like to give a little helping hand, it's just that it shouldn't be done during our relatively short, home vacation.

6-10th August, 2004

I didn't do that much at home, but I had a lot of chatting with Angel and it was extremely great!

I parted with my mom and with Angel as I won't see them for over 1 month. =(
My mom flies to Kyrgyzstan on 19th and Angel flies to Croatia on 21st. I come back to the army tomorrow and I won't be back home until... the 27th? When you're in the army, you never know.

11th August, 2004

My day started on a happy note. Coming back to the army is never a happy thing, but I filled the papers today, stating that I'm leaving the country during my "regila". I need to write the exact dates, so I'll have to ask my commander about it.

Ari told me that Yair, my lieutenant, will come tomorrow and then they'll decide about the dates.

12th August, 2004

All the desk-work soldiers went home for the weekend, so Yair asked Ari to tell me that it will be decided on Sunday, when everyone's back at the base.

2 teams got their regila today. I found out that my team will have a regila on 16th. Interesting... Will I have a separate regila or do they plan... to give me 2?

Everything is very organic here in the army. The officers try to make sure that every soldier guards, sleeps and goes home with his team and platoon. Maybe it solves some problems, but it creates many other ones.

13th August, 2004

I had a talk with my lieutenant, Yair. He said: "Yes, we already have the dates ready." "Could you tell them to me?" "You fly on your next release home" "What? But Ari told me that I'll fly in a month from now, on my 2nd release home, in September!" "No. It's on your next release." "But I can't. It's no use." "Why?" "Because as I told you, my girlfriend's flying to Croatia. I must go in September." "We'll see what we can do. Maybe you could switch with one of the soldiers from the 1st platoon." The last thing I said was "It's important."

This and having my towel left in Adora with no way of getting a shower, especially when I'm going to a pillbox until Sunday noon (there's no shower in pillboxes) was only the beginning of Friday 13th.

Sarah, Angel's friend, told her that her online buddy fell down on the rails and was ran over by a train. They're both in grief after the terrible incident.

I'm in the pillbox now. It's a 30 feet tall watchtower where you have a place to sleep and a short supply of food. We're 3 soldiers without a commander, spending the weekend here.

















Hygiene is a problem here. It's very dusty and there are no windows here, beside the small ones on the top of the tower. We have to fill in the toilet tank with 1.5litre bottles everytime we go to the toilet. The food we have here with us is only for 2 days. It's a bunch of vegetables, pears, bread, salami and hummus.

At least guarding here is bearable. We can read books and even listen to music when we turn on the generator in the evening. We can sit as much as we like while we guard (unlike in a regular guarding shift) and it's not too hot in here. The conditioner is on in the evening.

And the answer is...

3rd August, 2004

No. Apparently it was not my last AV patrol. We arrived at Hebron's bridge. The bridge connecting Hebron and Halhoul had a pillbox (watchtowers here are called "pillbox") in the middle, overlooking the bridge. It was constructed after several violent incidents, one of which involved throwing a washing machine on Israeli cars down the bridge. Between the two cities, below the "north-south" bridge there's a "west-east" road connecting Israeli cities of Kiryat Gat with Jerusalem, and Kiryat-Arba (a very big settlement near Hebron). There is also a Palestinian Coca-Cola factory near the pillbox.

Matan stopped a car near the factory and waited for something. I had to stand outside the AV and guard him for about an hour and a half. After an hour, he lost his patience and we left the car keys and the IDs of those who were in the car at the pillbox. Police borber guard soldiers came a while later and arrested the men as the vehicle was identified as stolen.

















Later on we did a checkpost on the bridge. Palestinian photographers came and took pictures of us checking cars. It looked as if they were waiting (if not begging) for us to do something illegal, show some form of brutality.

















The next vehicle was a bus full of Palestinians. Matan asked me to accompany him. The moment we went up the bus, the photographers started acting like paparazzi, pushing their cameras through the windows, taking dozens of pictures. After checking the bus, I asked one of the photographers what paper these pictures were for. He said he's independent and these pictures go to all the papers - Ma'ariv, Yediot, Haaretz, etc. The next day I checked the papers out of curiosity - what could they possibly write about us? There was no article. It didn't really surprise me.

4th August, 2004

Tonight we set an ambush beneath Telem, sitting quietly and hidden, ready for any possible attack. But it's nothing special really. It seems like a waste of time - no Palestinian militants ever walked there, no warnings of planned attacks were reported. Maybe it's just a way to use soldiers at maximum - let them guard night and day and rest a minimum of 4-6 hours, it's not like they can do much about it...

Ari is my sergeant or how should I call it... a sub-officer? Some commanders become sub-officers after serving a certain period of time in the army. Ari was the commander of my team and when Matan joined the battery he became my commander instead and Ari became a sub-officer. Anyway, Ari told me that the battery plans to give me a permission to fly to Germany at around 16th September just as I asked! =)

Angel's mom has ordered tickets to Croatia for 21st August until 4th of September. I won't be able to talk to Angel in that period of time and it might make things a bit difficult. It becomes more and more difficult with time as nothing is certain. When can she meet me? When exactly does the army let me fly abroad? Are there tickets available for those specific dates? What about Angel's school? (She's a year and a half younger than me)

I asked Ari to find out if they can let me fly abroad a little after Angel's arrival from Croatia. The first day of her school year is 16th September. I hope that her mother will let her skip school for 5 days (the period of time that I'll be with her, not including the weekend)
I can't wait to meet her and be with her for a week! It's going to be so great!!!

Everyone thinks I'm crazy, having a girlfriend from Germany whom I've never even met, flying abroad just to be with her for a week. A friend of mine joked about it: It's probably a 40 year old male named Jurgen who likes to rape little children. =)

5th August, 2004

This is the last day before we go home. I had an AV patrol and in the evening most of the battery (except the guys who're at home and those who guard) gathered at the house in Adora and we had a little celebration: Music, barbecue and soft drinks.

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.

A mute witness

31st July, 2004

(1) On our way to the gas station we saw an abandoned car on the road. A police truck came and tucked it away saying that it was a stolen vehicle.

















(2) On our way back, Oleg, the AV driver had suddenly lost control of the steering wheel as he approached a curve while driving too fast. We went off the road, but lucky for us the hummer didn't hit anything, and we could resume our patrol.

(3) Matan, Oren and Oleg decided to drive to a Palestinian grapevine to steal some grapes. I remember a few days ago when I was in Adora Oleg brought a lot of green grapes to the house and one of the lieutenants asked him where he had taken it from. He claimed he'd taken it from the neighboring houses in Adora (there are indeed some places in Adora where you can see grapes growing outside the gardens, covering the walls, free for the taking) but this version didn't seem to stick, because the grapes in Adora needed at least another month to look like the ones he had brought with him. Now I'm convinced that he lied, that it's not the first time he steals grapes from Palestinians along with a commander and other soldiers (a commander is always present in the AV)

All I could do is sit in the backseat of the AV and watch them steal. Any comment on their behavior would be regarded as leftist. I was trapped: I could either sit and do nothing, which is like taking part in their theft, or I could tell all about it to an officer of a higher rank, and be regarded as an informant which may end up being far worse. The one thing I did do was take pictures of it.
















































The problem is, these soldiers don't see it as a crime. They're like the same kids they were at school - excited at causing some damage, at doing something illegal. There's one thing that they forget - they're not kids anymore, they wear an IDF uniform and they represent the Israeli army and Israel as a whole. They're no longer free individuals and they must abide by the rules of the organization they're a part of. That is mostly why IDF looks the way it does - individuality.

They don't think about the consequences of their actions or of what the other side must feel like. I can imagine what would happen if a Palestinian stole fruits from Israeli settlers... What can Palestinians do when they see armed soldiers walking on their property and taking whatever they want? There were several kids, women and old men looking at us as Oleg drove further into the vineyard to get some more grapes of a higher quality. I guess that's when Matan felt a bit of shame and decided against stealing in front of these people.

(4) We did a random checkpost on a narrow Palestinian road in order to check some cars. A TIPH car came. TIPH - Temporary International Presence in Hebron - these are guys with cameras who watch IDF soldiers carefully to see if we commit any injustices towards the Palestinian population. Soldiers hate them, but something tells me this hatred is genuine. There are many organizations of that kind in the territories. This is just a local one.
































(5) Yesterday we saw 2 ambulances pass by. Our lieutenant stopped them with his jeep in order to check them out. It's said that sometimes Palestinians use ambulances to smuggle terrorists and weapons from one place to another. Not today - the medical team said there was a traffic accident in Hidna in which 4 people were smashed to death.

(6) We arrived at a big house (or perhaps a small mansion) at the entrance of Halhoul, just above the bridge connecting the 2 cities. This big house was more like a safehouse for a Palestinian family that cooperates with IDF. This is something real strange: They live on the first floor and the other floors are populated by soldiers who watch over Hebron and Halhoul.
I had to patrol in the garden and the terrace with another soldier. It was a beautiful garden with a fountain, a marble-made floor and beautifully carved stone walls. I felt like a bodyguard of a mafia mob!

















We've waited until the plumber fixed the pipes and then left.

(7) We did another checkpost on the bridge between the two cities. We've been standing there for an hour while Matan and Tal (another commander from the nearby pillbox) checked 2 lanes full of cars. It doesn't matter what was its purpose, obviously the frustration of the mile-long line of cars along with hundreds of pedestrians weren't worth it. Dozens of Palestinians left the cars and started walking by foot.

We didn't find any kind of suspects or criminals among the Palestinians, but we surely gave them a good reason to create some. Why do we check IDs and cars on a road that leads from one Palestinian city to another? (Especially when it's completely ineffective as there are a hundred alternatives routes that connect the two cities which Palestinians use on a daily basis)

















Sometimes I don't understand the decisions that our officers make. But then I'm just an ordinary soldier - they don't owe me an explanation. They give me orders and I have to carry them out. Unless the order involves committing violence towards an unarmed civilian or any other illegal actions that count as illegal in IDF's ethical code, I must obey at all times.

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.

* * * * *

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.

* * * * *

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.

Fortune for some, misfortune for others

27th July, 2004

In a few minutes we're going on a joint patrol with soldiers from Adora .

A man and a woman came to our house. (The settlement provides soldiers with a small house - that's where we currently live) When I looked at the guests I was surprised to discover that it was that girl from Adora, the one from yesterday. The man was actually her brother.

She talked to Yoav and Udi. She told them that she had changed her plans, that she's coming to Holon (a city near Tel Aviv where Yoav lives) and that she stays in Adora until next week. She asked that one of us (preferably Yoav) accompanied her to Adora. She added that when we're in Adora, we're free to come visit her place. Just before leaving, she came to our room and gave Yoav her phone number. Giggling foolishly, looking silly and talking childishly, she left.

What can I say? Maybe they deserve each other. You're free to do that, just not to the innocent and romantic type of girls, lest hurting them and breaking their hearts. They deserve better!

For some reason, I wish it all wouldn't have happened. Maybe because perverts should learn by all means that girls are not sex objects.

It seemed that her brother knew everything and didn't care much.

Now I recall one more thing that Yoav said yesterday when we left the field: "Does it count if I fuck her in Holon? I mean, will it count as if I fucked a settler?"

28th July, 2004

Today is a bad day for me and Angel. I didn't hear from her for 3 days now. -.-

I SMSed her again and this time I got a reply. She wrote that she e-mailed me everyday, but I didn't receive anything. She said she's not doing fine. When I asked her if I could call her, she said that she doesn't want to talk to anyone. I got really worried...

Later that night she called me and said that she was sorry. When I asked her what happened, she said she'd start crying again if she talked about it. I had to go on a patrol so we hung up. She wrote me earlier, saying that it's okay, that it's something related to a friend of hers.

During the whole patrol I was worried, thinking someone died. The next morning, I kept thinking about it, asking God that all misfortune that befalls Angel would instead happen to me. I don't want her to stop smiling, ever.