A quiet night at Beit Ula

4th September, 2004

I was guarding at the bunker of our base when Anton came and replaced me. I wondered why he did it so early, it was still my shift... He said I was chosen to be part of an arrest operation.

We trained for a while and departed after 3 hours. Wearing ceramic vests and loaded guns we arrived at Beit-Ula at 2am in the armored Safari.

All the soldiers left the Safari as quietly as possible, everyone took their positions around the house. The streets were totally deserted. Me, Or and Kobi had to go around the street to the back side of the house and cover for any possible attempts of escape. Or and Kobi faced the house, covering the windows and the roof. I was assigned to watch the alley for any unwanted guests, or whatever.

It was the first time I took part in such an operation. Most soldiers prefer these kind of things over regular guarding shifts. I don't know... It's exciting, that I admit. You can later go and tell your friends about all the cool things you've done in the army. Not like anyone gives a shit. But I don't like to see people getting arrested, see their families crying, or worse - seeing somebody get shot. I wouldn't want to witness such things, especially if I were to remember it all for the rest of my life.

But there I was, sitting at the assigned position, pointing my gun and ready for anything. I felt tense and nervous. My legs hurt from long time of kneeling. I had to keep shifting weight from one leg to another in order to relieve the pain.

It was so quiet that I could hear somebody snoring. After a short while, I heard Raleb shout: "Yiftah el bab!" (Open the door). He tried again and again, screaming louder, but nobody opened the door. Then I suddenly saw some movement in the alley. Some black shadow moving quickly in the night... How relieved I was to find out it was just a cat. Then a man's shadow appeared. After a second or two I could see him wearing a casket, a weapon in his hand. I asked: "Who is it?"
"Relax. I'm a soldier." - It was a driver. Although they're not combat soldiers, they're always eager to take part in all the action.

Several seconds later, the quiet atmosphere was interrupted by an explosion. It was a shock grenade thrown into the house. There was still no reply. No one opened the door.

The man we came to arrest stole a M-16 weapon from a settlement called Efrat. There were other 2 teams from another platoon (Officer's course platoon) who surrounded the house of his parents in a village called Hidna, in case he's spending the weekend there.

Our team was not authorized to break into the house so we left the village and arrested no one.

It appeared that there were some people sleeping on the roofs of these houses. One of the guys woke up from the noise and came down to say hello to the soldiers. He said that the guy we came to arrest stays at his parents' place. I don't know if he was arrested by the other platoon, but most likely he was.

After the operation, I'd been told that Yoav, who was part of the frontal "breaking-in" team, had thrown a grenade into the house without removing the safety pin! lol!
Basically, apart from the stolen M-16, the guy has a grenade now, as a gift from IDF. That is, if he hasn't been arrested yet.

At 3:45 we were back. At 9 I had to go to the kitchen and work there until 2:30pm. Then I had to get ready to leave for the pillbox.

We didn't stay for long at the pillbox. At 3-4am we were replaced by soldiers from the 2nd battery. Due to the current situation in Hebron, the 2nd battery will be assigned to this pillbox from now on.

When the commander of the incoming team was briefed about his duties in this pillbox - he didn't like the part requiring him to open the gate for humanitarian and international vehicles and other special cases: "I ain't no opening it to nobody! F**k them!"

Yeah, right! He'll probably have no choice but to open the gate. Yet, I may never know how much trouble this commander and soldiers from his problematic battery will cause. It's such a sensitive period, especially tough for the local Palestinian population. I know he might not care about Palestinians, but I hope he knows what responsibility lies in his hands - he controls the gate through which Hebron receives supplies of food and other humanitarian aid.