My first days in the territories

I'd like to write a chapter which was not documented in my diary. (since I started writing it only in June 2004)

Even though I did not document it, I remember everything as if it was only yesterday...

When I was still in the mid stages of Basic Training, Eitan, one of my teammates told us he'd found out what is planned for us in Advanced Training - apart from a month-long artillery exercise, we'll be sent to Shaked. It's a sector located close to Jenin - One of the least peaceful places in the West Bank.

He was excited, eager for some action and I was troubled, hoping that he was wrong.

What's it like out there? How safe is it? What if I get shot? Will I actually be able to shoot and kill someone in defense?? I wouldn't want to find out in the last minute that I'm not capable of pulling the trigger.

At first I didn't believe Eitan, thinking that it's unlikely considering our lack of experience, but when we reached Advanced Training a couple of months later, turned out he was right...

7th January, 2004

After a few days of combat training we were taken to Shaked. We crossed the roadblock of Baka Al Gharabiya, where the wall is already finished and proceeded to a settlement called Mavo Dotan. Under heavy rain, we all gathered inside an abandoned warehouse where we'd been briefed.

Our "C" battery commander during Advanced Training was Nitzani. For some reason, I used to admire him. He looked like he deserve some respect.

I remember sitting in his office during acquaintance, telling him about myself, about Angel and my intentions to fly to Germany after I'll be 1 year in the army. He told me it's highly unlikely... that he himself had barely succeeded at visiting France, considering the fact that he's first lieutenant in rank and thus is more privileged than me.

Thank God he was wrong! =)

His briefing in the warehouse will be remembered for many years by everyone who attended it. It was something like this:
"You are gathered here to take part in a very dangerous and important mission....." "....It's going to be very hard for all of you. You will guard day and night. You mustn't dare to fall asleep, BUT I know that you WILL FALL ASLEEP! And when you wake up and find your friend lying dead, it will all be your responsibility!"

After the briefing everyone was like: "What was that all about?"

The first platoon remained in Mavo Dotan. The second platoon was taken to a nearby settlement called Hermesh (Scythe, in Hebrew). I was in the 2nd platoon.

A middle-sized hall in the centre of the settlement became our barracks. The settlement's "mayor" had given us a tour around the place.

He showed us the place where a Palestinian gunman had infiltrated the settlement a bit over a year ago and killed three people. There's a guarding post there now, code-named "Blue". Back then it was just a fence.

The terrorist had cut the fence and entered the settlement. He approached the houses and saw two 14 year old girls sitting on the porch (Linoi Sarusi and Hadas Turjeman). He shot and killed them both. Then he entered one of the opposite houses and shot the couple that was inside. The wife, Orna was killed. The husband was injured.

At that moment, soldiers arrived at the place and killed the gunman. It was too late, however, as the damage had already been done.

There's a monument at the entrance to Hermesh that commemorates the lives of Orna, Linoi and Hadas.

Gray clouds and endless rain had provided us with a depressing atmosphere in the days to come.

* * * * *

The conditions in Hermesh were awful. We were so few that we had to replace each other - guard 4 hours, rest 4 hours and then guard 4 hours again. But we didn't really rest 4 hours... Since it was part of Advanced Training, we had combat exercises, study and sports during those "free" hours.

We only had a few hours of sleep what made guarding at night even harder for us, despite the hot tea we took with us.

One of the guarding posts was located on top of an abandoned villa that was built by a very rich and somewhat famous artist whose name I never cared to memorize. There was a tent erected on the roof of the unfinished building. My officer brought some advanced night vision equipment up there.

The tent apparently wasn't stable enough considering the windy and rainy weather of January. We'd be awaken at night several times just to go and help reinforce the tent.

After a few days I started having hallucinations. I was guarding at "Blue" and whenever I was looking down at the rocks, I would see large human skulls instead of rocks. It was creepy.

I'd never fallen asleep on duty before, having a relatively good discipline and control of myself. I wouldn't want to compromise my home vacation, especially in a place like this. Yet it seemed that I've dozed off, because when I looked at the clock a few minutes later, I found out that 2 hours have passed unnoticed.

The terrible weather, the limited food and the lack of sleep were probably the main reasons that I got sick and had a high temperature.

It didn't help me get out of this place, though. Whether it was my fault for not complaining enough, or maybe many others were sick as well. We didn't have enough manpower. I just prayed to be the next in line to be released home.

5-6 soldiers from our platoon were released home in the beginning of the week and on the weekend. It was absolutely random. I could see the tall building of Tel Aviv from the rooftop of the abandoned villa. They seemed to be just beyond the hill. Tel Aviv had never looked like paradise the way it did back then...

I wasn't on the list when the first 5-6 soldiers were released home on the first weekend. I hoped I'd be released on Sunday then...

Apart from settlement guarding, there's also an escorting jeep. The cititens of Mavo Dotan and Hermesh cannot leave the settlement without a military escort. If they plan to leave, they have to call the jeep, like they would a taxi and ask for an escort. Sometimes they'd have to wait 5-10 minutes at the entrance gate. Upset by the poor services of the army, some would drive away without an escort on their own risk. (2 people were attacked on the road and killed in 2004 and 2005. 1 from Mavo Dotan, the other from Hermesh) I've had the luck of being assigned on the jeep for one time. Why luck? Because it's 8 hours of jeep patrols and 8 hours of rest. During our night patrol, we stopped at the Shaked settlement and my officer went out and talked with some settler at the entrance gate. The settler was criticizing the army for not doing enough for the settlers, for being too easy on Palestinians.

Not only that we're here, risking our lives and wasting our time to protect them, but they also dare to tell us that we're not doing good enough?!

* * * * *

In one of the mornings, our commanders woke everyone up. I wasn't asleep as I just returned from a guarding duty. It was our lieutenant, 2nd in place after Nitzani. 2nd's in place are usually responsible for battery's safety. He came to talk to us about a violation of rules, about playing with weapons. "Who's the idiot this time and what has he done?" someone mumbled.

The officer spoke: "This morning, your battery commander had committed a serious violation!" (WHAT?!?!?!) "...He loaded his weapon and aimed at his driver. Such behavior cannot be tolerated. He is on his way to be tried... As of now, I am your battery's commander, at least temporarily." Everyone was shocked!

The story was in the newspapers a few days later. Here's how it happened:
Nitzani used to talk about the suffering of Palestinians with his jeep squad. Their replies to his leftist views were somewhat disrespectful. One time he saw a couple of Palestinian kids doing something on a big pile of garbage. He later said something like: "Did you see those poor kids. Imagine how hard it is for them to live like this." the driver replied something which made Nitzani lose control. He loaded his weapon and aimed at the driver for a couple of seconds, then he got a grip of himself, went out and unloaded the gun. He said he was sorry, but the driver felt the need to tell the others about the incident.

Nitzani was tried, had his rank lowered/delayed and was reassigned to a training base in the Negev.

* * * * *

There was a club in Hermesh. There were a few old computers, a billiard table that was always occupied and among few other things there was a PS2 stand!

Me and my friend Sharon figured it could be a great way to spend our free time in this place and perhaps get our motivation back. But things weren't that simple...

This club belonged to the settlement. There were kids who were at the club all day long during its operating hours. The club owner would give some kids the keys so they could be the first to occupy the billiard table and the PS2.

Asking nicely didn't help us either. "Can you let us play after you finish?" "No." "Look, you can come here anytime you like, but we have to guard in an hour." "I don't care." "Don't you have any sympathy for soldiers who are here to protect you and your family 24/7?" "There were soldiers before you and there will be soldiers after you, so it doesn't matter."

The other day we've managed to find the PS2 unoccupied, but I had to guard in 20 minutes. Sharon showed me a game he brought with him (he was released home on the weekend). It was Final Fantasy X. When he showed me that game, in less than 20 minutes he'd convinced me to get myself a PS2... Well, a year and a half later.

The following day, we came to the club with the guys the moment it opened. We asked for the PS2, but the boy said: "Look, we - the town's citizens are a priority here in this club. I can do here whatever I want." Well, he's right, but that's just rude.
"I will leave tomorrow for 2 weeks, then you can play all you like."

The next day when I finished guarding, I thought I'd have around 3 free hours on that PS2 to finally relax and enjoy the time in this cursed settlement. It was just about half an hour before the club opened when the alarm sounded.

We were all called back to the barracks and told that there are 2 gunmen on their way here! The officer gave us orders. We were all spread around the settlement, each given a certain sector to patrol in. After a while it started raining.

Our new battery commander came and started firing lighting shells into the sky. Helicopters were circling around.

A couple of hours later, we were relieved, but then I had to guard again!

Like always, a few hours later we knew all the details of what had happened - two Palestinian gunmen were on their way here but they fled back to their villages and dropped their AK47s when they saw the flare and the helicopters in the sky. Someone from the village had warned the Israeli intelligence of their plans. They were later caught by IDF.

Other events involved a gunman shooting at the "mayor" of Sa-Nur settlement and shooting at our commander's AV jeep. No one was injured and the gunmen have managed to escape.

When Sunday came, it turned out I wasn't on the list either. Okay! Then I was definitely going to be released on Thursday, right?! Wrong!

My officer came to me and told me I was going to guard at our home base in the Golan Heights for a few days. I'd be released home from there, he promised. I was happy! I was finally getting out of this place! At least for a while... Nobody knew how long we'd be staying here.

I was replacing one of my team mates at the base. When I called him on the phone he said I should get myself some books on my way there, because it gets really boring - you guard 4 hours and rest 8 hours, 4/8. There are no commanders to tell us to clean, study or train.

So I bought a book. It was Michael Crichton's Timeline. Before that, I wasn't much of a reader, but from that moment on everything's changed. I was reading at every possible moment, trying to spend time more efficiently. I've never been so addicted to reading a book before. It really surprised me!

Getting home on Sunday was the main thing on my mind. It's been 14 days and everybody's been released home in one day or another, except me. But this time it was Hezbollah who stole my vacation! A few katyushas landed in the northern border, fired by Hezbollah had triggered a sudden change of plans. The battery was replaced by other forces in the Shaked sector and we were called up to assist in the northern border.

While my whole battery was moving everything from one place to another, I was guarding at the home base, hoping it would all be back to normal as soon as possible. After 2 days it was... Since we've already been replace in Shaked, we were reassigned to... Maccabim. They packed and moved everything again while I was enjoying my 8 hours of rest every day and night.

Finally, after 18 days, half of which were a real nightmare, I was replaced and released home. When I got back from home to our new base in Maccabim, I found out that my team's been released as well. That means that they were home for the second time, that they simply skipped my previous vacation.

Asking for an extra vacation at home was futile. My commander kept saying: "The army doesn't owe you anything!"

At least I'm glad that the nightmare of Hermesh is now over. I don't know how we'd have survived a few more weeks out there. People started to go crazy! I sure hope that we won't have to get back there again.