In shocking testimonies that reveal abductions,
beatings and torture, Israeli soldiers confess
the horror they have visited on Hebron.
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
The dark-haired 22-year-old in black T-shirt, blue jeans and
red Crocs is understandably hesitant as he sits at a picnic table
in the incongruous setting of a beauty spot somewhere in Israel.
We know his name and if we used it he would face a criminal
investigation and a probable prison sentence.
The birds are singing as he describes in detail some of what
he did and saw others do as an enlisted soldier in Hebron.
And they are certainly criminal: the incidents in which Palestinian
vehicles are stopped for no good reason, the windows smashed
and the occupants beaten up for talking back – for saying, for
example, they are on the way to hospital; the theft of tobacco
from a Palestinian shopkeeper who is then beaten "to a pulp"
when he complains; the throwing of stun grenades through
the windows of mosques as people prayed. And worse.
The young man left the army only at the end of last year,
and his decision to speak is part of a concerted effort to
expose the moral price paid by young Israeli conscripts in
what is probably the most problematic posting there is in
the occupied territories. Not least because Hebron is the
only Palestinian city whose centre is directly controlled
by the military, 24/7, to protect the notably hardline
Jewish settlers there. He says firmly that he now regrets
what repeatedly took place during his tour of duty.
But his frequent, if nervous, grins and giggles occasionally
show just a hint of the bravado he might have displayed if
boasting of his exploits to his mates in a bar. Repeatedly he
turns to the older former soldier who has persuaded him to
speak to us, and says as if seeking reassurance: "
You know how it is in Hebron."
The older ex-soldier is Yehuda Shaul, who does indeed
"know how it is in Hebron", having served in the city in a
combat unit at the peak of the intifada, and is a founder
of Shovrim Shtika, or Breaking the Silence, which will
publish tomorrow the disturbing testimonies of 39 Israelis
– including this young man – who served in the army in
Hebron between 2005 and 2007. They cover a range of
experiences, from anger and powerlessness in the face
of often violent abuse of Arabs by hardline Jewish settlers,
through petty harassment by soldiers, to soldiers beating
up Palestinian residents without provocation, looting
homes and shops, and opening fire on unarmed demonstrators.
The maltreatment of civilians under occupation is common
to many armies in the world – including Britain's, from
Northern Ireland to Iraq.
But, paradoxically, few if any countries apart from Israel have
an NGO like Breaking the Silence, which seeks – through the
experiences of the soldiers themselves – as its website puts
it "to force Israeli society to address the reality which it
created" in the occupied territories.
The Israeli public was given an unflattering glimpse of
military life in Hebron this year when a young lieutenant
in the Kfir Brigade called Yaakov Gigi was given a 15-month
jail sentence for taking five soldiers with him to hijack a
Palestinian taxi, conduct what the Israeli media called a
"rampage" in which one of the soldiers shot and wounded
a Palestinian civilian who just happened to be in the wrong
place, and then tried to lie his way out of it.
In a confessional interview with the Israeli Channel Two
investigative programme Uvda, Gigi, who had previously
been in many ways a model soldier, talked of "losing the
human condition" in Hebron. Asked what he meant, he
replied: "To lose the human condition is to become an animal."
The Israeli military did not prosecute the soldier who had
fired on the Palestinian, as opposed to Gigi. But the military
insists "that the events that occurred within the Kfir
Brigade are highly unusual".
But as the 22-year-old soldier, also in the Kfir Brigade,
confirms in his testimony to Breaking the Silence, it seems
that the event may not have been exceptional. Certainly,
our interview tells us, he was "many times" in groups that
commandeered taxis, seated the driver in the back, and told
him to direct them to places "where they hate the Jews" in
order to "make a balagan" – Hebrew for "big mess".
Then there is the inter- clan Palestinian fight: "We were told
to go over there and find out what was happening. Our
[platoon] commander was a bit screwed in the head. So
anyway, we would locate houses, and he'd tell us: 'OK,
anyone you see armed with stones or whatever, I don't
care what – shoot.' Everyone would think it's the clan fight..."
Did the company commander know? "No one knew. Platoon's
private initiative, these actions."
Did you hit them? "Sure, not just them. Anyone who came close
... Particularly legs and arms. Some people also sustained
abdominal hits ... I think at some point they realised it was
soldiers, but they were not sure. Because they could not believe
soldiers would do this, you know."
Or using a 10-year-old child to locate and punish a
15-year-old stone-thrower: "So we got hold of just some Palestinian
kid nearby, we knew that he knew who it had been. Let's say
we beat him a little, to put it mildly, until he told us. You know,
the way it goes when your mind's already screwed up, and you
have no more patience for Hebron and Arabs and Jews there.
"The kid was really scared, realising we were on to him.
We had a commander with us who was a bit of a fanatic. We
gave the boy over to this commander, and he really beat the
shit out of him ... He showed him all kinds of holes in the ground
along the way, asking him: 'Is it here you want to die? Or here?'
The kid goes, 'No, no!'
"Anyway, the kid was stood up, and couldn't stay standing
on his own two feet. He was already crying ... And the
commander continues, 'Don't pretend' and kicks him some more.
And then [name withheld], who always had a hard time with
such things, went in, caught the squad commander and said,
'Don't touch him any more, that's it.' The commander goes, 'You've
become a leftie, what?' And he answers, 'No, I just don't want to
see such things.'
"We were right next to this, but did nothing. We were indifferent,
you know. OK. Only after the fact you start thinking. Not right
away. We were doing such things every day ...
It had become a habit...
"And the parents saw it. The commander ordered [the mother],
'Don't get any closer.' He cocked his weapon, already had a bullet
inside. She was frightened. He put his weapon literally inside the
kid's mouth. 'Anyone gets close, I kill him. Don't bug me. I kill.
I have no mercy.' So the father ... got hold of the mother and said,
'Calm down, let them be, so they'll leave him alone.'"
Not every soldier serving in Hebron becomes an "animal".
Iftach Arbel, 23, from an upper-middle class, left-of-centre
home in Herzylia, served in Hebron as a commander just
before the withdrawal from Gaza, when he thinks the army
wanted to show it could be tough with settlers, too. And
many of the testimonies, including Mr Arbel's, describe how
the settlers educate children as young as four to throw stones
at Palestinians, attack their homes and even steal their
possessions. To Mr Arbel, the Hebron settlers are "pure evil"
and the only solution is "to remove the settlers".
He believes it would be possible even within these constraints
to treat Palestinians better. He adds: "We did night activity.
Choose a house at random, on the aerial photo, so as to practise
combat routine and all, which is instructive for the soldiers,
I mean, I'm all for it. But then at midnight you wake someone
up and turn his whole house upside down with everyone sleeping
on the mattresses and all."
But Mr Arbel says that most soldiers are some way between
his own extreme and that of the most violent. From just two
of his fellow testifiers, you can see what he means.
As one said: "We did all kinds of experiments to see who could
do the best split in Abu Snena. We would put [Palestinians]
against the wall, make like we were checking them, and ask
them to spread their legs. Spread, spread, spread, it was a game
to see who could do it best. Or we would check who can hold his
breath for longest.
"Choke them. One guy would come, make like he was
checking them, and suddenly start yelling like they said something
and choke them ... Block their airways; you have to press the
adams apple. It's not pleasant. Look at the watch as you're
doing it, until he passes out. The one who takes longest to
faint wins."
And theft as well as violence. "There's this car accessory shop
there. Every time, soldiers would take a tape-disc player, other
stuff. This guy, if you go ask him, will tell you plenty of things
that soldiers did to him.
"A whole scroll-full ... They would raid his shop regularly.
'Listen, if you tell on us, we'll confiscate your whole store, we'll
break everything.' You know, he was afraid to tell. He was
already making deals, 'Listen guys, you're damaging me financially.'
I personally never took a thing, but I'm telling you, people used
to take speakers from him, whole sound systems.
"He'd go, 'Please, give me 500 shekels, I'm losing money here.' '
Listen, if you go on – we'll pick up your whole shop.' 'OK, OK,
take it, but listen, don't take more than 10 systems a month.'
Something like this.
"'I'm already going bankrupt.' He was so miserable.
Guys in our unit used to sell these things back home, make deals
with people. People are so stupid."
The military said that Israeli Defence Forces soldiers operate
according to "a strict set of moral guidelines" and that their
expected adherence to them only "increases wherever and
whenever IDF soldiers come in contact with civilians".
It added that "if evidence supporting the allegations is uncovered,
steps are taken to hold those involved to the level of highest
judicial severity". It also said: "The Military Advocate General
has issued a number of indictments against soldiers due to
allegations of criminal behaviour ... Soldiers found guilty were
punished severely by the Military Court, in proportion to the
committed offence." It had not by last night quantified such
indictments.
In its introduction to the testimonies, Breaking the Silence says:
"The soldiers' determination to fulfil their mission yields tragic
results: the proper-normative becomes despicable, the
inconceivable becomes routine ... [The] testimonies are to
illustrate the manner in which they are swept into the brutal
reality reigning on the ground, a reality whereby the lives of
many thousands of Palestinian families are at the questionable
mercy of youths. Hebron turns a focused, flagrant lens at the
reality to which Israel's young representatives are constantly sent."
A force for justice
Breaking the Silence was formed four years ago by a group
of ex-soldiers, most of whom had served in Israel Defence
Forces combat units in Hebron. Many of the soldiers do
reserve duty in the military each year. It has collected some
500 testimonies from former soldiers who served in the
West Bank and Gaza. Its first public exposure was with an
exhibition of photographs by soldiers serving in Hebron and
the organisation also runs regular tours of Hebron for Israeli
students and diplomats. It receives funding from groups as
diverse as the Jewish philanthropic Moriah Fund, the New
Israel Fund, the British embassy in Tel Aviv and the EU.
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