commentary from Israel & the West Bank
Posts tagged IDF
Video From Weekly Protests in Bil’in and Sheikh Jarrah
Apr 17th
Video from Bil’in by Yisrael Puternam
Video from Shiekh Jarrah by Yisrael Puternam
Video and report from Nil’in and Nabi Salih will be posted in next days as I am editing the footage now.
Coexistence that the Western Media is not Willing to Cover
Jul 27th
Saturday was a burning hot day in the West Bank. Combatants for Peace, a group made up of Israeli ex-combat soldiers and Palestinian ex-fighters, planned a protest at an illegal outpost adjacent to Shufa, a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank that is very close to the Green Line. The illegal outpost was built by settlers from the settlement of Avney Hefetz over the last three weeks. They simply took over a hilltop on Palestinian land and constructed makeshift tents that are guarded by the IDF. While the tents are not settlements, the pattern is clear. Build a tent, then build a house, then another one and you have a settlement protected by the IDF that then becomes a “consensus area” too populated to ever evacuate.
Outposts and Hasbara
Jul 22nd
Amidst the media circus surrounding Jewish hotels and apartments in East Jerusalem, the Israeli government has been making waves on the illegal outpost front. The Border Police has reportedly been doing drills to prepare for the evacuation of 23 illegal outposts built since 2001. The subtext of these news items provides us with a unique window into Israeli propaganda. Haaretz is reporting that the Israel police have set up a special unit to handle the large-scale evacuation of outposts in the coming days. The settlers have responded by asking the population to pass on any information about possible evacuations so that they can ‘defend’ them. Some settler groups have come out in favor of violent resistance, citing the Orthodox protests in the streets of Jerusalem as proof of success.
Reading about the expected violence from settlers brings up thoughts about the 2005 Gaza disengagement, when most of the country was bracing itself for what was feared to become a civil war. Of course, there was no violence. Not a single soldier was hurt in a substantial way. So why all the hoopla then and now?
West Bank outpost of Maoz Esther being rebuilt hours after it was demolished by the IDF
Israel wants to appear as if it is making ‘painful concessions” that inflict a major cost on Israeli society. While it is quite dramatic for the settlers to leave an outpost, the real cost to Israeli society is the amount of energy, funding and moral and political peril we pay as a result of the settlement project.
What is not being reported nearly enough in Israeli news is that the community that faces the most hardship as a result of outpost evacuation is the Palestinians, who must deal with the ‘price tag’ reprisals of the settlers. The settlers often rampage through the West Bank after an outpost has been dismantled, burning Palestinian fields and throwing stones at their cars. The IDF generally allows them to ‘blow off steam” and does not intervene. Yet, the Israeli hasbara machine wants us to believe that the threat of violence from the settlers to our troops is out of control, when in reality, it is lawful conduct that is out of control.
petition to review Gaza war crimes
Jul 22nd
On the front page of today’s Haaretz, a petition to review Gaza war crimes as a result of the Breaking the Silence testimonies. Leading professors, actors, writers and intellectuals signed the petition including Amos Oz and David Grossman. If you have not read the Breaking the Silence please do so here.
If you are able to read Hebrew please visit this important website concerning the Gaza war set up by Rabbis for Human Rights.
Full Breaking the Silence Report in PDF
Jul 16th
For those who have not read the whole report from Breaking the Silence. See what all the news is about.
Updates on the Breaking the Silence Report
Jul 15th
As the United States starts to wake up for the day more news is coming out about the Breaking the Silence Testimony Report from Operation Cast Lead. Mikhael Manekin of Breaking the Silence has a brilliant piece in the Huffington Post about how the testimonies conflict with the official government line of what took place during the war. He writes:
“Most important, the spokesperson claimed that all soldiers received precise rules of engagement when they entered the operation, with an emphasis on avoiding injury to civilians. Many soldiers testified that in their units there was total disregard for civilian safety and a permissiveness they had never encountered in previous operations. “If you are not sure – shoot. If there is doubt then there is no doubt,” one combatant said he was told.”
Jerry Haber at the Magnes Zionist is also covering the story by giving commentary and reprinting full testimonies of soldiers. Please take a look at his site for these important updates.
Lastly, the Israeli government has responded in an upsetting but not surprising way. From the official statement:
“The IDF Spokesperson Unit regrets the fact that yet another human rights organization is presenting to Israel and the world a report based on anonymous and general testimonies, without investigating their details or credibility. Furthermore, this organization denied the IDF the minimal decency of presenting the report to the IDF and allowing it to investigate the testimonies prior to the report’s publication. This was done while defaming and slandering the IDF and its commanders.”
Breaking the Silence Testimony from Operation Cast Lead on YouTube
Jul 15th
This is the first in a series of over thirty YouTube videos that Breaking the Silence will be releasing over the next days. The videos are testimonies by soldiers who served in Operation Cast Lead last January. Please visit this post for more information about the report.
‘We’re a democracy, we can’t do things the way we would like to do them.” Breaking the Silence Releases Testimonies from Operation Cast Lead
Jul 15th
Today, Breaking the Silence has released its testimony from soldiers who fought in the recent Gaza offensive, Operation Cast Lead. Breaking the Silence is one of the most valuable and important NGO’s operating in Israel today. They ‘aim ultimately to stimulate public debate about the moral price that Israeli society as a whole has been paying for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian population on an everyday basis and control its life.’
Over the past six months they have been collecting testimonies from soldiers that served in Operation Cast Lead about the reality of the war from their eyes and experience. I have read the document and was shocked at the stories on so many levels. The fact that white phosphorus was used as a weapon, the absolute destruction of Gaza, the “shoot first ask questions later” mentality, the atmosphere of sick untouchability of the commanders telling their troops to act brutally and finally the absolute lies that the State of Israel put out about its conduct in the Gaza war. The international media is beginning to cover the story and most of the news coverage today regards IDF using human shields during the Gaza campaign. What words can I put down as commentary for this? How do you discount the testimony of a soldier who was ordered to use human shields or destroy entire neighborhoods?
A passage that struck me is on page 54 and I have reprinted it below.
Testimony 24- Regarding Briefings & House Demolitions
I was a D-9 operator, and was called up for reserve duty on Saturday, January 3rd, I think, got there on January 4th.
Which is just when the ground –offensive began, right?
Yes
So you arrive and get briefed, what were the briefings you had?
Yes. Target practice, a drill here, a drill there. The infantry really trained hard, but we had nothing to train with, there was no equipment. In short, what shocked me was a talk we had with the commander of ***, he’s a colonel, and he gave our whole battalion a talk. First of all he started out with something like, “Unfortunately we’re a democracy, so we can’t demolish Gaza to the extent that we’d really like.” Perhaps he didn’t actually say ‘unfortunately’ but he repeated, twice, that ‘the fact we’re a democracy works against us, for the army cannot act as aggressively as it would like.” Then he said once again that we’re going into this operation aggressively, without… Usually in such talks the army, the commanders mention the lives of civilians and showing consideration to civilians. Here he didn’t even mention this. Just the brutality, go in there brutally.
Those are the words he used?
Yes. He said, “In case of any doubt, take down houses. You don’t need confirmation for anything, if you want.” Perhaps it’s legitimate, but if you suspect the presence of an explosive charge, you should get confirmation for a tank to fire. In short, a tank would fire a shell on the basis of a suspected charge. This is perhaps legitimate, but he also said, “Fortunately the hospitals are full to capacity already, so people are dying more quickly.” Then someone answered him, one of the soldiers replied cynically: “So kill the doctors” The commander replied dismissingly, not understanding his cynical intent, twice: “We’re a democracy, we can’t do things the way we would like to do them.” He didn’t leave anytime for questions, either.
Jerry Haber at the Magnes Zionist just finished reading the document and has these conclusions:
1. Operation Cast Lead was a “war” in which only one side fought and fought with little restraint.
2. White phosphorus was used against international conventions.
3. The devastation was enormous, on an unprecedented scale in the Israeli warfare.
4. Vandalism was
5. Gazans Were Used as Human Shields
In Israel, Haaretz broke the story and currently is featuring the story on its English website. It is curious that the Hebrew version of Haaretz has the story placed “under the fold”. The Jerusalem Post is not even covering the story yet and Ynet has a small headline in its news section. The BBC, by contrast, is carrying the story as its main headline.
IDF arrests Red Crescent medical team during a demonstration in Ni’ilin
Aug 27th
Posted by Joseph Dana in Unarmed Resistance
2 comments
The IDF arrested a Red Crescent medical team this afternoon in the West Bank city of Ni’ilin. The medical team was a part of the weekly protest against the separation wall and continued Israeli settlement expansion. Roughly thirty Palestinians accompanied by Israeli and international supporters approached the separation wall around one in the afternoon. Palestinians burned tires on one portion of the wall and the IDF responded with a volley of tear gas. Soldiers then entered the village farmlands with weapons drawn. The majority of the protesters were able to retreat into the village leaving only the Red Crescent medical team, one Israeli camerawoman from the human rights organization Btsleem and one Palestinian photographer. They were surrounded and detained.
Friday Protest in West Bank Village of Ni'ilin. 27 August 2010. Photo by Joseph Dana
As the events unfolded, I tweeted updates and photos from Ni’ilin. Perhaps in response to my tweet the IDF spokesman office began tweeting “riots in Judea and Samaria” and “7 rioters arrested in Ni’ilin”. How can a medical team and two photographers be considered ‘rioters’? After a couple of hours all of the detainees were released without charge. For the past couple of months, the IDF has declared that Ni’ilin and the neighboring village of Bil’in are ‘closed military zones’ on Fridays. This directive by the military governor of the West Bank is designed to intimidate the protest movement and can be used to arrest any protester simply for being in the said area on Friday. The order has recently expired, giving the IDF no grounds to hold the detainees from Ni’ilin today.However, the detainees were led by soldiers over the wall, and presented with a new closed military zone order, effective Friday, Aug 27th, from 10am to 10pm. The aerial photograph attached to the order encompassed a section of Ni’lin’s agricultural land adjacent to the wall, not as extensive as the area designated “closed military zone” in the six month military order that was imposed on Ni’lin and Bilin (and has since expired). The medics and camera people were in fact detained outside of the designated area.
Ni’ilin has been protesting the separation wall and confiscation of their agricultural land for the past two years. The International Court of Justice considers “the construction of the (separtion) wall, and its associated régime, contrary to international law”. Five Palestinians have been killed due to excessive Israeli repression measures and hundreds have been injured in the course of the unarmed protests. Many of the leaders of the popular struggle movement have been imprisoned for long sentenced in Israeli Kafkaesque military legal prison system in an effort to crush the unarmed struggle. The protest has continued weekly despite the repression. This is the second time in the recent months in which the IDF has arrested Red Crescent medics during the protest in Ni’ilin.
Friday Protest in West Bank Village of Ni'ilin. 27 August 2010. Photo by Joseph Dana
Throughout the West Bank demonstrations against the separation wall and settlements took place today. In Bil’in, a Palestinian protester was shot in the leg with a rubber bullet as hundreds of Palestinian, Israeli and international protesters attempted to approach the separation fence in the village. The injured Palestinian was evacuated to a Ramallah hospital for treatment. In the village of al-Masara, the army used tear gas and sound bombs to break up a non violent demonstration. One Israeli was arrested and taken to a local police station in the West Bank. In Nabi Salih, the largely non violent demonstration ended early with one Israeli arrested.