Israeli veterans have spoken out, describing a degrading culture of
abuse and harassment of Palestinian children in the West Bank and Gaza. A
report containing 30 veterans’ testimonies details numerous cases of
violence committed by Israeli soldiers.
The report was released to world media on Saturday by Breaking the
Silence, an organization made up of Israeli army veterans formed in
2004. They compiled more than 850 accounts from current and former
Israeli soldiers describing abuses they committed or witnessed.
The investigation seeks to serve as “a witness to the ongoing decline of the military system into increasing immorality."
“The
words of the soldiers included here constitute an urgent call to
Israeli society and its leaders: We must foster a serious discourse
regarding the price of military rule of the Occupied Territories,” said the report.
A
number of reports pertain to the detention and abuse of minors who pelt
Israeli soldiers with stones and the imposition of Israeli control in
occupied areas.
A first sergeant in an armored corps unit described his job as “population control,” in a testimony entitled "What is that job, really?"
His unit would enter Palestinian villages on a daily basis to “make
their presence felt” and to show the local residents that the area did
not belong to them.
“A patrol goes in, or two patrols, two
Hummers secured by a jeep, and raise hell inside the villages. A whole
company may be sent in on foot in two lines like a military parade in
the streets, provoking riots, provoking children,” said the first sergeant.
He said that his commander’s aim was to “grind the population down”
so that they would not even think of throwing stones at their occupiers.
‘Whoever is slow to run gets beaten up’
One
testimony describes in detail a camouflaged ambush on Palestinian
children in Qalandiya in the West Bank following a riot. The platoon
corned the children and beat them with wooden clubs as they tried to
escape.
“People were made to fall to the ground, and then the
soldiers with the clubs would go over to them and beat them. A slow
runner was beaten, that was the rule,” said a first sergeant in the Engineering Corps.
According
to the sergeant such ambushes were carried out about four or five times
sometimes on the same children. The aim of the exercise, the sergeant
said, was to discourage the children from throwing stones at the Israeli
soldiers, but he did not believe it had any effect.
‘Not considered kids’
The
report documents numerous cases of children under the age of 16 being
taken into custody, blindfolded and deprived of food and water.
A
first sergeant from a Paratroopers Brigade who regularly took children
of 12-14 years of age into custody for attempting to cross the border
into Israel said they were taught to treat the children not as small
children, but as assisting terrorists.
“The intelligence
officer saw two soldiers beating one of the detainees. I think they were
about 16 years old, if I remember correctly,” he said.
‘We’d lost all sense of mercy’
Another veteran described how his troop would trash shops and buildings because they were bored, purposely triggering riots.
He
related an incident where Israeli soldiers waiting for civilians
outside a mosque began to fire rubber rounds in order to spark a riot.
He said that if Arab children threw stones at them they would use them
as human shields.
“You know how badly beaten they get? You
catch him, push the gun against his body, he can’t make a move, he’s
totally petrified. He only goes: "No, no, army." You can tell he’s
petrified.”
Report slanders IDF
In response to the report the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that Breaking the Silence had revealed its true intentions “to generate negative publicity regarding the IDF and its soldiers, rather than facilitating a proper investigation."
"As
a matter of policy, the organization chooses not to provide the IDF and
other relevant bodies with the critical material necessary for
investigation. By compiling testimonies over long periods of time and
refusing to provide additional detail, [Breaking the Silence]
proves its true intentions – rather than facilitating proper
investigation, the organization seeks to generate negative publicity
regarding the IDF and its soldiers.” the IDF told The Weekend Australian.
Breaking Silence member Yehuda Shaul hit back at the IDF, saying "over 70 of our testifiers have come out publicly with their names and identities revealed, and I'm one of them."
“If the IDF was interested in investigating our claims, we probably would have already been summoned to interrogations," concluded Shaul.
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