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Over
the last year ‘Breaking the Silence’ has collected testimonies given
by hundreds of IOF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers who served in
the territories during the last conflict. These testimonies reveal
the impossible reality those soldiers have to face, and the terrible
moral price this reality demands. Selected collections from those
testimonies have been published in testimonial collections produced
by ‘Breaking the Silence’.
The
present collection is not just one more testimonial-collection,
revealing the brutal routine of the territories’ reality, or the
constant moral degradation and erosion of soldiers’ values. The
collection focuses on IOF orders, rules of engagement and
operational procedures. It presents a grave picture of evidently
illegal orders given frequently, and in different times and places:
firing at civilians who pose no risk, revenge operations,
intentionally shooting at rescue-forces, and more. This collection
reveals the depth of the military administration’s moral corruption,
and the dimness of moral sense, which has spread to the highest
ranks. The testimonies in this collection concerns various units
that were operative in the territories in different times and at
different places, and is thus an evidence for the magnitude of the
moral decay, and for the depths to which flawed norms have diffused.
It
is also apparent that the IOF’s self-inspection system has failed to
fulfill its duty. This also applies to the civilian and
parliamentary inspection mechanisms, which, during the last
confrontations, have consistently refrained from criticizing the
army’s mode of conduct in general, and its rules of engagement in
particular. This brings out sharply an urgent need to create a
platform on which the information we have gathered here can be
presented, in order to examine what this information teaches, as
well as the IOF’s mode of conduct during the last confrontations. A
civilized and decent society cannot survive without a continuous
inspection and criticism of the most powerful organization operating
within it. ‘Breaking the Silence’ is therefore calling for the
establishment of an independent public inspection committee, which
will enable a responsible disclosure and examination of the facts.
Listening and taking responsibility is the very least that is
required of society and its representatives in a civilized and
decent society founded on basic moral values.
Bethlehem, Church of Nativity
Witness:
Officer, Paratroops
Place:
Church of the Nativity
Date:
One month after defensive shield operation.
Description:
They transferred us to Bethlehem, to the church of
Nativity.
What were your orders – the open fire orders?
We
were supposed to shoot whoever came out – doesn’t matter if he’s
armed or not.
Whoever exits the church of Nativity – Boom?
Yes,
at the back gate… We were at the back of the church. There was this
gate.
At the gate in front of you, everyone leaving the church – doesn’t
matter whether or not he is armed – if he tries to escape, your
orders were to shoot in order to kill him, or did you have to shoot
him in the legs?
Shoot to kill. This is it. We’ll get to the situation [I want to
tell about] in a moment. The orders were very clear. There are
wanted people inside. People who are not wanted would go through the
main gate, so everyone who leaves through the back gate really has
to be a wanted person. We sat there for a long time. A month. We
have a house [we got hold of], and know the place really well. We
have outlooks to another force, a reserve force sitting in front of
us. We find all the help we need. In short, we sit there and it
becomes a routine.
[Does the routine include] vacations?
Vacations, yes. You already know. Like, bring
supplies by armored troop carriers, and we are being rewarded, and
all sort of such things. At this house…– Oh! It was also in Nablus…
– there is a family, so we close them up in one room and… In the
house in
Nablus
they had a whole floor for themselves; we were large… Like, it was a
big house, and they had a floor. When there was a day to release the
curfew to let people get supplies – because it took a long while –
they went out and got back. In Bethlehem this was a really luxury
house, like watching the church of
Nativity.
They had several floors in the house. So [we let them use] one tiny
room. A very… beautiful house. And this went on for the whole….
Did you play with the computer inside the house?
No.
No. All the while we were there, and during the entire time of our
activity – also when we were in Askar and Ballata, and did all sorts
of search operations, and suchlike, we had this procedure in our
unit: every place you get to in which you are required to stay, you
fold the furniture aside, all the chairs and carpets…
Mattresses on the floor?
There weren’t mattresses all the time. But we were allowed to keep
the carpets so we wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor. So such
things [like playing with computers] did not happen… we also did not
take any showers there. It was forbidden. Use the bathroom, yes.
But… in his house. I should also mention that this house… cleaning…
we were very good about it. Anyway, one time a person escaped
through the back gate.
From your direction?
Yes,
from our direction… The outlook spotted him. It was daylight and
all. He was covered from all directions. Captured him. In another
incident there was… At times people [Palestinians] would throw food
inside [the church]. They somehow managed to get from our side, and
people would throw food inside.
And what were the orders about those people?
To
capture them. Suspect arrest procedure. The situation I was part of…
At all times there was a force of ours there. We were inside the
house and there was this open place, which was constantly occupied
by a force of ours. So there was a movement outside [from the
church], and the outlook spotted it. They advanced, sat there for a
while, and then they got back in, or something like that. Then they
are spotted again [by the outlook]. My force comes out – there were
four of us. We sneak up and get there. We have an outlook, so we
know exactly where they are. We are positioned right above them. Me
and another soldier, and another couple, on two terraces. Four of
us. We are one terrace above them. We spot them crawling out on the
floor. We can’t say whether or not they are armed. – It wouldn’t
have mattered if they weren’t. To make things short, we open fire at
them. Me and another soldier. It was also the suspension… All sorts
of reasons. The fire was not successful, operationally speaking.
Did you hit them?
We
hit them, but didn’t kill them. Because, it’s true. It was a
situation where almost… you are positioned above, and they are
crawling. In short, there was the first bullet, and then automatic
fire… It doesn’t matter. We wounded them both. They just evacuated
them outside.
Our forces?
No.
They took them outside, and then we took over. They were transferred
to a hospital, I guess an Israeli one. I’m sure it was Israeli.
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