Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Karpel: Israel's Torture

Karpel: Israel's Torture
The one who makes people talk
by Dalia Karpel  
 October 15, 2007 
 
Ha'aretz  
 
"We - Israeli soldiers - were put there to punish the Palestinians," says
Ilan Vilenda, an Israeli soldier who served in Rafah during the first
Intifada. 
Ilan is the only soldier of 21 who agreed to have his name published,
after he was interviewed by psychologist Nofer Ishai-Karen. 
The soldiers spoke freely to Nofer, who served with them in the same
ASHBAL platoon 20 years ago; they are disclosing their innermost emotions
about the horrendous crimes in which they took part: murder, breaking
bones of Palestinian children, actions of humiliation, destruction of
property, robbery and theft. 
Soldier "A" testimony: "We decided to turn an old shower in our base
[in]to a make-shift detention cell. A Palestinian was brought there,
handcuffed and mouth banded so he couldn't talk, or move. We forgot him
there for three days..." 
Soldier "B" testimony: "I was on my first patrol. Others simply shot like
mad. I started to shoot as they did. They 'set me on.' I took my weapon
and shot. Nobody was there to tell me otherwise." 
Psychologist Ishai-Karen was shocked to find that the soldiers enjoyed the
'intoxication of power', and had pleasure from using violence. She said:
"Most of my interviewees enjoyed their own instigated violence during
their Occupation service." 
Soldier "C" testimony: "The truth is that I love this mess - I enjoy it.
It is like being on drugs. If I didn't enter Rafah, to put down some
rebellion - at least once a week - I'd go berserk." 
Soldier "D" testimony: "What is great is that you don't have to follow any
law or rule. You feel that YOU ARE THE LAW; you decide. Once you go into
the Occupied Territories YOU ARE GOD". 
Emotional dumbness 
Soldier "E" testimony: "We drove an APC through Rafah. A man of 25 walked
nearby. He didn't hurl a stone at us or anything. Then without any reason
"X" shot him in the stomach. We left him lying on the sidewalk." 
Soldier "F" testimony: "Some 'tough guys' developed it into 'an ideology',
according to which we have to react brutally even for minor events. A
woman threw a sandal at me. I kicked her with my foot at her crotch. I
broke her. She can't have children any longer. Next time she won't throw
sandals at me... and when another woman spat at me she got the butt of my
gun in her face. She can't spit now." 
Soldier "G" described his first forced entry to a home to detain a
Palestinian: "He was real big, some 30 years old. He refused detention. We
hit him but couldn't force him down. Some people came hurling stones at
us. We beat him and told him to lie down. Till he finally did. We drove to
the base with him. By that time he had lost consciousness. He died some
days later." 
Nofer Ishai-Karen: "Some NCOs encouraged the soldiers to behave brutally,
and provided their own example. 
Soldier "H" testimony: "After two months in Rafah a new NCO commander
arrived. The first patrol, which he commanded, was at 06 hours. Rafah was
under curfew. Not a soul was on the street. 
Then he saw a young boy, of about 4, playing in the sand in the courtyard
of his home. The kid was building a castle in the sand. Suddenly the NCO,
a guy from the Engineers Corps, ran to chase the kid. We followed. 
"He captured the kid and broke his elbow. Broke the kid's elbow! Damn me
if I'm not telling the truth! Then the NCO treaded on the kid's stomach
three times, before he moved on. We couldn't believe our eyes... But the
next day we went on patrol with that guy and the soldiers started to
imitate him..." 
What happened then? Some guys couldn't stomach it. The case of severe
abuse of three young adolescents, who were bounded hand and foot by a
staff sergeant, got them to alert a senior officer. 
"When the medic arrived the boys were bleeding all over, their clothes
were soaked with blood, and they were shivering from fear. They were made
to kneel like dogs and were afraid to move." 
The NCO was punished by 3 months detention. But the platoon commander
backed the NCO and reprimanded the conscientious soldiers for 'defaming
the platoon'." 
Nofer Ishai-Karen: The sacred value in the [Israeli] Army is "fighters'
solidarity", i.e., loyalty towards your fellow combatants. The platoons
protected its secrets, as a family defends its 'black sheep'. The fellows
regard as "traitors" the conscientious soldiers, says Nofer Ishai-Karen.
The cover-up was complete when our 'good guy' was excommunicated and
ostracized by the entire platoon. And the NCO? He left the country, and
now lives in the U.S.A. The majority of the soldiers of these platoons had
left Israel. Only five or six remain in Israel. 
Nofer studied two platoons ESHBAL and ESHKHAR, the last was more extremely
violent, she says. 
Finally back to Ilan Vilenda, the only soldier who allowed Nofer to use
his full name and even be photographed. Vilenda was a staff sergeant in
charge of 'operations'. 
Ilan Vilenda's testimony: "Our job was to beat them... I personally hit a
boy and another. I used my hands or the truncheon. We beat more severely
[Palestinian] adults. We acted like policemen but we acted outside the
law. There was this Palestinian who had a TV at home. The World Cup in
Soccer was on, and we used to invade his privacy to watch the games. After
a while he had enough, and asked us take the TV set and move. 
"I was born on a Kibbutz, to a family whose values were humane 'Zionist
left wing'. The Palestinians threw tons of stones at us. Whereas at the
beginning my ideological commitment restrained my actions, my anger
accumulated, and I released it violently. It was meant to be. We were
there to make them [Palestinians] pay. My political views changed too. I
now support the extreme-right-religious National-Religious Party." 
After his release from the army, Vilenda and 5 other Israelis were
arrested in Goa, India for possession of LSD. 
"I wanted to serve my country. This was my task... but the entire IDF is
executing illegal-orders." 
Who is responsible? 
General Matan Vilna'i [now serving under Ehud Barak as vice Minister of
Defense] was at the time [during the First Intifada] Chief of the IDF
Southern Command. 
"He often visited our platoon and discussed with soldiers," says Nofer.
"But...there you go... the 'Instruments of Denial and Concealment' went to
work..." 
Besides, the Israeli Army didn't provide the unit with regular training,
nor were the soldiers given regular leaves, or provided with free time to
recuperate and recover. The interviewed soldiers maintained that the
longer they operated [against the Palestinians in Rafah] without leave,
the more violent they became in imposing their kind of 'Law and Order'.
They claimed: 
"Army [commanders] were aware of the erosion towards violence, and
encouraged it in order to save manpower." 
NOTES: 
General Matan Vilna'i must have known what happened. High-ranking officers
who served on the Occupied West Bank had voiced similar warnings against
Israeli Army behavior. "The orders left a wide gap, a margin... of an
intentionally un-specified 'grey zone', which encouraged violent behavior
of soldiers", said Reserve Colonel Elisha Shapira, who served in the
Nablus Area at the same time. Soldiers were told "don't hit Palestinians -
but bring them to interrogation 'swell-headed' - blown-up." 
The events, which Nofer Ishai-Karen researched, happened some 17 years
ago. The situation has further deteriorated since that time. Now Israeli
Army and Air Force Generals openly take pride in acts of revenge against
Palestinian civilians. Maj-Gen Eliezer Shkeidi took pride in announcing
that his pilots break the sound barrier over Gaza, producing sonic booms.
These cause severe PTSD symptoms among young children; they have also
caused miscarriages among pregnant women. The indiscriminate shelling of
Palestinian homes has caused many deaths lately, including many children.
Perhaps last but not least: The Israeli cabinet, backed by Washington,
said it would disrupt power and fuel supply to Gaza. 
[1] This is an abbreviated translation of an article by Dalia Karpel
titled Hamedovevet [the one who makes people talk]. The article appeared
on the Hebrew Weekend Supplement, on 21 September 2007. It is based on
academic research, which Nofer Ishai-Karen and Psychology Prof. Joel
Elizur, of the Hebrew University published in ALPAYIM Magazine Vol. 31. 
[2] The article was not translated to English and thus did not appear in
Haaretz English Language edition. 
[3] Psychology Prof. Joel Elizur, of the Hebrew University, who guided
Nofer Ishai-Karen in her Master's thesis, served in the reserves in the
Mental Health Department of the Israeli Army. But the IDF wouldn't allow
him to research into Israeli Soldiers' violence. The researchers hold the
interview raw audio material. 
[4] To my best knowledge the Israeli Army hasn't charged a single case of
abuse or murder by soldiers of Palestinians in proper court.
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 Karpel: Israel's Torture
nononono, somarello che fa lingua in bocca coi nazisti, l'UDDMO non
tortura, e tu sei un fascista come pure i siti da cui prendi le tue
notizie da amico dei nazi.