Dialogue with a Soldier
Web-posted 7 February 2002
Surda Checkpoint, north of Ramallah.
Thursday morning, 31 January 2002
As part of the monitoring group, International
Checkpoint Watch (ICW), one other person and I are observing the goings-on at
the checkpoint. The highest volume
of Palestinians pass through the checkpoint between 7 and 10 a.m. and again
between 4 and 6 p.m., when ICW maintains its presence here.
This road is the main link between Ramallah and several villages, as well
as Birzeit University. Currently, the road is blockaded with at least 8 concrete
blocks, and Palestinians must walk from one side to the other (about 200 meters
or more, depending on traffic) before entering a second taxi to complete their
trip.
In groups of four (today at least), soldiers are
patrolling the blockaded area of the road.
A different squad was here earlier, and there was a shift change around
9:30 a.m.
S1: You’re a journalist?
R: No…we’re just part of an international monitoring group, observing the actions at the checkpoints…such as detaining people, questioning people, searching cars and bags.
S1: What country are you from?
R: Canada.
S1: She’s also with you? (Alluding to my colleague who remains 10 meters away)
R: Yes…. It’s a very slow day today. You don’t appear to be checking many people.
S1: [mumbled response]
R: I just came over here because I wasn’t sure if all 4
of you were here or one of you was still down the hill.
(A few minutes earlier, two of the soldiers had gone
running down the road after a truck. They
told us that the driver had been asked to stop but he had gotten tired and
turned around. Of course, he would
not have been allowed to pass anyway).
S1: You have ID or something?
R: Yeah.
S1: So you just came to visit Ramallah or all of Israel?
R: I came to visit and see as much as I can….to see life in Israel and life in Palestine.
S1: It’s not connected, the life in Israel and the life in Falasteen. (Interesting here that the soldier chooses the term “Falasteen,” which is the Arabic name for Palestine.)
R: I know, it’s two different nations.
S1: Yes this place is different.
R: Yes, for example there are no checkpoints in Israel; that’s a big difference.
S1: Why don’t you go to Israel; go to Tel Aviv?
R: I’ve been there, to the beach. But Ramallah can be fun, too.
S1: Yeah, they have discothèque there?
R: Yes, but not as many places are open as before the Intifada.
S1: Yeah, it’s different now I’m sure.
R: Yeah, now you’re here, though I’m sure you’d rather be in Israel, eh? At the beach…
S1: Yeah sure.
R: …not here searching people carrying babies and bags of food.
S1: No, it’s not so fun…not, uh, so good to check people.
R: No I guess not. Are you looking for someone special today?
S1: Everybody.
R: But you’re not checking everybody today.
S1: No it’s normal - we don’t check everybody everyday. Only if they’re doing something, uh, not usual. Me, I don’t like to check the people.
R: Do you ever move these [concrete] blocks and let some cars pass?
S1: No, we can’t do this. We need some type of large truck…
R: A bulldozer?
S1: Yes exactly.
R: So the jeeps can’t push them away?
S1: Yeah the can, but after they push it they have to go to the garage, you know. [big smile]
R: I see.
(I’ve seen the jeeps push the concrete blocks, used
as road blockades, out of the way to let certain vehicles, such as other jeeps,
pass.)
S1: It was open, the road. I think…five months ago. And before the Intifada it was always like that. Then some things happened and we had to come here, you know, but it’s not good.
R: Do you ever think about not serving – refusing to come
and serve in the West Bank? Have
you heard about all the officers in Israel who announced they would refuse to
serve in the Occupied Territories? They
signed a petition saying they would only serve in Israel.
(A news story broke on 29 January that 53 reserve
officers in the IDF signed a petition refusing to serve in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, even going as far as to term the occupation of Palestinians “war
crimes by the State of Israel.” A
few days later, another 50 officers also offered to sign.)
S1: They want to only serve in Israel, I think.
R: Yes. So can you try to change where you are? Instead of being here at this checkpoint, why don’t you try to serve in the army in the north of Israel or somewhere besides…
S1: Ah, I’ve served in all the country, all over. In Golan [Heights], in places…
R: Right, and it can’t be very nice to be here checking civilians walking by on the road and blocking their route to school or work. Don’t you feel like it’s not important for the security of Israel?
S1: No, it’s very important. What we are doing in the army is important.
R: Blockading all of these people is important? Do you feel like you’d be better serving your country if you were elsewhere?
S1: It’s not very good to check all of these people. But you know there are political circumstances…
R: What do you mean?
S1: You know, to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority and like that.
R: But that’s why the tanks are in Ramallah right next to Arafat, right. What does that have to do with this checkpoint?
S1: Yeah but Arafat is doing wrong things to his people, you see.
R: But this checkpoint, right here, seems to have nothing to do with…
S1: But you need to understand that these people here, they understand that.
R: What exactly?
S1: That we check them and then afterwards they go to their
school or work. They know this.
(At this point, a second soldier walks over to our
discussion, while the remaining two stay next to the jeep, at the moment not
stopping any Palestinian passers-by. As
I’ve often observed, very rarely do all soldiers present engage in checking
ID’s – it’s almost as if there are some who are apprentices, learning from
the higher ranking ones.)
R: Yes, they know to stop here because this is a checkpoint. But they are dispirited because of it.
S1: But I tell you one last thing…
S2: I give you one example. A few days ago we catch one of the...the…you know the lynch…
R: Yeah, the lynch in Ramallah when the two soldiers were
killed.
(Referring to the incident on 12 October 2000 in which
four undercover IDF soldiers were captured in Ramallah, and later a mob stormed
the police station where they were being held and killed 2 of the soldiers.
I’ve not been able to find any evidence that one of the perpetrators
was actually caught at the checkpoint, as the soldiers said.)
S2: Yes, we catch him here.
R: Here at this checkpoint?
S2: At this checkpoint.
S1: This is the point…
R: Sorry, was he going to Surda or to Ramallah?
S2: I don’t know where he was going.
S1: …if we have to be here for one whole year just to catch him, it’s worth it.
R: Really?
S2: And we catch others, too.
R: That’s interesting. But it seems that millions of people pass here in one year, and to stop them all, disrupt their lives and treat them like herded animals, just to catch one person…that’s not right, do you think?
S1: No, you don’t see. It doesn’t look like animals.
R: Well, today is different. On other days you might have twenty Palestinians standing here for hours in the sun for no reason. I don’t think even most Israelis would approve of that.
S1: I think they would like to know that we catch these people.
R: But you really believe, not just because of your orders, that it’s important that you are here?
S1 and S2: Yes.
S1: If I’m not here to do the job, someone will.
R: But maybe there’s not a job to do here, that it could be done better somewhere else but not in Palestine.
S1: I am a soldier in the army, and I know what I must do.
S2: You are not in the army, so you don’t understand…
R: No, you’re right. But I couldn’t live with myself if I did this to people. I would refuse to do it.
S2: This is the system. We can’t change it.
R: Well, I disagree. There are some who are already working to do it.
S1: [Abrupt but not aggressive] Okay, have a nice day.
R: Okay, thanks.
Some people subscribe to the theory that soldiers, well-trained and anesthetized, cannot be reasoned with; that no attempt should be made to engage in dialogue with them or confront them unprovoked (ICW focuses solely on observing and reporting the mistreatment of civilians and any violations of human and civil rights). But in light of the recent letter by the 53 reserve officers, and the fact that I recognized a few of the soldiers as being slightly benign in temperament, I took it upon myself to expand the conversation beyond the simple request for identification. This was done completely at my discretion, and not within the bounds of ICW and its mission, though not explicitly against any of its objectives. The tape recorder is simply a tool to record the factual events that happen at the checkpoint, and not to subvert the confidence of any parties present. This encounter with the soldiers is one of numerous by me and many others at various checkpoints, and is by no means indicative of ‘an average day’ at the checkpoint. It is just one example on one particular day.
Richard Johnson - Ramallah
(c) 2002 canadazone.com