Soldier: We’d go on these vendettas.

 

Interviewer: Against whom?

 

Soldier: Against those who threw stones at us.

 

Interviewer: But you don’t really know who did?

 

Soldier: We’d pick up kids, beat them up really hard, kids who were nearby, and they’d tell on them and take us to their homes. You can see them with you gun sights.

 

Interviewer: At what range?

 

Soldier: 100 meters, you can already detect the kid. So you go catch him later, you know it was him.

 

Interviewer: How?

 

Soldier: By his shirt. Often they change, but I remember we’d catch them, look at the palm of their hand, see how dirty it was, if there’s soil, if they’d thrown stones.

 

Interviewer: Right after the stone throwing?

 

Soldier: Yes, right away. Some were picked up a day later, when we already weren’t sure, but we were told it the right kid, so it was.

 

Interviewer: … What about women? What did you do to women?

 

Soldier: Really, not much. Women are already out of bounds.

 

Interviewer: Was that the norm?

 

Soldier: Yes. The limit. Sort of like, they had to be respected. There’s this thing that you have to respect women, after all. No matter how sickening they are, you still have to respect them. You know that if you hurt a woman … Once we caused a serious riot because of this.

 

Interviewer: You caused a riot?

 

Soldier: Yes, we made it happen. We said: 'This is it, we need some armed men out of the house.’ Someone began an argument, with an old woman, like about 60, when they’re already so screwed up, they start arguing. So somehow … I’ll tell you how it was. We caught some kid and the mother came right away to get him. We wouldn’t let her. We started arguing with her over him. 'We’re not letting you have him. He threw stones.’ 'No, no.’ She began pushing the soldiers. So one of them slapped her face right away. Boom. That very second the whole family came out of the house. You know how it is, a mother, a woman. When you hurt a woman – nothing can be done. So a whole riot started. The woman slapped his face back, there were beatings, a whole mess … There were actually lots of incidents like this, come to think of it. A mother comes to pick up her boy, and doesn’t get him. He’s about to tell on others, she realizes this, she’s afraid he’ll squeal on others, so she catches him: 'No, why?’ 'Move, where is he?’ She gets slapped on the hand, and starts fighting with the soldiers. Then someone slaps her face and the whole thing blows up.