Soldier: “We had to take over a school, which is already a big problem – taking over a school and turning it into a detention facility when it’s actually an educational facility. We took over a school and had to arrest anyone in the village who was between the ages of 17 and 50, something like that. It lasted from morning until noon the next day. Anyway, all sorts of people arrived, shackled and blindfolded.”

 

“What happened was that when these detainees asked to go to the bathroom, and soldiers took them there, they beat them to a pulp and cursed them for no reason, and there was nothing that would legitimize hitting them. Really terrible things. An Arab was taken to the bathroom to piss, and a soldier slapped him, took him down to the ground while he was shackled and blindfolded. The guy wasn’t rude and did nothing to provoke any hatred or nerves. Just like that, because he is an Arab. He was about 15 years old, hadn’t done a thing.”

 

“We arrested many of the people just in order to collect information about them for the Shabak, not because they had done anything. Many stones were thrown along the roads in that village … In general people at the school were sitting for hours in the sun, they could get water once in a while, but let’s say someone asked for water, five times, a soldier could come to him and slap him just like that. Or let’s say, I saw many soldiers using their knees to hit them, just out of boredom. Because you’re standing around for 10 hours doing nothing, and you’re bored, so you hit them. Perhaps that was the only satisfaction they had.”

 

Interviewer: “That whole time, the Palestinians were shackled and blindfolded, in the sun?”

 

Soldier: “Yes. I have two phrases that I made up. There are soldiers who know what the point of the [plastic] handcuff is, and then there are others, who think that it is meant as a device to stop blood flow from the wrist to the fingertips.”

 

Interviewer: “What does that mean?”

 

Soldier: “That they think it should be on so tight that no blood can get through.”

 

Interviewer: “Why do they do this?”

 

Soldier: “The purpose of these handcuffs is to keep the person from freeing his hands, but there’s a difference between that and preventing circulation.”

 

Interviewer: “Were many people tightly shackled at that school?”

 

Soldier: “Yes, lots of hands were shackled tightly, and they were begging to be released just a bit.”

 

Interviewer: “And were they?”

 

Soldier: “Eventually, after they cried and complained, the company commander ordered them released, and after a while they even had their hands in front instead of behind their backs.”

 

Interviewer: “After how long?”

 

Soldier: “About seven hours.”

 

Interviewer: “They were sitting there with blue hands for seven hours?”

 

Soldier: “No, it takes time for hands to turn blue. Not everyone had blue hands, but many people already turned numb.”

 

Interviewer: “How many people did you arrest that day?”

 

Soldier: “Around 150. Some of them were wearing their sleeping garments, straight out of bed. Some had been allowed to get dressed, but most hadn’t. I remember most clearly one 15-year-old whom a commander in the rifleman’s company took in, grabbed his ear and put him behind another Arab. The kid was all shaking, I was sure he would piss all over himself out of fear. That’s how I recall it.”

 

Interviewer: “Which village was that?”

 

Soldier: “Hares. It was a brigade operation. Our battalion was in Hares because many stones were being thrown from that village at Israeli roads, so the army decided to collect information and find out who was in charge and organizing things. So this school was taken over to bring in all those people fro Shabak interrogation.”

 

Interviewer: “The whole battalion went in?”

 

Soldier: “Yes.”

 

Interviewer: “Did this start in daytime or at night?”

 

Soldier: “At night. It was pretty funny, the school janitor was called in at 3 a.m. to open up all the rooms.”

 

Interviewer: “And all the guys in the battalion, what did they do?”

 

Soldier: “Some went to houses, brought in people to the school, some took up positions, others organized rooms for the company commander, deputy battalion commander … All the officers who came there, and a room for the Shabak.”

 

Interviewer: “And the whole battalion checked every house in the village?”

 

Soldier: “I believe so. Whoever was supposed to be arrested, was.”

 

Interviewer: “What were the criteria for arresting people?”

 

Soldier: “Anyone over 17 years of age. But even 14-year-olds were brought in.”

 

Interviewer: “How long did you stay?”

 

Soldier: “From 3 a.m. until around 3-4 p.m.”

 

Interviewer: “12 hours. Did you witness more cases of violence against Palestinian detainees?”

 

Soldier: “Many reservists took part in this. They really had a ball with those Palestinians – swearing, humiliating them, pulling their hair, ears, kicking and slapping them around. These things were a norm, the whole battalion. The case at the bathroom was extreme but slapping and swearing and humiliating and kneeing them and stuff like that were usual. I know that at the bathroom, there was this 'demons’ dance’ as it was called. Anyone who brought a Palestinian there – it was catastrophic. Not bleeding beatings – they stayed dry – but still beatings. I know of one case where lots of Palestinians were sitting on a kind of ramp and then two soldiers just went ahead and kicked two detainees. So the officer told them: 'If you do this once more, you’ll be in trouble,’ and that was it, as if during the whole operation there were only these two cases of bad conduct. That’s what those officers must have thought.”