PALESTINE/ISRAEL: IDF treatment of Palestinian kids...

Palestinians scuffle with an Israeli soldier as they try to prevent him from detaining a boy during a protest against Jewish settlements in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, Aug. 28, 2015. (photo by REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman) 

What happens when a young Israeli soldier chases children who throw rocks

There is no way on earth to successfully deal with this kind of video clip. An armed, well-trained Israeli soldier from an elite unit, covered with camouflage paint, pursues a 12-year-old Palestinian boy, trying to arrest him. Meanwhile, the entire family arrives at the scene where they set upon the soldier with howls and screams. After all, the boy is only 12, with one hand in a cast.

Once every few weeks or months, Israel finds itself facing this kind of video going viral on the Internet, a clip that soars through digital space with the speed of light, without limitations of time or place. Go argue with these pictures. A chronicle of an inevitable Israeli rout, the clip was filmed Aug. 28 in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh. Now, against all odds, I will attempt to describe the same event from the soldier’s point of view, from the Israeli angle.

He is 20 years old. He was a teenager himself not very long ago, attending school. Suddenly he became a soldier. He volunteered for an elite unit (in this case, the Egoz Unit of the mythological Golani Brigade). He went through advanced combat training for a year and a half. He is trained to locate and destroy Hezbollah fighters. Last summer, his own family spent 50 consecutive days hiding in shelters in the course of the Protective Edge campaign.

He wasn’t supposed to be in Nabi Saleh at all; he was supposed to be training, but he is frequently called to combustible sites in the territories. He finds himself facing a seething civilian population that throws stones if he’s lucky, and Molotov cocktails if he’s not. He also faces lone-wolf terrorism — what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) calls an “intifada of lone wolves” that is currently taking place in the territories. He is targeted by stones every day, all day long. His friends have been injured by stones. And the memory of Adele Biton, 4, who died of her wounds after being hit by stones, is still engraved in his memory.

Every Friday, the same demonstrations take place. Sometimes they deteriorate into violence, sometimes not. The battle is over hearts and minds, over symbols of rulership. The orders received by the soldier are to maintain order and watch out for knives. In recent months, there were innumerable stabbing attacks in the territories. Many soldiers and policemen were severely wounded. The soldier knows that his life is in danger, even from a group of protesting civilians. A knife can be whipped out quickly to stab him. In some of these assaults, the women are the attackers. At this point, children have not yet been cast into the battleground. They only parade about with symbolic detonator belts through the streets of Gaza. As far as we know, children have not yet been sent to blow themselves up.

The demonstration in Nabi Saleh gets out of control. Stones cover the road. The IDF observation post reports on one of the children as the main stone-thrower. The soldier identifies him. The weather is scorching; it’s August in Israel. The soldier decides to pursue the child. He is making a mistake. The orders are: Never break off from the central unit, operate only in groups and never remain alone on the ground. The soldier is certain that he’ll catch the child quickly and wants to teach him a lesson. Israel doesn’t keep Palestinian children under arrest for more than a few hours. The soldier is not operating logically. He is tired, he is irritable, he makes a mistake. He is 20 years old.

In fact, this is the goal of the demonstration: to force a soldier to make a mistake. This is a trap. Within seconds, he is surrounded by screaming family members, mainly women and children. After all, that’s the way it works; Hamas in Gaza hides behind women and children. That is well-known, but no one cares. In Judea-Samaria, children are the most deadly propaganda weapons of all. Every sister or aunt has a smartphone. The Tamimi family confronting the soldier has their very own independent news agency in the person of 12-year-old Muhammad Tamimi. With one hand in a cast, Tamimi became a strategic weapon last Friday, a national hero.

The soldier does not relent. He is surrounded by mothers, sisters and aunts, but now he’s fighting for his honor. There’s no way he can come out looking good from this mess; at least he should salvage some respect. If he concedes defeat and flees, he’ll be disgraced. Where is Israeli deterrence? Where is the great IDF? A Golani fighter runs away from several screaming Palestinian women? If he manages to arrest the boy after all, if he beats some sisters and aunts and completes the arrest, he emerges as a very small hero indeed. The entire world will rage and storm over this David-Goliath story. How can a person extricate himself from such a no-win situation? The way the soldier did: badly.

The Palestinian goal is crystal clear: They want the Palestinian issue to return to the top of the global media agenda. That’s not easy. The Middle East is burning, hundreds of thousands are being slain all around, the Islamic State (IS) is wreaking havoc every which way and beheadings continue unabated. Thus, only minimal attention is focused on the territories held by Israel. The Nabi Saleh event evokes the once-upon-a-time days of glory, at least for a few minutes. The Palestinian objective has been reached. Meanwhile, things are happening in the emotional struggle developing between the family and the soldier. They are holding on to the soldier, biting him, pulling up the mask over his face. Suddenly, his face is revealed. A baby face. His threatening visage has dissolved. A 20-year-old child in distress. He calls to his friends for help, but they tarry.

In the investigation conducted after the incident, the soldier is reprimanded. He could have been slaughtered there, at any given moment. One knife in the hands of an aunt or mother, and no more soldier. He is aware of this. Nevertheless, he did not use his personal weapon, didn’t even consider the possibility. And yes, he exhibited restraint. It is interesting to wonder how all this would have ended if he had been a Syrian soldier. Or an IS follower. Or a Jabhat al-Nusra fighter. The list goes on.

The boy’s family claims that with a cast on his hand, Tamimi can’t throw stones. Tamimi's sister has been filmed on numerous occasions spitting on IDF soldiers from point-blank range. Tamimi himself was photographed while throwing stones with his healthy hand. But what difference does that make? The Palestinian mission was successfully completed. And that mission is legitimate. The video clip was filmed, uploaded and then conquered the Internet. Once upon a time, armies conquered states. Today, you must conquer the Internet.

When the tear gas cloud dissipates, we remain with the following questions: What is Israel doing there, anyway? Why does a soldier have to chase after a child? By the way, this is a mistake according to the IDF standpoint, too. The soldier should not have chased the child. Now, let’s even assume that the soldier comes from a left-wing Israeli family that supports the peace process and is ready to give back most of the territories. Nevertheless, he knows that the previous time that Israel forfeited territory (the disengagement from Gaza in 2005), the IDF replaced chasing after children with rocks with pursuing terrorists launching thousands of rockets and abducting soldiers in tunnels.

The soldier, his family, his city and the entire State of Israel view reality realistically and soberly. They know that Israel has made proposals to the Palestinians a number of times about establishing a state on 95% of the West Bank territory, but this offer has never been accepted. PLO leader Yasser Arafat refused; President Mahmoud Abbas ran away. Our soldier’s family sees what happens to every site that is relinquished by the IDF. They see what is happening in the Middle East around them. They read that Hamas is the most popular organization in the West Bank, and they know that Hamas wants to destroy them. And IS is already nipping at Hamas’ heels in Gaza.

Thus, even those Israelis who believe that the occupation should come to an end (like the writer of this article), knows the bitter truth: That at this stage, until further notice, our soldiers will have to continue to run after children. That is the stuff that tragedy is made of.

An Israeli soldier detains a Palestinian boy during a protest against Jewish settlements in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, Aug. 28, 2015.  (photo by REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman)

Israeli video pulls back curtain on IDF treatment of Palestinian kids

In the village of Nabi Saleh on Aug. 28 an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier wearing a face mask tried to detain Muhamad Tamimi, who had been spotted by a military lookout throwing stones. A group of women is trying to free the frightened Muhamad, 12, from the soldier’s headlock. The boy has a broken arm in a sling. The 3.5-minute video clip of the incident causes Israel much damage.

By Aug. 31, hundreds of thousands of people had watched the video documenting the incident in addition to its wide broadcast on many TV stations across the world.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=27&v=pvJNYjzm9jk

The soldier's father, whose name has been withheld, told the Israel military radio station that he was proud of his son’s restraint. It was not the soldier’s restraint that ended the event, but rather the wisdom of the commander of the force who instructed the soldier to let the boy go.

“I wasn’t scared,” Muhamad told Al-Monitor. “I only told him [the soldier], 'Watch out for my arm.' That’s why I looked so scared.”

Muhamad’s father, Bassem Tamimi, told Al-Monitor that his son had broken his arm two days before in another incident in the village. According to him, an IDF force entered Nabi Saleh, confronted the villagers and fired tear gas canisters. Muhamad fled the scene, breaking his arm when he fell.

He said, “I was the one asking the officer [the soldier’s commander] to help release my son from the soldier’s stranglehold. I knew that with one movement his arm would be done for. I was also afraid that shots would be fired and this affair would end in tragedy.”

An IDF spokesperson told Al-Monitor, “The incident at hand consisted of violent disturbances in Nabi Saleh during which Palestinians threw stones at an IDF force in the area. The boy in the footage was identified by an outlook as having thrown stones. This is why it was decided to detain him. During the arrest, a violent provocation by a number of Palestinians — including women and children — ensued. In view of the violent friction, the commander of the sector decided to discontinue the arrest procedure.”

According to Tamimi, the demonstrations in Nabi Saleh have been taking place regularly since 2009. He said that they started out as a protest against the nearby Halamish Jewish settlement, and have grown into a popular protest, which is aimed at raising Palestinian and international awareness of nonviolent resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Israeli and international leftist activists participate in the villagers’ weekly protest. Years of demonstrations barely got the media’s attention — until the video of Muhamad was released.

“We’ve had two fatalities since 2009,” Tamimi said. “Over the years we’ve counted some 350 wounded people, of whom 40 were children. Of all the injured, 50 were wounded seriously while 20 suffered permanent disabilities.” One of those people was his wife, Nariman, who was shot in the foot in 2014 by an IDF soldier while taking photos of soldiers dispersing a demonstration commemorating the second anniversary of the death of her brother who was shot in the back.

The video clip that was taken in Nabi Saleh has brought to the fore not only the ongoing protest of its residents, but also the issue of Palestinian youths in the territories being rounded up by IDF forces. Most are arrested during demonstrations and charged with stone throwing.

According to data collected by B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, it appears that in June some 160 youths were held in custody in Prison Service facilities, most of them pending their legal proceedings; 70 received various jail sentences.

According to Defense for Children International Palestine, approximately 500-700 children and youths ages 12-17 are arrested yearly by IDF forces.

Another ballyhooed arrest that received wide international coverage was that of Malak al-Khatib from the village of Beitin near Ramallah in December 2014. Malak, 14, was sentenced to two months in jail for having thrown stones at an IDF patrol near her school. She was held in custody pending her legal proceedings. It was only when her physical and emotional state was said to be serious that the family’s attorney agreed to a plea bargain proposed by the military prosecutor. According to the deal, she would be jailed for two months less the 22 days she had already served following her arrest. The family would also have to pay the state a fine of 6,000 shekels ($1,600).

Attorney Fadi Qawasmeh who specializes in representing Palestinians — including minors — before the military courts told Al-Monitor, “Our problem — that of the Palestinians — is that as soon as a minor is arrested, we start arguing that it was a false arrest and that the person did not throw stones. In the end the military comes up with a video clip or some other type of documentation of the event. But it is the minors’ rights that is the more important and complex issue. Emphasis should not be placed on whether the detained boy or teenager committed the offense but rather whether they were granted their legal rights during the interrogation.”

According to Qawasmeh, the rights of incarcerated Palestinian boys and teenagers are always violated. There are different laws for Israelis and Palestinians. In Israel, for example, a boy or a teenager is not held in custody pending their proceedings unless they committed an egregious offense such as murder.

He said that when it comes to the first couple of offenses, Israel does not convict a teenager or send him to jail so as not to ruin his future. By contrast, in West Bank all arrested teenagers are invariably held in custody pending trial, with only very rare exceptions.

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has recently had to contend with the flagrant violation of minors’ rights. On Aug. 17, he informed IDF Judge Advocate General Danny Efroni that the martial law in the West Bank had to be amended so that judges in the military courts could ask for an expert review of the incarceration of minors. Weinstein even wrote Gen. Efroni: “The underlying tenet should be that every minor is a microcosm in and of itself. A minor is a minor no matters where he lives.”

Qawasmeh said that recently judges have indeed started asking for reviews and that a social worker from the Civil Administration is even required to submit an expert assessment. “Yet these are only cosmetic changes. At the end of the day the jail time given to minors for stone throwing is harsh and exaggerated."

It seems that the IDF is trying to fight vigorously the involvement of Palestinian children and youths in demonstrations. Military doctrine is based on the assumption that arresting minors involved in stone-throwing incidents is necessary to engender deterrence. This attempt has failed. It is high time that the conduct of the military and judicial systems were revamped.

A minor is a minor. Even if he perpetrated the offense, he still has legal rights. Maybe then the heavy damage that Israel sustains due to the way its soldiers are being portrayed by the international media will diminish.