Settlers' call sends Palestinian shepherd to IDF beating
Soldiers reportedly bound and blindfolded civilian, then assaulted him repeatedly.
By Amira Hass and Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Hebron Israel news Palestinians IDFThe response from the Israel Defense Forces spokesman came surprisingly quickly; a mere two or three hours after the query had been sent by Haaretz, the spokesman replied orally, and then in writing, that "following the reporter's question and after receiving most of the facts, the chief [military] prosecutor, Col. Jana Modzagbrishvili has instructed the military police to look into the matter."
The matter, according to most of the facts, was that soldiers had beaten a civilian, who was bound and blindfolded, for several hours on January 7.
Starting in the village of al-Tawani in the southern Hebron Hills, the affair continued at the military base in Sussia. The man who was beaten was Masab Rabai, aged 22.
Masab and one of his brothers had taken their sheep to graze on land in the wadi directly below their home on that Thursday. There are olive trees in the wadi and a few small plots for growing. Between the rocks on the slopes, there are weeds for the sheep to feed on.
They were accompanied by two volunteers from Christian Peacemaker Teams who, together with volunteers from Italy, are constantly in the village. The houses of the Havat Maon outpost are hidden by the trees of a thicket some 300 meters from the village and east of the wadi.
At 9 A.M. a beige Mitsubishi with two settlers appeared suddenly on the path below the thicket. One of them took photographs and the second spoke on his cell phone. That happens a lot - settlers appear and call soldiers. What is the crime? People working on their lands.
Masab saw all of this from the wadi and hastened to call some more of his brothers to come. He anticipated problems. Some soldiers arrived and began talking to the settlers.
Three of the soldiers went down to the wadi to where the shepherd brothers and those accompanying them were. When he was told that Masab spoke good English, one of the soldiers said to him, according to his testimony, that "if I see you here again, I'll kill you."
"Why?" Masab asked. "This is my land and I'm always here."
The soldier demanded to see his ID card. "I told him I didn't have one and the soldier responded, 'You are all under arrest.'"
The brothers said that he must bring the police because that is their job.
The brothers started to move away and the soldiers followed until they caught Masab's brother, Majdi, and reportedly kicked him in the leg. He tripped and fell and hurt himself. Other people from the village began streaming into the wadi, women and children.
Reinforcements from the army also arrived at the scene. There were some 15 soldiers altogether. Masad was among those who were carrying the injured Majdi and the soldiers again tried to catch another of his brothers as well as Masab.
The two of them escaped and the soldiers began throwing stun grenades and tear gas among the people. They also broke a camera belonging to the CPT volunteers. A police van that had been called by the volunteers arrived and stopped a short distance away.
They caught Masab and, according to his testimony, the soldiers tied his hands behind his back, threw him onto the floor of the jeep, someone grabbed his throat and some of the other soldiers beat him with their helmets and the butts of their guns and with a pipe, and others kicked him.
The jeep started driving away and after Masab tried to call the policemen in the patrol car, the soldiers bound his eyes and continued beating him. They reached the main road - Masab could hear the sound of passing vehicles - and continued to beat him.
Then they came to a dirt road - Masab could feel every pebble and bump through the continued beating.
At a certain point, they stopped and someone who spoke good Arabic appeared and reportedly said: "You are making problems for the soldiers so they have to hit you."
Finally they stopped at the Sussia base. The soldiers there gathered round him. A Bedouin soldier demanded that he identify the people in the video that the soldiers had taken from the wadi. They mainly wanted him to identify his brother Kamel. Masab refused.
He also refused to speak Hebrew (which he does not know). And then, so he says, four soldiers appeared and began hitting him with their guns.
"They beat me the whole time until they had enough," he said. "Perhaps for an hour, perhaps for two."
He wanted to pray but "they said it was forbidden. I asked for water. They said it was forbidden. I asked to go to the toilet. Forbidden. I started to pray and they hit me. At around 5:00 someone brought me water, he took off the blindfold and gave me the water. Someone by the name of Elishai, I think, who was a Bedouin, got angry with whoever brought me water."
At a certain stage, they took him to a small room, apparently a detention cell, and pushed him against the wall. His tooth broke from the push.
He said he was left alone for a while when their shift ended. They brought him food. He flatly refused to allow them to feed him so the soldiers took off his handcuffs and blindfold and let him eat while they kept their guns trained on him.
Late in the evening, he was taken to the police station in Kiryat Arba where they drove him away and dropped him off somewhere on the road. Bruised and hurting he started walking along the dark road until his family found him.
Last week we checked to find out what had happened with the investigation. The IDF Spokesman's Office said it was ongoing.
Masab informed us that on January 26, he and his brothers were called to give evidence at the IDF District Coordination Office outside Hebron. The military policewoman who investigated did not know Arabic. She refused to be assisted by the translation services of Juma, one of the brothers who had lived and worked for many years in Israel.
Instead they brought an officer who does not have a good command of Arabic and had to use a dictionary all the time. Sometimes the questions that he translated were not understandable.
They say the military policewoman asked them, "Which terror group do you belong to?" Juma answered: "I don't understand." She said: "To Hamas, to Fatah?"
And he replied: "No, I'm in a third group."
"Which?" she asked, her eyes lighting up.
"The group of the small farmers."
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"Sounds like pre holocaust Germany! Why is it taboo to compare?" Exactly! Remember when german Jews were launching rockets into civilian areas and blowing themselves up in public places? It's not taboo to compare. You only made an ass of yourself for doing so.
Talk about a bunch of bull! 1) The text on the footage makes claims which aren't supported by the footage. 2) The people certainly aren't afraid of confronting those big, mean IDF soldiers. 3) The people try to interfere with the IDF, even putting their hands on them and attempting to impede them. 4) The marks on the man's body don't look like 4-hours of beating, there are so few marks -- could have gotten them in a scuffle. 5) These people are constantly cursing at the soldiers. 6) If police in any place I've ever lived were impeded in this manner, people would have gotten seriously hurt and/or arrested.
Amira I have come to the conclusion the Israeli Army should lose its license to operate. I have never seen such an appalling disregard for the rights of others & the rule of law among its thuggish soldiers and self righteous commanders. They are a threat to the people and the very population whose rights they claim to represent and indeed are mandated to uphold by rule of law. Hence the army' mistreatment of the Palestinian people and its war crimes against them is just part of its corrupt orientation and mission today. Dutch
The video doesn't show what is claimed. The marks don't look like 4-hours worth of beating. The Palestinians had no problem approaching the soldiers and putting their hands on the soldiers. If anyone interfered with a police action like that (anywhere I've ever lived), they'd be hit and/or hauled off as well. The written claims on the video don't match what the video shows. Why are you trying to bullshit us?
The morning of the incident two settlers come to investigate a Palestinian provocation, armed with a camera and a cell phone. (Where could the settlers have learned that tactic?) They take pictures and call the army. The Palestinian is not carrying any ID and refuses to cooperate with the soldiers(-How stupid is that combination in these troubled times?-) Instead of cooperating with the army, the Palestinian calls in his brothers. Soon, a large group of Palestinians is descending on the wadi. Somehow, I don't think they were throwing flowers. Nothing good is going to come of this. Some bad behavior ensues. What a shocker. Now, we have to figure out who stretching the truth - or lying or mistaken. Johnboy and Amira seems to have it all figured out - but they're just a little too impatient to wait for the truth.
Here is the edited video of the incident, as recorded by Christian Peacemaker Teams in the village of al-Tawani. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u6TF-Dzw8w&feature=player_embedded
these palestinians are working too hard for a living. there's no need to widen ur eyes who's there on hard works. GOD said "do ur best and ME will do the rest"
"Jerusalem isn`t in Israel.. When was it legally annexed to Israel under International Law?" You didn't understand why permits are required. They are required because even little old Jewish ladies are patted down and searched, bonehead. Duh? Huh? Wah? Bluh?
"Johnboy inadvertently pointed out that the IDF investigates before opening their mouths out of ignorance" Could it be instead that the IDF gets their story and strategy all worked out first before allowing independent investigators in?
Johnboy inadvertently pointed out that the IDF investigates before opening their mouths out of ignorance. I pointed out that he could learn from them. So could you.
"Security is tight in Israel, dumdum" Jerusalem isn't in Israel.. When was it legally annexed to Israel under International Law? And please keep your 'dumdum' insults, where they belong, to yourself. They have no place in rational discussion. "Do you see little old lady`s handbags searched when entering a grocery store where you live?" No. Why would they bother. "Do you see little old lady`s handbags searched when entering a grocery store where you live? Little old Jewish ladies are subject to that every time they go out in Israel.." This is relevant somehow? "....dumdum" http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/GuidelinesResp.html.
"The Palestinian needs a PERMIT to be in "territories occupied" illegally annexed by Israel? " Security is tight in Israel, dumdum. Do you see little old lady's handbags searched when entering a grocery store where you live? Little old Jewish ladies are subject to that every time they go out in Israel, dumdum.
"Sounds like pre holocaust Germany! Why is it taboo to compare?" Exactly. Remember when those Jews in pre-Holocaust Germany kept attacking Germans, suicide bombed public places and launched rockets into Munich? Schmuck.
and talk about anti-semitism on the rise, jihadis, al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, the sort of stuff that puts this provincial hiding into perspective. And let's hear more about 'purity of arms', the arms soldiers bear as they beat the living daylights out of a hardscrabble peasant grazing on his own land. Of course, if this happened to anyone of Jewish descent abroad, the mainstream newspapers would be riven with anguish, and premonitory visions of a return to Kristallnacht.
Why is it taboo to compare?
The Palestinian needs a PERMIT to be in "territories occupied" illegally annexed by Israel? The Palestinian's fellows haven't illegally acquired and illegally annexed and illegally instituted Civil Israeli law in Israeli territory. NOT bulldozed Israeli farms, homes. Do not have tens of thousands of Israeli's in Palestinian gaols. Why would anyone have a reason feel ill will towards them? The Jew's fellows have and continue to do all of the above and more to the Palestinian's fellows, for at least 61 years. One has no reason for feeling contempt, the other has PLENTY of reason for feeling contempt. "Now tell me who is peaceful" Definitely not the party doing the usurping. "I honestly believe there are many peaceful Palestinians..to say the majority is highly an overstatement my friend..why were there massacres before 1948, such as the 1929 massacre in Hebron, " One person can massacre many, none in 1929 by today's Palestinians. Your premise is FLAWED!
Okay, I'm trying your test. 1. A Palestinian goes (with a permit) to the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem... Erm. Please explain how he got that permit. Especially right now, with entire WB locked down. Or maybe he lives in Gaza. Even with a permit, he'd be working, trying to get a few shekels for his families before the next lockdown, and not wandering around a zoo. 2. A Jew who goes for a walk in downtown Ramallah... Ha'aretz reports on this sort of thing all the time: Israeli wanders into Ramallah or Jericho or whatever, is noticed by local PA police, who know Israel forbids him to enter Area A, and escort him out peacefully.
... that makes you uncomfortable...
SDHD: "If they`re looking into it, they`re looking into it" **Sigh** Steve berated Hass for not getting the other side of the story about the IDF beating up a Palestinian. Yet I point out that Hass TWICE approached the IDF for their side of the story, and was TWICE given the brush-off, which means that Steve's complaint was a nonsense. SDHD: "Before letting anyone know the facts, they must ascertain them." **sigh** That is irrelevent to Steve's initial complaint (Hass didn't attempt to get both sides) and my reply (Hass did indeed make two attempts). The reasons WHY the IDF rebuffed her is irrelevent to my point i.e. 1) Hass did approach them for comment (twice), 2) comment was refused (twice), and so 3) Steve's argument is a nonsense.
CJ, You are hilarious. Take this test... What happens when a Palestinian goes (with a permit) to the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem.... chances are, they are not in danger of their life and enjoy the same rights as everyone who pays to get in. Now lets take a Jew who goes for a walk in downtown Yata or downtown Ramallah... what happens? Now tell me who is peaceful. I honestly believe there are many peaceful Palestinians.... but to say the majority is highly an overstatement my friend. If so, why were there massacres before 1948, such as the 1929 massacre in Hebron, and many other massacres of Jewish people? Not saying we are 100% innocent either, but the Palestinian side sure doesn't smell like the flowers you make it out to be.
This village and the others nearby have been subjected to a systematic strategy of violence, intimidation, denial of access to resources, and destruction of livelihoods by the settlers living illegally nearby. The IDF / military police act in collusion with these thugs. As an Israeli I am deeply ashamed of this situation and implore my fellow countrymen and women to reject such acts conducted in the name of 'Yesha' and the disgusting perversion of Jewish values that is used as justification.
your 'point' for what it's worth. 61+ years of illegal activity, proven by 223 USNC resolutions... so flimsy... "You should do some research on an ancient invention. It`s called a "mirror." " I shan't recommend the same, there's obviously nothing to see....
For the comment listed under number 16, I want to thank you for your honesty and courage, I could not agree with you anymore. It is high time that people are treated as human beings with dignity and humanity they deserve as God's creation from their fellow mankind.
"You shoot your mouth off as if you know what you`re talking about, but you don`t" Either you're not very astute or you're very adept at Ziofying.... Johnboy's accusation wasn't against the IDF, it was against a poster who had this to say :"Typical Haaretz Journalism-one sided allegations that slander the state and no attempt to ascertain the facts" Johnboy pointed out that attempts WERE made by Haaretz/the reporter, to ascertain the facts.
just like similar actions before, like the shooting at a bound and blindfold arrestee and the 'confirm the kill' shooting of a young girl. Israeli's just don't care just as long as the victims are palestinians. sad but true
"Too bad you do not demand patience when it is an "ARAB" who is accused." Meanwhile you chomp at the bit to criticize Israel at any opportunity, on the flimsiest whim. "You do your usual hang him/her act." Which is what you do every day regarding Israel. "Hypocrite." You should do some research on an ancient invention. It's called a "mirror."
"If Amira is honest (she looks for obscure stories that don`t happen everyday).... " They've been happening for 62 years. When they happen to be reported, only then do we hear of them. "We have enemies and terrorists out there because of radical Islam, but there are also a handful of peaceful Palestinians..." Er, no the MAJORITY of Palestinians are innocent civilians. They have never been terrorists, never lifted a finger towards anyone in their lives. They're quite normal, civilized, gentle and kind people who Israel has been slowly but surely wiping off the map. There a minimum of Palestinians who have had enough of their 'peace loving' neighbour and taken up arms, sometimes used terrorism against the state that has for 62 years been usurping the majority of the peaceful civilian Palestinians. "we don`t need to make enemies out of them." Quite true. But you have and you still are, in order to perpetuate the security fable to justify taking more
I just bet this investigation will not be finished as was the one involving the killeing of a Rabbi---hell those perpetrarors were found and "dealt with" in three days---or was that TWo. Always the apologist and defender of the indefensible. Too bad you do not demand patience when it is an "ARAB" who is accused. You do your usual hang him/her act. Hypocrite.
U.S. offers $900 million to Palestinians - CNN.com2 Mar 2009 ... Story Highlights; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says aid aimed particularly at Palestinians in Gaza; U.S. wants to make sure money ... edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/02/mideast.../index.html - Cached - Similar U.S. aid to Palestinians to total $550 million: official | ReutersWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The US government will provide $550 million in direct financial support to the Palestinian Territories in 2008 and aims to leverage ... www.reuters.com/article/idUSWAT00953720080521 - Cached International aid to Palestinians - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaThe entities that provide aid to the Palestinians are categorized into seven groups: the Arab nations, the European Union, the United States, Japan, ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_aid_to_Palestinians - Cached - Similar How much is stolen?
lets wait before we jump to conclusions
Do people in Israel actually support such actions by soldiers in the Israeli army ? Such men are thugs in uniform.
They should be charged with assault and battery and I hate to recommend this but I do think it is necessary in this case (because they have been other such incidences) flogged in the public square and sent to a month's worth of hard labor.... Who in God's name is training those soldiers? What soulless behavior... no common decency. Dutch
"One can only assume that in Steve-world the refusal of the IDF to give their side of a story is ITSELF enough to condemn any Haaretz reportage." If they're looking into it, they're looking into it. Before letting anyone know the facts, they must ascertain them. You could learn something from the IDF. You shoot your mouth off as if you know what you're talking about, but you don't. At least give the IDF credit for not being like you.
Steve, stay on your little hill top and look away. By denouncing the journal(ist) you just deny what is happening in the West Bank. The IDF soldiers on the ground are racist, rude, and morally corrupt. A broken tooth is very easy to verify, so be my guest, and let's have a look. No tooth, you apologize for your tendious talkback and for the behaviour of your 'greatest' army, the IDF. If we see all teeth, you were right. Put your money where your mouth is.
Until when will these atrocities be allowed to continue, while the World looks the other way? The occupation is immoral.When will the Israelis themselves stand up and stop this disgrace?
Is it that they are not giving the facts, or that they are not giving the facts you want to hear? Everyone is entitled to their opinion; nobody is entitled to their facts.
This is what we are giving money to, this is what we are allowing Jewish and Christians to collect funds for in the churches and synagogues. When will we stop it? We did it to the Palestinians and now it must be done to the Israelis. No money.. no more oppression. The arab countries need to do an Oil embargo on Israel. lets see their jeeps and tanks move around so quickly then.
SoM: "Typical Haaretz Journalism-one sided allegations that slander the state and no attempt to ascertain the facts" Haaretz: "following the reporter's question and after receiving most of the facts, the chief [military] prosecutor, Col. Jana Modzagbrishvili has instructed the military police to look into the matter." So Hass certainly did communicate with the IDF, and she was immediately fobbed off with "we're looking into it". Haaretz: "Last week we checked to find out what had happened with the investigation. The IDF Spokesman's Office said it was ongoing. " So Hass tried a SECOND time to get the IDF's side of the story, and for the SECOND time was fobbed off with "we're still looking into it". One can only assume that in Steve-world the refusal of the IDF to give their side of a story is ITSELF enough to condemn any Haaretz reportage. Wow! How terribly convenient for the IDF, Steve....
haha. "began to move away" and were "chased." How about say how it happened? They got accosted by the soldiers, didn't have ID cards, and tried to run away. Clearly the beating is illegal and will be looked into, but the phrasing of this article is terrible, and sounds like it is simply a transcription of the Palestinian's side of things. Furthermore, apparently these soldiers were Bedouins, not Jews...
There's a proverb - What goes around, comes around. National Service should be a POSITIVE formation for citizenship. The lesson that Might is Right, and that you can do anything you wish if you're big enough and strong enough is the wrong program for life. Justice, justice you shall pursue.
Thanks for bringing story. I am utterly sure if there was no left leaning and liberal press in Israel this stuff would go unreported. Its one thing to occupy and settle land from Jordan but its not good to abuse the people who live there. I suggest Israel treat the occupied people with respect or leave.
Great job, Amira. As to Steve, Ahmaddinejad has nothing to do with it. Israel's army is out of control, an army of a brutal occupation and oppression, doing to the Palestinians what ours did to the Native Americans, a policy of genocide. I'm glad I didn't vote for Bush, the war criminal. I suppose you voted for Netanyahu, the war criminal. Haaretz's journalism is as good as can be expected. I'm sick of my taxes funding illegal wars and oppression, and I'm sick of people like you who can only live by making others miserable.
As a right wing person who promotes the settlements and does not like the writings of Amira Hass at all.... I would like to her another assesment. If Amira is honest (she looks for obscure stories that don't happen everyday).... then the soldiers need to be reprimanded and the shepherds need to be reimbursed and apologized to. We have enemies and terrorists out there because of radical Islam, but there are also a handful of peaceful Palestinians... we don't need to make enemies out of them. By the way, I support Yesha.
This is a classic case of torture and ill treatment. Is the tortured occupation not enough? Torture of individuals is all too common both by soldiers and shin bet
Your writing always has that ring of truth to it that so many supporters of Israel, right or wrong, just can bear. best regards, David/Daoud
Yeah right
Typical Haaretz Journalism-one sided allegations that slander the state and no attempt to ascertain the facts
How you do it is well beyond me and most I suspect. Absolute excellence in journalism.