Day-to-Day Life Near Shchem

At a blog called Bluematter, I found a fascinating glimpse into current Arab reality of life at this blog post.

I bring you this excerpt:

We went out of Nablus, and he [an IDF soldier] said please walk, get out of the car. I told him we have the license and stuff, he said no - walk. They are like an international airport these checkpoints, it's not a checkpoint per se; you have a rotating door, and this is for the car, and several guns pointing at you from several directions; I got scared at that point. Why is he asking me to walk when I have the permit to leave?

So I walked out of the car and the guy said, well, he started speaking to me in Hebrew. I tell him no; only speak Arabic or English. One of them then goes, 'hold on, you speak English you said'? And I said yes, I do speak English. And he said - in Arabic - 'how is it to curse?'

And I thought, shit, this is gonna - because you hear stories, of them making fun, taking the piss. The guy is bored at the checkpoint and he wants to insult you basically so he tries to insult you in any way he finds. So I think, fuck, I'm not going down this route, you know.

And he said 'you know, bitch, fuck, how do you curse?' And I said 'I don't know these words man; I just learned English in school, they don't teach us these words'. And then he goes - in Arabic - 'no, you know, sharmuta, manyak - speak some Arabic swear words. I want you to curse'. And I spoke a few swear words in Arabic. And he said 'OK, come with me'.

So I went into that room, and they had a guy, they took out his shirt, put it on top of his head and two guys are kicking him. Apparently, on the check point, after he left, he cursed at them. And they did the whole thing, they made everyone wait for an hour, with so many cars behind you know, and they are beating this guy and waiting for someone to come and tell him that they are beating him because he is cursing on them. And most of the time of course they can speak full arabic. But it's just - you know, setting an example. So, in this case, the whole thing was for me to see what's happening so they can set an example - the guy [the IDF soldier] spoke perfect Arabic, they didn't need me to tell the guy anything. [pause]

At checkpoints, you cannot move unless he [the IDF soldier] tells you to move. And with these guys, you know, it's random; he can tell you 'wait for an hour and after one hour I'll let you guys move'. They don't need a good reason to do that.

- Where was that?

In Nablus, going out of Nablus.

Now, if this is true, I would want an investigation. I have served in the territories. I have manned roadblocks. I have chased suspected terrorists (I was younger and still could run fast) and I once crawled 100 meters to surprise a suspected terrorist at home. There is no need for any of this type of behavior. Even in using weapons there are limits and constraints.

I hope the next two installments come soon.

In the meantime, I left this one comment there:

Thanks for the insight, Fascinating. I just thought the opening statement needs a bit of thinking, and not only because it sets the framework for his presentation.

He said: "The West Bank, politically, is Palestinian land - under UN law it is for the Palestinians". Well, the UN really doesn't make law but if it does, I wonder why, back in 1947, when it voted to establish a Jewish state and an Arab state in part of the former territory of Mandated Palestine (I write 'part' because back in 1923, the area of Transjordan was separated from the area set aside for the Jewish national home but was still administratively part of the Mandate rule until 1946) the local indigenous Arabs (a) rejected that and tried to wipe it out through violence and then (b) after they lost the war, they seem too have voted to join up with the Hashemite Kingdom and not establish an Arab Palestine (see here)?

And the famous 242 Resolution doesn't mention a "Palestine" (see here).

It seems that only in 2002 did the UN refer to a "vision of two states, Israel and Palestine" (see here).

So as for being "Palestinian land", I would think this is quite a recent concept whereas already in 1917 (Balfour Declaration) and 1920 (San Remo Conference) and 1923 (the League of Nations) all affirmed that "Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country" (see here), it would seem that politically, there still remains a problem.