Bijna dagelijks bericht ik over de Israelische terreur. En ook de buitenlandse media berichten hier regelmatig over. Maar in Nederland wordt het Israelisch terrorisme tegen de Palestijnse burgerbevolking niet of nauwelijks gevolgd. Zouden daarentegen joods Israeli's wreed worden behandeld dan zouden onze commerciele massamedia ruimte tekort hebben om erover te berichten. Let u nu de komende dagen eens op wat de Volkskrant en NRC of het NOS Journaal hierover gaan melden.
'Israel shaken by troops' tales of brutality against Palestinians
A psychologist blames assaults on civilians in the 1990s on soldiers' bad training, boredom and poor supervision.
A psychologist blames assaults on civilians in the 1990s on soldiers' bad training, boredom and poor supervision.
Conal Urquhart in JerusalemSunday October 21, 2007The Observer
A study by an Israeli psychologist into the violent behaviour of the country's soldiers is provoking bitter controversy and has awakened urgent questions about the way the army conducts itself in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Nufar Yishai-Karin, a clinical psychologist at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, interviewed 21 Israeli soldiers and heard confessions of frequent brutal assaults against Palestinians, aggravated by poor training and discipline. In her recently published report, co-authored by Professor Yoel Elizur, Yishai-Karin details a series of violent incidents, including the beating of a four-year-old boy by an officer.
The report, although dealing with the experience of soldiers in the 1990s, has triggered an impassioned debate in Israel, where it was published in an abbreviated form in the newspaper Haaretz last month. According to Yishai Karin: 'At one point or another of their service, the majority of the interviewees enjoyed violence. They enjoyed the violence because it broke the routine and they liked the destruction and the chaos. They also enjoyed the feeling of power in the violence and the sense of danger.'
In the words of one soldier: 'The truth? When there is chaos, I like it. That's when I enjoy it. It's like a drug. If I don't go into Rafah, and if there isn't some kind of riot once in some weeks, I go nuts.'
Another explained: 'The most important thing is that it removes the burden of the law from you. You feel that you are the law. You are the law. You are the one who decides... As though from the moment you leave the place that is called Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel] and go through the Erez checkpoint into the Gaza Strip, you are the law. You are God.'
The soldiers described dozens of incidents of extreme violence. One recalled an incident when a Palestinian was shot for no reason and left on the street. 'We were in a weapons carrier when this guy, around 25, passed by in the street and, just like that, for no reason - he didn't throw a stone, did nothing - bang, a bullet in the stomach, he shot him in the stomach and the guy is dying on the pavement and we keep going, apathetic. No one gave him a second look,' he said.'
Nufar Yishai-Karin, a clinical psychologist at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, interviewed 21 Israeli soldiers and heard confessions of frequent brutal assaults against Palestinians, aggravated by poor training and discipline. In her recently published report, co-authored by Professor Yoel Elizur, Yishai-Karin details a series of violent incidents, including the beating of a four-year-old boy by an officer.
The report, although dealing with the experience of soldiers in the 1990s, has triggered an impassioned debate in Israel, where it was published in an abbreviated form in the newspaper Haaretz last month. According to Yishai Karin: 'At one point or another of their service, the majority of the interviewees enjoyed violence. They enjoyed the violence because it broke the routine and they liked the destruction and the chaos. They also enjoyed the feeling of power in the violence and the sense of danger.'
In the words of one soldier: 'The truth? When there is chaos, I like it. That's when I enjoy it. It's like a drug. If I don't go into Rafah, and if there isn't some kind of riot once in some weeks, I go nuts.'
Another explained: 'The most important thing is that it removes the burden of the law from you. You feel that you are the law. You are the law. You are the one who decides... As though from the moment you leave the place that is called Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel] and go through the Erez checkpoint into the Gaza Strip, you are the law. You are God.'
The soldiers described dozens of incidents of extreme violence. One recalled an incident when a Palestinian was shot for no reason and left on the street. 'We were in a weapons carrier when this guy, around 25, passed by in the street and, just like that, for no reason - he didn't throw a stone, did nothing - bang, a bullet in the stomach, he shot him in the stomach and the guy is dying on the pavement and we keep going, apathetic. No one gave him a second look,' he said.'
2 opmerkingen:
Het doet mij pijn, en ik ben er nog nooit geweest. Op jonge leeftijd heb ik een filmpje gezien van IDF soldaten die de armen van een stenengooiertje breken met een steen. Dat ben ik nooit vergeten. Voor mij is dat echte horror. Naar ik heb begrepen was het 'een methode' toegepast op bevel van Rabin. Ik heb hem nog terug kunnen vinden ook, hier. Politici in Den Haag willen dit niet weten. Ook de goedertieren christenen niet met hun vredesmessias. Ze hebben geen geweten, iets anders kan ik er echt niet van maken.
Ben benieuwd of CIDI-reisleider Burghoorn er wat van gaat vinden.
Ik ben wel in Israël geweest, een fantastisch land, hoe gek dat ook klinkt. Als kibboetsnik in 1999 wilde ik eens een tochtje maken door een van de wadi's rond Jeruzalem. Dat ik vooral geen Hebreeuws mocht spreken, en niet de indruk mocht achterlaten dat ik iets met Israël te maken had, zo drukten mijn joodse collega's me op het hart, onder wie mensen met kamptatoeages, over het algemeen van linkse Sjalom Achsjav-signatuur. Ik zou het niet overleven, want het was een linke streek.
In De Gebieden, en wel in Jenin, waar ik onderweg langs kwam, vielen mijn vriendin, met wie ik inmiddels getrouwd ben, en mij een ongekend gastvrij onthaal ten deel. Ik kon me niet aan de indruk onttrekken dat joodse Israëli's en Palestijnen eens wat vaker bij elkaar op de thee zouden moeten komen.
Ook als ik Hebreeuws (wat ik inmiddels aardig sprak) en Arabisch (wat minder) door elkaar wauwelde werden geen messen getrokken of kalasjnikovs uit de kast gehaald.
In plaats daarvan werd nog eens thee bijgeschonken, en baklava-achtig zoets bijgezet.
Het land is kapot gemaakt, u weet best door wie, en een beetje Israëli met hart voor de zaak smeert 'm naar de VS of naar Europa.
De Palestijnen schijnen zich aldaar iets minder makkelijk te kunnen vestigen.
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