An Israeli settler yells at a Palestinian farmer in the south Hebron hills. (Christian Peacemaker Teams)
How many Israeli soldiers does it take to remove an elderly Palestinian woman from harvesting olives? It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but it is an unfortunate reality of life in the West Bank. We are in the middle of the olive harvest season and with it comes episodes of violence as well as the harsh face of Israeli occupation. The following video taken last Saturday by a group of Ta’ayush activists is a small window into the strange reality of the Kafkaesque occupation where every detail of Palestinian life requires a permit which is unattainable. The video does not include subtitles from Hebrew but the basic plot is clear: Israeli activists assist Palestinian farmers harvest olives. The army arrives and informs everyone that they do not have the proper permit to be there. The permit is virtually impossible to obtain because of the nature of Israeli settlement security procedure and the unwillingness of the Israeli government to grant Palestinians in the south Hebron Hills basic civil privileges such as building additions to their homes, digging a well or harvesting olives. The army arrests those Israelis (such as Ezra Nawi) who engage in non-violent civil disobedience. The image of ten Israeli soldiers escorting an elderly Palestinian woman away from her olive groves seems to encapsulate so much of what the Israeli occupation has become (that portion begins at minute 04:25); poorly educated and nationalistic young men forced to escort, humiliate and occupy elderly Palestinians who are simply trying to pursue their humble livelihood.
Update with subtitles:
A reader on Mondoweiss, Avi, has updated this post with subtitles. Thanks to Avi for taking the time to do this:
The video opens with one of the soldiers showing two piece of paper stapled to each other, with a map on the second page. The soldier is telling the activists, (paraphrase for brevity): “Do you see here, ALL these are the water wells? That’s the area. It’s a close military zone.”
He goes on: “Now, let me explain something to you. You can drive with your cars anywhere you want, takes a trip anywhere. But, the minute you exit your vehicles while in a close military zone, you will be arrested, OK?”.
I’m one minute into the video and will update whatever needs to be translated as it plays….
At 2 minutes there’s more dialog in Hebrew. A military vehicle rolls up, soldier walks out and says something to the effect of “You again? Didn’t I tell you you can’t be here?”
The activist responds: “This isn’t a closed military area”
Soldier: “Are you kidding me? OK, out of the grove. I need you all out of the [olive] grove”.
Soldier continues: “You. Get down from the tree.”
Close up on the soldier as he points: “Whoever touches the sacks will get arrested immediately”.
One of the Israeli activists quips sarcastically in Hebrew: “The IDF at its best”.
Activist continues: “You’re not scaring us. You are committing war crimes here. You’re not scaring anyone”.
Soldier: “OK. Whatever”.
At 3:27 we see the soldier writing down the time and place on the piece of paper.
The other soldier announces: “Guys, it’s 12:09. It’s on the military order. If by 12:20 you’re not all out of here you will get arrested.
The soldier then shoves the paper in the camera lens trying to be a jerk and says: “Look. Look through your eye because you seem to be having a problem seeing it clearly. Here. Look.”
Camera person: “I see, alright. What I see is you making a clown of yourself”.
Soldier: “I’m not a clown. I’m not a clown”.
At 4:09 an elderly Palestinian woman complains that she is not allowed to tend to her own grove.
The soldier responds: “Get outta here already. Get out”.
Camera person: “Soldier, speak to her nicely. Speak to her nicely. Is that how you your were taught at home to talk to people?”
Soldier: “I don’t understand her. Come and explain to me what she’s saying. I don’t understand her.”
At 4:52 someone behind the camera (sarcastically): “Wow. How many soldiers on one elderly lady?”
He continues: “Guys, more forces, more [backup]. Bring an entire platoon in here.”
At 5:20 the camera operator says: “He went to translate,” referring to the man with the hat and shoulder bag who is just getting handcuffed.
As the man with the hat falls into the ditch, the soldier (clown) says: “No one called no one inside [into the grove]“. He says so in response to one of the activists who said that the man in the hat went into the grove to translate after one of the soldiers called him in.
Clown soldier continues: “You could have helped her by not letting her get in there [into the grove]“.
More blame the victim rhetoric.
Camera person: “They called him. It’s all on camera that they called him”.
At 6:20 the arrested man is approached by another activist who asks something. It’s inaudible.
The man in the hat says: “Well, it’s all on tape. They called me over there”.
Soldier: “When they didn’t understand. You were invited to translate, but not to walk over.”
He continues on camera: “We didn’t call you over. We’re not going to allow you to dishonor us with your games here”.
Arrested man: “What honor are you talking about?”
Soldier: “Don’t get rowdy. Don’t you get rowdy now”.
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