Night raids
Bilin. We arrive at 1 am and climb the stairs to the roof of Abdulla’s house. He is anxious, he introduces himself and ensures we are properly welcomed, then he starts explaining.. Youth in the village were the first to be targeted. The soldiers came at night, always between 2 and 4 am, entered homes fully masked and took teenagers. After being held for weeks in military prisons, the army claimed that several children ‘confessed’ to throwing stones at the fence (declared illegal even by the Israeli High Court), and then gave names of village men who had ‘told them to’. The army now has a list of wanted Bilin residents – those most involved in the struggle, organisers in Bilin’s Popular Committee and others who regularly attend the nonviolent demonstrations for which Bilin is now infamous. Abdulla, a prominent member of the popular committee and advent anti stone-thrower, is pretty sure he’s on the list.
But the army’s game is not just about arrests. Its about breaking the determined resistance that has persisted here for more than 4 yrs. And that means raids for the sake of raids. A tactic to ensure that noone sleeps, that anxiety runs high, that normality is interrupted. Often the soldiers enter the village, cause a ruckus and leave with no arrests. Perhaps a training exercise for new draftees combined with maintenance of a consistent yet unpredictable threat in the dead of night. Abdulla’s 7 yr old daughter is on the roof with us, he tries to get her to go downstairs to sleep, she refuses saying she loves her dad and doesnt want him to go away tonight. He explains that he had to tell her about what was happening, in a way she could understand, better than her unknowingly waking in the dark to fully armed soldiers in her house arresting her father.
After some time talking Abdulla calls out to the next rooftop, two men reply. Only then do I realise that someone is keeping watch on almost every house – peering into the moonlit night, trying to spot the soldiers before they’re at the door, atleast to give their families a few minutes warning time. But rarely are the soldiers seen before they’re in the village streets, meters from someones front door. They are well-trained in moving with the night, and these village raids are an exercise in exactly that. The informal community nightwatch does what it can though – and soon we get a phone call from the north-eastern edge of the village, soldiers have been spotted, they’re moving in on foot. We get up and head out, running in the direction of the phone call. We split into 2 groups. 1 villager and 3 Israelis in each. We shout ahead in Hebrew, hoping to begin cracks in their emotional armour before we’re face to face, “Soldiers! Go away from here! What are you doing here in the middle of the night? There are children sleeping in these houses.”
Within moments we are face to face – or face to masked solider – at the entrance to a family home. There are already soldiers inside, they’ve arrested another teenager. At least 10 fully armed and masked soldiers are at the doorway, preventing activists from entering, and maintaining a path out for those inside. They arrest an American determined to enter the house, he is thrown to the ground, four soldiers hold him down, kneeling into his back, arms twisted behind, he screams in pain. They are shouting at us to move back. We try to talk to them,
“Get off him, why are you beating him up. He is in pain. Leave him alone! There are journalists here, you are being filmed, so think before you act.”
“Why are you pointing your gun at me? Your really scaring me, please put it down.”
“Do you know why there are demonstrations in this village every friday? You are not given the full story. Do you know why you are sent to arrest teenagers from their beds in the middle of the night? Do you know that the Israeli courts have said the wall here is illegal, that it stole land from these people. And yet nothing has been done about it. And now, this.”
Jeeps arrive, more soldiers pile out and form lines in the village streets. 2 start half-heartedly throwing stones at our feet – those of us still trying to get through to soldiers.
“Imagine for just a moment that this was your town, your kibbutz, that soldiers with guns came into your house, masked at midnight, and arrested your little brother or your father. Imagine how that would be. Will you tell your mothers what you were doing here tonight? This is not the road to peace.”
Most ignore, some look a little ashamed, a few try to think of things to say back. The soldiers throw stun grenades at us, the boom is ear-throbbing but nothing more.
About 15 soldiers form a line alongside the front of another house, the commander stands in front of the door preparing to enter. We are filming, in a moment of quiet he has an instant of reflection, you can see it in his eyes, he tells his soldiers to turn away from the camera, not to let their faces be seen. The soldiers suddenly feel smaller, less confident, less sure of what they are about to do. They cower into the wall of the house, shielding their covered faces from us. The commander tells the soldiers to walk away. Tonight at least, this house is safe.
Another group of soldiers are on the other side of the village, they raid a house but cannot find the wanted child. Youth try to block the soldiers’ passage through the village by moving boulders onto the street and burning tyres. After a stand off with the soldiers for about half and hour in the street, several more stun grenades are thrown at the youth and solidarity activists, and the soliders leave with no more arrests.
Over the last 3 months 11 Bilin teenagers have been arrested, most in night raids like this one. Several are currently being held in military prison. A few nights ago the head of Bilin’s popular committee was badly beaten by soldiers. The raids continue almost nightly.
www.bilin-ffj.org
