Masks and Soldiering: The Israeli Army and the Palestinian Uprising

Abstract

From mid-April to mid-May of last year (1988) I served a month-long stint with my Army reserve unit in the Hebron area of the West Bank. During this period my battalion performed all of the usual activities IDF (Israel Defense Forces) units are entrusted with in the occupied territories: for example, setting up roadblocks, maintaining patrols, and carrying out arrests. A few weeks after this period of duty I helped organize a party for the unit's officers and senior NCOs (noncommissioned officers) in a Jerusalem night club. Such parties-which take place in civilian establishments-are held not infrequently by many of the army's reserve units. This gathering-which was attended by wives and girlfriends-was not held in order to conclude the period in Hebron but as a farewell party to two officers who were leaving the battalion. Having come back deeply troubled by what I saw and felt in Hebron I think that I expected the party to provide an opportunity for us to discuss, to raise questions, or at the very least to hint at what this particular period of duty (our first during the intifada, the uprising) had done or meant to us as soldiers, as human beings. In short, I expected the party-set apart from the period of active duty in terms of space, time, and rules of behavior-to provide an occasion for reflection. The hints, the questions, let alone the full-blown discussions that I had half-hoped would be heard, were not raised at all.