Our Harsh Logic: Israeli Soldiers' Testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000-2010

by Breaking the Silence

Overview

"One of the most important books on Israel/Palestine in this generation."—The New York Review of Books

Support for Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory—both internationally and within Israel itself—rests on the belief that the Israeli army's presence in the West Bank and Gaza is essentially protective, aimed at safeguarding the country from terror. But Israeli soldiers themselves tell a profoundly different story. In this landmark work, which includes more than a hundred soldiers' testimonies collected over a decade, what emerges is a broad policy that is as much offensive as defensive. In their own words, the soldiers reveal in vivid detail how key planks of the army's program have served to accelerate Israeli acquisition of Palestinian land, cripple all normal political and social life, and ultimately thwart the possibility of Palestinian independence.

Taking aim at a silence of complicity that perpetuates the justification for occupation, the soldiers who speak out here offer a gripping and immediate record of oppression. Powerful and incontrovertible, Our Harsh Logic is a supremely significant contribution to one of the world's most vexed conflicts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250037732
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	09/03/2013
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 5.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Breaking the Silence, one of Israel's most internationally lauded NGOs, was established in Jerusalem in 2004 by Israel Defense Forces veterans to document the testimonies of Israeli soldiers who have served in the occupied territories.

Read an Excerpt

1. Stun grenades at three in the morning

UNIT: PARATROOPERS
LOCATION: NABLUS DISTRICT
YEAR: 2003

We did all kinds of very sketchy work in Area A.* That could mean, for example, going into Tubas on a Friday, when the market is packed, to set up a surprise checkpoint in the middle of the village. One time, we arrived to set up a checkpoint like that on Friday morning, and we started to spread out: inspecting vehicles and every car that passed. Three hundred meters from us some kids start a small demonstration. They throw rocks at us, but they come maybe ten meters and don’t hit us. They start cursing us and everything. At the same time, a crowd of people gathers. Of course, this was followed by aiming our weapons at the kids—you can call it self-defense.

What was the purpose of the checkpoint?

Just to show our presence, to get into a firefight—we didn’t know whether that would happen or not. In the end we got out without a scratch, without anything happening, but the company commander lost it. He asked one of the grenade launchers to fire a riot control grenade toward the demonstrators, the children. The grenade launcher refused, and afterward he was treated terribly by the company commander. He wasn’t punished, because the company commander knew he’d given an illegal order, but he was treated really disgustingly by the staff. That’s what happened. Another time we went into Tubas at three in the morning in a Safari and threw stun grenades in the street. For no reason, just to wake people up.

What was the point?

To say, “We’re here. The IDF is here.” In general, they told us that if some terrorist heard the IDF in the village, then maybe he’d come outside to fight. No one ever came out. It seems that the goal was just to show the local population that the IDF is here, and it’s a common policy: “The IDF is here, in the Territories, and we’ll make your life bitter until you decide to stop the terror.” The IDF has no problem doing it. But we didn’t understand why we were throwing grenades. We threw a grenade. We heard a “boom,” and we saw people waking up. When we got back they’d say, “Great operation,” but we didn’t understand why. This happened every day—a different force from the company did it each time, it was just part of the routine, part of our lives.

Copyright © 2012 by Breaking the Silence

 

Editorial Reviews

The soldiers in Our Harsh Logic have come forward to rouse the conscience of their fellow citizens....Anyone who thinks the IDF limits itself to confiscating weapons and punishing terrorists when patrolling the occupied territories would do well to consider what its own members say.” —The Nation

“Random brutality, Kafkaesque bureaucracy, hatred, and dehumanization: that's the face of Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza as described by disaffected soldiers in this troubling oral history....Our Harsh Logic conveys a truth about the inescapable ugliness of Israel's military rule over its neighbors.” —Publishers Weekly

“Humanitarian activists and opponents of illegal Israeli settlements will find much ammunition in these pages.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher