Two IDF soldiers held for alleged role in West Bank clash

the IOF is clearly out of control...the settlers are the soldiers and the soldiers are the settlers...

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/706308.html

Two Israel Defense Forces troops have been arrested on the suspicion that they took part in clashes between settlers and Palestinian farmers, and opened fire, while on leave from the army.

all the BS about the IDF being a discplined bunch etc is obviously a bunch of crap. How many palestenians have been killed by "soldiers on leave?"

better yet, how many have even been arested?

Two soldiers to be questioned by IDF after Palestinian farmers, leftist activists fired at

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3240454,00.html

<snip>

"Military Police investigators will be questioning two IDF soldiers in the coming days on suspicion the troops fired at a group of Palestinian farmers and left-wing kibbutz volunteers several days ago.

The two soldiers will stay on base with their unit until the investigation begins and before a decision is made on extending their detention.

The unusual incident took place at the end of March, after a group of Israelis arrived at an olive grove in the West Bank in order to assist Palestinian farmers. At the same time, a group of Israelis at the nearby Elon Moreh settlement attempted to prevent the Palestinians from working their lands. Some of the Israelis were apparently armed.

During the confrontation between the sides, several shots rang out, but no injuries were reported. Police investigators launched a probe into the affair and after examining bullet casings at the scene were led to the two soldiers. The troops were on vacation at the time of the incident and apparently joined a group of settlers who clashed with the Palestinians."

Tel Rumeida.
http://telrumeidaproject.org/

I was listening to a presentation about this today, and heard (slightly) mixed reviews of the soldiers, complete with video (any wonder why human rights activists armed with video cameras are harassed and arrested and sometimes even deported...? Very dangerous to Israel's number One export... Public Relations)

their report is that are soldiers with different attitudes. Some are very supportive of the extremist actions of the settlers, and maybe are settlers themselves. Others are less supportive of the lawless actions of the settlers, but do very little to intervene. One of the human rights workers was talking to the soldiers and insisted that it is their duty to protect Palestinians from attack by settlers, because the Palestinians are forbidden to defend themselves. One soldier was in total disbelief. Another actually backed up what the human rights worker was saying.

The bottom line, however, is that Palestinians... men, women and children, are in constant danger in this neighborhood, where they have lived countless generations. many have already moved out due to the pressure. The Jewish settlers, many from Brooklyn, are free to do their assaults, and constant torment of the population that is left. So no matter the individual behavior of the soldiers, the bottom line is the same.

And just like with US occupation of Iraq, the responsibility goes to the top of the command. Soldiers do, for the most part, what they are told. There is little regard for the rights of Palestinians at the top of the command of the Israeli military. This is the result.

I find it very unlikely that these soldiers arrested in this incident will be dealt with severely. If they are, it is only because Israelis were present. And like the Abu Grahib trials for privates from trailer parks here, those commanders responsible for this situation will not be held accountable.

i once had the opportunity to harvest olives with the palestinians of salem. their fear was the settlers, because to get to their land they had to cross a settler road. there was no other way... the road cut between the village and farmland.

the IDF had issued permits to farm, however they were issues to few individuals, and only issued to harvest one day a week. at that pace with little man power harvest is made impossible... and upkeep(weeding, watering ect) of the land is also made difficult.

eventually the IDF came by and said we could not harvest this land on this day and we need to leave. the soldier we dealt with was a nice man from russia. he said we have 5 min. to gather out things and go. why cant the palestinians harvest their land? i dont know.

to make this long story short, we ran across(actually they came after us) a jeep which contained one of those settler soldiers pelsar is crazy about. he came from the nearby settlement Elon Moreh and wove his pistol around in the air like a madman screaming. after an hour of telling my jewish friend ben all this land is his and the palestinians will kill him he got in his jeep and left.

while us internationals were freaked out by this series of events(getting kicked off the land THEN meeting the settler soldier) the palestinian who was made to sit on the ground and be quiet during this whole exchange ended up going back into the hills to continue harvesting... without us. apparently this was nothing new for him.

'while on leave from the army.

Despite what people think, troops aren't on duty 24/7 and the IDF has nothing to do with this. This is a rare case of obviously mentally disturbed young men working in isolation...

Violet...