B'Tselem Distributes Pocket-Guide for Soldiers
7 January 2004
| B'Tselem's Checkpoint Monitoring Team has begun distributing a pocket-guide to soldiers at the "siege checkpoints" - IDF checkpoints within the West Bank. The pocket-guide includes a personal appeal to soldiers from the popular musician Yuval Banai, as well as relevant IDF rules of conduct. "Twenty years ago, I served, just like you, as a combat soldier in the IDF," Banai begins his letter. "Attention to the needs of the civilian population is part of your mission.Your actions today will stay with you for years to come." The pocket-guide also contains rules relating to practical aspects of the siege policy. The need for directives like "It is forbidden 'to punish' Palestinian civilians, or 'teach them a lesson' by unnecessarily delaying them at checkpoints," illustrates the difficult daily reality for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. This reality is the inevitable result of a policy that is based on collective punishment and inherently harms civilians. For over three years, B'Tselem has warned that the siege policy has eroded IDF norms and soldiers' conduct. Testimonies from soldiers and officers, as well as media reports strengthen this conclusion. Soldiers receive their orders orally and there is much ambiguity. Several high ranking military experts contend that the siege checkpoints do not provide security. What is clear is that they are sites of routine arbitrary punishment, humiliation, and abuse. B'Tselem's Checkpoint Monitoring Team has 5,000 pocket-guides for distribution. This is the maximum number of soldiers staffing siege-checkpoints in the Occupied Territories at any given time. |