Hebron, South Hebron Hills, Mon 8.4.13, Afternoon
Translator: Charles K.
A soldier mooned young Palestinian girls.
A long, winding approach road for trucks is being completed at the Meitar checkpoint.
The balloon floats in the sky above Highway 60.
Everything’s as usual on the way to Hebron.
A Walla journalist called Hagit after he heard a strange account of a soldier who’d dropped his pants and mooned onlookers. He asked us to look into it and get back to him with exact details.
Border Police soldiers at Curve 160 hadn’t heard anything about such an incident, not in their unit. Nor did passersby know of anything.
After investigating a little more it turned out that the incident occurred in the Tel Rumeida area where Shimshon battalion soldiers are now stationed. We went there. They told us that Palestinian news agencies reported on such an incident, which occurred near Beit Hadassah. We managed to locate the man who saw and documented the event with his camera
. With his help, and our driver, M.’s, translation, we contacted him.
He agreed to leave his work in H1 and come meet us. He said the incident occurred the day before yesterday. Three soldiers (two in civilian clothes, one in uniform) incited the Palestinian girls living near Beit Hadassah. They cursed them (he’s embarrassed to repeat what they said), etc. He started photographing. The soldiers began cursing him: sharmouta [bitch], etc. He continued to photograph when one of the soldiers, wearing green pants, turned around and dropped them in front of the women.
The Palestinian filed a complaint about the soldiers at the Kiryat Arba police station. They called the unit commander and also brought the soldiers. The man who complained told us that apparently they took the matter seriously and the soldiers were punished. That’s cold comfort.
We put the journalist in contact with the man who’d taken the photographs. We’ve done our part.
Two detainees at the Pharmacy checkpoint. The Border Police soldiers answer us politely today as well. They say they have to check something, and that the detainees will probably be released very soon. The two detainees say that live nearby and are detained every day. We were pleased to see that everything ended well in a few minutes.
A towed vehicle near the checkpoint, with equipment to disperse demonstrations, ready for action.
As usual, Hebron never brings out the best in anyone.