Breaking the Silence Breaking the Silence activist Shay Davidovich writes in +972 Magazine about the latest military prosecutors defense of IDF training on Palestinian civilians. According to the prosecutor, “There [is] no legal obstacle to holding training in inhabited areas... as part of the training exercises, the soldiers must avoid putting the population at risk, damaging their property or causing unreasonable disturbance to their daily routine.” Shay, who served as a combat soldier and had participated in these drills, makes the contradiction clear: How can an entire army battalion pass through a village without disrupting its inhabitants’ daily routine? How can we train for days near a civilian population without causing damage to their property? How can we train with live bullets while ensuring that no one will be injured? As soldiers who took part in this sort of training, we know that the real purpose of these drills is to make our presence felt by the Palestinians - so they will know we are always there, always watching.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 17:58:02 +0000