Testimony - 'Provocation and reaction'
Name: | Anonymous |
Rank: | Sergeant |
Unit: | Nablus Regional Brigade |
Location: | Nablus, West Bank |
Date: | 2014 |
An Israeli soldier provides a testimony to Breaking the Silence in which he describes the tactic of 'provocation and reaction’.
"'Provocation and reaction’ is the act of entering a village, making a lot of noise, waiting for the stones to be thrown at you and then you arrest them, saying: 'There, they're throwing stones’."
“Lots of vehicles move inside the whole village, barriers. A barrier seems to be the army's legitimate means to stop terrorists. We're talking about Area B [under civilian Palestinian control and Israeli security control], but the army goes in there every day, practically, provoking stone throwings. Just as any Palestinian is suspect, this is the same idea. It could be a kid's first time ever throwing a stone, but as far as the army is concerned, we've caught the stone thrower.”