Soldier: At the entrance to Ma’ale Shomron settlement there is a curve in the road, named 'Curve 90’. It’s a sharp curve where cars have to really slow down to take it safely – it’s a right angle. It is very close to a village called Azzun, ten minutes from the town of Qalqiliya, and is considered hostile. Lots of popular terrorist action originates there, lots of stone-throwing. It’s situated right on the main road to Ma’ale Shomron and many stones and fire bombs are thrown at cars on the road. The villagers are known for their hostility. There isn’t usually stone-throwing at the turn, but once there was. It happened as close as 200 meters from the village, a place where cars really have to slow down, and this happened after there was stone-throwing at other spots a number of times. We were alerted to there with our front command jeep. We got to the village, drove up to the houses closest to the curve, and then saw a group of children, 9-10 years old, running away.

 

So the company commander and I got out of the jeep. We began to chase them. First they ran, went onto the balcony of some house, and then the commander took a stun grenade and hurled it into the balcony. It blew up. I don’t think it hurt them or anything, but it made them run out of the balcony. The house was at the outskirts of the village, a neighborhood right next to the road, and they ran off around the house. We saw them run around so we came up from the other side of the house to face them. And we really did. As soon as the kid came up in front of us – he was about two metres away – the company commander cocked his weapon in his face to make him stop. The kid fell on the ground and cried and begged for his life. And our commander, so brilliant of him, decided to arrest those kids. Take them in for a few hours to company HQ, just to scare them. And the kid was just freaking out, certain he was going to be killed, and begged and pleaded for his life. His father and brother came along and said: 'Don’t take him! He’s just a kid,’ and so on and so on. 'We’ll take care of everything,’ But the commander was adamant: 'No, I want to take him in.’ And he actually tore him away from his dad’s leg and we put the kid in the jeep. I did nothing at that point.

 

Interviewer: You took in one boy?

 

Soldier: Two. Two kids, if I remember right. He decided he wanted to take them in. It was this kind of gray situation, not that terrible, I think. Because those kids really do throw stones and that’s risky – it’s not like we actually meant to harm them. I suppose it is a very scarring experience for them, but the situation is complicated. On the way, at the exit from the village, people waited for us; they actually tried to block our way. Lots and lots of stones were hurled at us – rocks – until we finally got out.

 

Interviewer: Are you sure those were the kids who threw stones?

 

Soldier: They were kids who saw an army jeep and broke off in a run. So we said: 'Okay, they’re running.’ That’s the thought, and so we began to chase them. How do we know they threw stones? It’s hard to tell. We didn’t even interrogate these kids afterwards. We made them sit for a number of hours at the post and then returned them to the village.

 

Interviewer: Blindfolded?

 

Soldier: No. The fact is that as soon as they got there, we soldiers gave them sweets right away and kidded around with them.

 

Interviewer: What did the company commander say about this?

 

Soldier: He didn’t see this, didn’t know. It’s not that black and white. At the end of the day, something has to make these kids stop throwing stones on the road because they can kill. That specific kid who actually lay there on the ground, begging for his life, was actually nine years old. I think of our kids, nine years old, and a kid handling this kind of situation. I mean, a kid has to beg for his life? A loaded gun is pointed at him and he has to plead for mercy? This is something that scars him for life. But I think that if we hadn’t entered the village at that point, then stones would be thrown the next day and perhaps the next time someone would be wounded or killed as a result.

 

Interviewer: Did the stone-throwing cease afterwards?

 

Soldier: No.