Aron Trauring continues his personal account as an Israeli soldier in Hebron. He has done some reorganization so I've linked to all three parts currently up. More to come.

The City of the Dead - Introduction

This post is about Hebron. I gave 40 days of my life to the settlers of Hebron. 40 days for which I will never forgive them. Precisely now, when blood once again washes the cobblestones of those streets, now I feel compelled to write. (...)

Why does this seeming quibbling over words matter? Because the Israeli government and army have long ago given up on telling the people the truth and live in a world of spinning lies. And these lies, as Gideon Levy tells us lead to more useless death, more blood spilt.

Yes Hebron always gets me brooding on death and lies. It was in Hebron, after all, that I first learned about the lies of the occupation and how the settlement movement was leading Israel and the Palestinians headlong into a never-ending bloodbath.
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The City of the Dead - Part 1

The City of the Dead - Part 2

My army service, which began around the same time as the first Intifada, opened my eyes. On my very first tour of duty which was in the Ramallah area, our commanding officer lectured the officers when we took up our post. In his briefing he said: "All the Arabs understand is force. If we show weakness, then we will have trouble the whole 30 days we are here. We have to kill a few Palestinians as soon as we take up our position, and then we'll have quiet. Otherwise, they will be uppity [lit: they will lift their heads up]" And in fact, that is what he did. The first day out he took a few soldiers into a suburb of Ramallah. Immediately the stone throwing began. And true to his word, he killed a teenage Palestinian stone thrower. Some of the officers and soldiers were angry about it [not angry enough to do anything formal], but most agreed with what he said and did. I was pretty shook up by this. Our commanding officer was someone I knew well from the community I lived in. I ate over at his house on occasion, and our kids went to school together. He was just a normal guy. I couldn't assimilate the brutality of his actions. "Maybe he is right," I thought. "Maybe that is the way we have to treat the Palestinians since we are at war with them." But my heart told me was he had done something very wrong.
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