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CHAPTER 7

1. Ilan Peleg, Human Rights in the West Bank and Gaza: Legacy and Politics (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1995), 177–185, lists some of the relevant human rights reports. See Chapter 1, note 8, for sources on the Intifada's origins and trajectory. [BACK]

2. For Israeli deliberations about using greater force, see Ze'ev Schiff and Ehud Ya'ari, Intifada, 136–137. [BACK]

3. Israeli forces killed approximately 860 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza from early 1988 to December 1990, according to SIPRI, International Yearbook 1991 (Stockholm: SIPRI, 1991), 353. The source also cites a UN estimate of 60,000 Palestinian wounded. According to Israeli military sources, Israeli soldiers wounded 13,100 Palestinians in the first thousand days of the uprising. Palestinian sources, however, estimate more than 100,000 serious injuries by Israeli forces during that same time. See Ian S. Lustick, "Writing the Intifada," 566. [BACK]

4. Benny Morris, The Birth, 222–223. [BACK]

5. Benny Morris, The Birth, 206. [BACK]

6. Benny Morris, The Birth, 210. [BACK]

7. Benny Morris, "Zionist Transfer: A Conversation with Dr. Benny Morris," Svivot (December 1993): 72. In Hebrew. [BACK]

8. Benny Morris, Israel's Border Wars, 1949–56 (Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1993), 124. [BACK]

9. Benny Morris, Israel's Border Wars, 126. [BACK]

10. Benny Morris, Israel's Border Wars, 245, quotes an Israeli brigade commander saying he received the order from the Israeli Central Command. [BACK]

11. "Israel: Massacre at Kibya," Time Magazine, 26 October 1953, 34. For the Israeli commander's view that the killings were a mistake, see Ariel Sharon and David Chanoff, Warrior: The Autobiography of Ariel Sharon (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989), 89. [BACK]

12. Benny Morris, "The Israeli Press and the Qibya Operation, 1953," Journal of Palestine Studies, 25: 4 (1996): 41. [BACK]

13. Yezid Sayigh, Armed Struggle, 138. [BACK]

14. See for example, al Haq, Punishing a Nation: Human Rights Violations during the Palestinian Uprising, December 1987–1988 (Ramallah, West Bank: al Haq, 1989). [BACK]

15. State of Israel, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel's Measures in the Territories and Human Rights (New York: Israeli Consulate, 1990); Colonel David Yahav, Israel, the "Intifada" and the Rule of Law (Jerusalem: Israel Ministry of Defense Publications, 1993); and Gen. Amnon Straschnov, Justice under Fire:


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The Military Judicial System during the Intifada (Tel Aviv: Yediot Aharanot, 1994). In Hebrew. [BACK]

16. Middle East Watch, A License to Kill: Israeli Undercover Operations against "Wanted" and Masked Palestinians (New York: Middle East Watch, 1993), 42–60. [BACK]

17. "Internal Affairs" refers to Metzach, the Hebrew acronym for Mishtara Tsvait Chokeret, or Investigative Military Police. The unit belongs to the Israeli armed forces' Military Police and makes its recommendations to the Judge Advocate General. See Middle East Watch, A License to Kill, 189–192. [BACK]

18. State of Israel, Ministry of Justice, "The Rule of Law in the Areas Administered by Israel," Israel National Section of the International Commission of Jurists (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Justice, 1981). [BACK]

19. Al Haq, Punishing a Nation, 27–29. [BACK]

20. Most of the author interviews with veterans were conducted during the summer of 1994 in Israel. The interviews took place in Hebrew and lasted from one to four hours. A smaller number were conducted in 1992 and 1993 under the auspices of Human Rights Watch. [BACK]

21. See Joe R. Feagin and Harlan Hahn, Ghetto Revolts, for this dynamic. [BACK]

22. See Francis Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward, Poor People's Movements: How They Succeed, Why They Fail (New York: Knopf, 1979), for a discussion of disruption. [BACK]

23. Shabak is a Hebrew acronym for Sherut Bitachon Klali, or General Security Services. Earlier, the agency was known as the Shin Bet, short for Sherutei Bitachon, or Security Services. [BACK]

24. Ian Black and Benny Morris, Israel's Secret Wars, 237–281. [BACK]

25. Colonel Avi, interview by author, Tel Aviv, 27 June 1994. [BACK]

26. Colonel Yossi, interview by author, Jerusalem suburb, 4 July 1994. [BACK]

27. Colonel Yiftach, interview by author, Tel Aviv, 11 July 1994. [BACK]

28. Colonel Yossi, interview. [BACK]

29. Colonel Amit, interview by author, Jerusalem, 6 July 1994. [BACK]

30. Villages in Palestine were theoretically governed by a state-authorized headman, or mukhtar, many of whom had working relations with Israeli occupation authorities. During the uprising, mukhtars were often challenged by younger and more politicized Palestinian leaders. [BACK]

31. The army had concluded that the .22 caliber rifles were less lethal than regular assault rifles, which fired a 5.56 mm bullet that caused extensive damage to internal organs. The weapons were distributed to snipers and officers, who were instructed to shoot at demonstration organizers. [BACK]

32. Colonel Eytan, interview by author, Israeli settlement in the West Bank, 22 June 1994. [BACK]

33. Lieutenant Dani, interview by author, Jerusalem suburb, 13 July 1994. [BACK]

34. Amir, interview by author, Tel Aviv, 11 July 1994. [BACK]

35. This figure excludes the Palestinian population living in Jerusalem. The West Bank and Gaza had approximately 1.5 million Palestinian residents in 1989. [BACK]

36. Middle East Watch, Prison Conditions in Israel and the Occupied Territories (New York: Middle East Watch, 1991). [BACK]


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37. Nils Christie, Crime Control as Industry (London: Routledge, 1994), 33. [BACK]

38. Most combat troops had little contact with the pens. [BACK]

39. Miriam, interview by author, Jerusalem, winter 1993. [BACK]

40. See remarks by Itai, quoted under a different name in B'Tselem, The Interrogation of Palestinians during the Intifada: Ill-Treatment, "Moderate Physical Pressure," or Torture? (Jerusalem: B'Tselem, 1991), pp. 128–129. I also interviewed Itai in northern Israel, 12 July 1994. [BACK]

41. See also Ari Shavit, "Ansar Camp: Activity Report," Ha'aretz, 3 May 1991. In Hebrew. Several veterans, as well as many Palestinians, spoke in interviews of prison-related abuse. [BACK]

42. B'Tselem, Collaborators in the Occupied Territories: Human Rights Abuses and Violations (Jerusalem: B'Tselem, 1994), 63–70; and Middle East Watch, Torture and Ill-Treatment: Israel's Interrogation of Palestinians from the Occupied Territories (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1994), 205–208. [BACK]

43. B'Tselem, Detained without Trial: Administrative Detention in the Occupied Territories since the Beginning of the Intifada (Jerusalem: B'Tselem, 1992). [BACK]

44. For Israel's military tribunal system, see B'Tselem, The Military Justice System in the West Bank (Jerusalem: B'Tselem, 1989); Lisa Hajjar, Authority, Resistance, and the Law: A Study of the Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza (Berkeley: University of California Press, forthcoming); Amnesty International, The Military Justice System in the Occupied Territories: Detention, Interrogation and Trial Procedures (London: Amnesty International, 1991); Paul Hunt, Justice? The Military Court System in the Israeli-Occupied Territories (Ramallah: al Haq and the Gaza Center for Rights and Law, 1987); and Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, A Continuing Cause for Concern: The Military Justice System of the Israeli-Occupied Territories (New York: Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, 1993). [BACK]

45. Orlee, interview by author, Tel Aviv, July 1994. See also Colonel David Yahav, Israel, the "Intifada," and the Rule of Law. [BACK]

46. B'Tselem, The Interrogation of Palestinians during the Intifada: Follow-Up to the March 1991 B'Tselem Report (Jerusalem: B'Tselem, 1992), 10. For more on the interrogation system, see Amnesty International, Torture and Ill-Treatment of Political Detainees (London: Amnesty International, 1994); B'Tselem, The Interrogation of Palestinians; Stanley Cohen, "Talking about Torture in Israel," Tikkun, 6: 6 (1991): 23–31, 88–90; Middle East Watch, Torture and Ill-Treatment; and James Ron, "Varying Methods of State Violence." [BACK]

47. Middle East Watch, Torture and Ill-Treatment, 2. [BACK]

48. Omri, interview by author, June 1993. See excerpts of the interview with the same soldier, identified as "A.M.," in Middle East Watch, Torture and Ill-Treatment, 305–309. [BACK]

49. B'Tselem, The Interrogation of Palestinians, 127. [BACK]

50. Efraim, interview by author, Tel Aviv, fall 1992 and 27 June 1994. [BACK]

51. Cited in al Haq, Punishing a Nation, 19. [BACK]

52. Shimon, interview by author, Jerusalem, 26 July 1994. [BACK]

53. Al Haq, Punishing a Nation, 12–14. [BACK]

54. Arik, phone interview by author, Jerusalem, winter 1993. [BACK]


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55. Al Haq, Punishing a Nation, 53. [BACK]

56. Other attempts at finding less-than-lethal options include resorting to tear gas, plasticand rubber-coated bullets, and gravel-spewing cannon. [BACK]

57. Colonel Avi, interview. [BACK]

58. Cited in al Haq, Punishing a Nation, 23. [BACK]

59. Colonel Yiftach, interview. [BACK]

60. Efraim, interview. [BACK]

61. Cited in Amnon Straschnov, Justice under Fire, 229–230. [BACK]

62. Ze'ev Schiff and Ehud Ya'ari, Intifada, 150–151. [BACK]

63. John W. Meyer and Brian Rowan, "Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony," in Walter W. Powell and Paul J. DiMaggio, The New Institutionalism, 41–62. [BACK]

64. Cited in Middle East Watch, A License to Kill, 219. [BACK]

65. Ha'aretz interview cited in al-Haq, Punishing a Nation, 20. [BACK]

66. For details, see Amnon Straschnov, Justice under Fire. [BACK]

67. For a critical review of Internal Affairs investigations, see Middle East Watch, The Israeli Army and the Intifada: Policies that Contribute to the Killings (New York: Middle East Watch, 1991). [BACK]

68. See also Middle East Watch, A License to Kill, 168–169. [BACK]

69. Lieutenant Aviad, interview. [BACK]

70. Shimon, interview. [BACK]

71. Efraim, interview. [BACK]

72. Colonel Avi, interview. [BACK]

73. Colonel Yiftach, interview. [BACK]

74. Colonels Avi and Rossi, interviews. [BACK]

75. Details come from an unofficial court transcript made by members of Yesh Gvul, an Israeli antiwar group. I thank Glenn Frankel for making this document available to me. [BACK]

76. Al Haq, Punishing a Nation, 12. [BACK]


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