We went on another patrol this afternoon, through the Souq. According to our Palestinian friends, there has been more and more military activity in the area.
Soldiers who have for a few weeks not gone into the market except for the settler tour one time a week had began to make daily patrols. Yesterday, they took a camera and filmed the shopkeepers. A few days ago, they went into homes looking for children to seize and question after a small boy threw a rock one night at a guard tower. During the last two weeks, they made three entries into H1, which is also illegal.
We came across five soldiers doing a patrol, and followed them. They stopped a Palestinian man and ordered him to show his ID, then went into an abandoned Palestinian house. After their walk, they returned to base.
Soon afterwards, we received a call from a friend of ours that a problem was unfolding near a mosque. An Israeli settler boy and a Palestinian boy, both looking not older than nine years of age, got into a scuffle. According to Palestinians who watched the situation, the settler boy punched a Palestinian kid, who then punched him back. A scuffle started, and according to what a friend told me, several older Palestinians broke it up and pulled the Palestinian child away from the Israeli settler child. A relatively trivial occurence, in most places. The Border Police saw the whole thing happen, and ignored it.
The settler boy got very upset and called his father, who arrived with his automatic weapon. He spoke to the Border Police, who immediately sprang into action.
When we got there, they were entering a Palestinian house, searching for the boy that could have been involved. Two young boys were taken out and taken to the settler boy and his father, who stated they did not hit him.
Led by a bit overweight commander who it actually turns out is a Bedouin Palestinian and a collaborator, the Border Police searched more homes and interrogated kids and adults alike. I repeatedly asked them what they were doing and why they were entering people's homes, he glared at me angrily and asked me who I am. I told him I am a tourist and he snapped that he will not speak to me or answer my questions.
They questioned several kids in one home, before moving on down the street and ordering a father to bring his child who allegedly shares the last name of the 'criminal'. He brought with him a very small child... too small to have had been able to fight with the settler boy.
The Border Police commander looked exasperated, it seemed evident that this crime was not going to be easily solved. He ordered the man to take the child back but report to the police later, and then noticed I was filming and ordered one of his men to stop me from doing so. He and one of his soldiers told me they "don't want trouble" and that I cannot film soldiers. I said ok and stopped taking pictures, ready to start again if the situation got worse.
Fortunately he had enough. He told his officers to keep their eyes open for the Palestinian child, sent the settlers home, and left.
I obviously don't support fighting, and am not happy that the settler boy was hit, like I am not happy the Palestinian boy was hit either.
However, the reaction of the military clearly demonstrated the balance of power in this situation. If an Israeli child hit a Palestinian child, there would be no raids into Israeli shops.
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