Good point. And very timely.
Posted on 4/7/02 7:05 PM Eastern by l33t
Israel Defense Forces reservists from one of the infantry platoons that has occupied Bethlehem had their Friday night Shabbat dinner in a meeting room belonging to Yasser Arafat's office.
"I sat in Arafat's chair, and blessed the wine," says Yoad, an armored personnel carrier driver who came yesterday morning to Checkpoint 300, between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, to pick up soldiers who had spent their weekends at home. For these reservists, it was their first vacation leave since they received their mandatory call-up notices, a week and a half before.
As Yoad spoke, the roadblock area looked like a major transport depot. With personal duffel bags slung across their soldiers, reservists disappeared inside armored personnel carriers, and braced themselves for the journey from the checkpoint to Bethlehem.
Infantrymen have in recent days been the IDF soldiers who closed off the Church of the Nativity in central Bethlehem. "We have orders not to shoot in the direction of the church under any conditions," said Nati, one of the brigade soldiers who has been stationed in a municipality building across from the basilica. "We are banned from firing at the church, even if they shoot at us first. So we simply don't go anywhere near the windows that are across from the church."
Shlomo, one of the platoon commanders who has taken part in clashes in areas near the church, elaborated on the rules of engagement in the area where Jesus is believed to have been born. "Soldiers fire back only if they identify precisely who fired at them, and from where; and you only fire if you know your shots will hit their mark precisely. In short, you don't fire back."
These infantry soldiers busy themselves by carrying out searches around the church area. "We've found a lot of jeeps that had been stolen from Israel. They had guns, binoculars, mortars and ready-to-be-used mines thrown inside them," relates one of the IDF soldiers, Itzik. The jeeps, he claims, belong to Tanzim para-military commanders who "fled to the church area when the IDF entered the city. They left their equipment outside, and went inside the church."
Though the foreign media spotlight has been cast onthe Church of the Nativity, the main attraction for the IDF reservists is the building they call "Arafat's palace." This is a multi-story complex featuring a lavish office and facilities designed for the Palestinian Authority chairman, and also an expensive hotel. The facility has been used by VIPs hosted by Arafat; pictures on the walls include the PA chairman with the Pope, when the pontiff visited the city in 2000.
"It's an amazing place," exclaims a soldier from the brigade that has occupied the facility since last Tuesday. "Everything was designed in Italy. There's a huge mahogany table in the meeting room, wall-to-wall red carpets, gold-plated cutlery, television sets in every room." The only thing missing, complain the soldiers, is hot water in the showers.
"I'd like to bring all the people from the Deheisheh refugee camp into Arafat's palace, and show them what goes on in there," says another soldier, Eran. "The IDF Spokesman should show it to the media. People should see what's happened to the money that Arafat has received."
Link to article.