In the end, it is the violin which wins
Meir Shalev
Yediot Aharonot, 26.11.2004
So, what did we have in the past weeks? We had an officer who "confirmed"
the killing of a 13-year old girl. We had soldiers mutilating the dead
body of an enemy and posing for photos with a cut-off head and a
cigarette placed between the dead lips. We had soldiers at a checkpoint
demanding that a passing Palestinian play the violin for them. And we had
several members of the naval commandos pose naked for a photo on top of
Mount Hermon. This is what our armed forces issue in the course of one or
two weeks.
About the "confirming kill" of the girl, the army conducted a flawed and
lying investigation. The mutilation of bodies is still under investigation, please be patient. About the soldiers before whom the Palestinian had to play his violin, the army spokesman said that they were insensitive. But the commandos who posed naked were cashie red forthwith - for the IDF is a moral army which cuts off abominations from its midst. When it is rally necessary, the IDF knows how to to take a swift and decisive action.
I look at the photo of the Palestinian playing the violin to our soldiers. The face seems very familiar. It seems very familiar because this deliberately expressionless look on the face, this intentionally unfocused gaze, is very common at thousands of checkpoint encounters, and even at ID checks conducted by our fighters right here in the center of the city. But it is also familiar because we know this sight from the not too distant past, we know it very well from the other side of the violin, and the other side of the checkpoint, and the other side of the gun barrel.
"Such severe incidents make clear the imperative need for continuing our
efforts to make our troops understand the message" said the army
spokesman in response to the checkpoint recital. But the message was
already long ago delivered and well understood. It was understood when
the army not only allowed the settlers to mistreat Palestinian civilians,
but often itself acted on the settlers' behalf. The message was well
understood when the commander of the air force said that he feels nothing
when dropping a one-ton bomb on a Gaza neighborhood - and was rewarded
for that statement by a promotion to deputy chief-of-staff. The message
was understood when a division commander was cashiered for leaking
information to a journalist, after having been praised for an operation
in which civilians were indiscriminately killed and their homes razed to
the ground. The message is well understood indeed, the understanding of
it and its implementation have long ago spread from the army and into the
behavior of drivers on the road, and the violence of pupils at school,
and the economic policy which is trampling over the poor.
And the army spokesman also said that the soldiers' conduct towards the
violinist was "An insensitive conduct by soldiers who are facing a
complicated and dangerous situation". This automatic-modular answer
clearly shows that the army spokesman does not understand the true
complexity and the true danger of the situation. For once, we were the
people who played the violin. The Jewish violin played in weddings, and
at concert halls, and before the thugs in the camps. We played and
joked: the violin is our instrument because it is so small, so easy to
carry when you need to run away...
Zionism asked of us to lay the violin aside for some time, to pick up the
rifle instead "until things get better". The Territories and all that is
involved in holding them have made this into a permanent situation. And
here is the real danger. For in the end, it is the violin which wins.
