How Israel's 'Meaningful' Military Service Is Creating a Lost Generation in the West Bank
This is why they are part of a lost generation. They are the mainstream; perhaps they'll even vote for the Democrats, maybe for Itamar Ben-Gvir, but they'll never recover from their thuggish demeanor. They acquired it during their military service
It's just past midday on Monday at the checkpoint at the northern exit of Ramallah. A long convoy of cars is backed up. Every few minutes, there is some slight movement. This is the Qalandiya checkpoint, with its discouraging lines that leave you waiting for hours. At this checkpoint you don't enter Israel – this is only an exit point from the unofficial Palestinian capital to the occupied territories.
No one honks, no one grumbles, no one tries to overtake the car in front of them. People sit in their cars and wait in the noontime heat. The apathy of the people waiting in line is the decisive proof of their terminal defeat. Some of the cars have yellow (Israeli) license plates, their drivers being either Israeli Arabs or Palestinians from East Jerusalem, other cars having Palestinian plates. There are no Jews here since there are no settlements in Ramallah yet.
Two masked soldiers are in charge of this endless line, armed and protected from head to toe, looking like characters from a sci-fi movie. Their movements are abrupt and nervous; they believe they have to constantly demonstrate force and barely restrained violence.
At us, for example, they pointed their cocked guns. Their faces are covered, perhaps from shame, perhaps out of fear of being caught on camera, or maybe so as to appear more intimidating.
I've been waiting at checkpoints for years, yet this one, this week, discouraged me more than previous ones. It wasn't more violent, humiliating or repressive, but somehow, it was different.
After the war in Gaza broke out, the West Bank underwent a complete change as well. Palestinians say that this became particularly apparent in the way soldiers now treat them, without a shred of humanity. By comparison, the soldiers of the past now seem to them like members of the Salvation Army. In the West Bank, they miss soldiers who didn't let women in labor or dying passengers pass through the checkpoint. But back then at least the soldiers talked to their victims.
Our turn comes to approach the checkpoint. As the soldiers dealt with the car ahead of us, their body language suggests that they are nervous and out of control. The driver ahead of us dared to inch forward without getting the signal to do so. These were not soldiers from some less-trained military unit. Their fancy gear attested to that. They didn't look or sound like people from the margins of Israeli society. When they saw my ID and press card and those of photographer Alex Levac, they totally lost it.
"You're Jewish?" The astonishment was replaced by rage. "What were you doing in Ramallah?" barked one of them, twice. We met some people. That combination of words – we-met-some-people-in-Ramallah – was incomprehensible to them. It didn't exist in the range of possibilities in their minds. There are no people in Ramallah. They were enraged.
"You're destroying the country," yelled one of them twice, his eyes almost popping out of his head. Scarred by many such confrontations at checkpoints, I held my silence. Once I had moved away, I was beset by sadness the likes of which I had never experienced in the occupied territories.
These soldiers did not kill children in the Gaza Strip this week, nor did they bomb anyone. Their bullying, violent behavior and imperiousness are already so deeply imprinted in them that they lash out at anyone they encounter. These young men were trained to be violent thugs and racists in every situation. There is no way back for them. They will carry it with them for the rest of their lives.
This is why they are part of a lost generation. They are the mainstream; perhaps they'll even vote for the Democrats, maybe for Itamar Ben-Gvir, but they'll never recover from their thuggish demeanor. They acquired it during their military service. They swallowed everything they were fed regarding the people passing by them at checkpoints. They were trained to believe that they are safeguarding our security and they are proud of their "meaningful" service. Their parents and friends are also proud of them. It is indeed service that has a significant impact – it will forever destroy a society from within.