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[GushShalom] Jenin Bulldozer Driver Speaks
> From GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/
>
>This is the full translation of a unique document.
>
>It was published in Yediot Aharonot, Israel's most widely circulated
>tabloid paper, on
>May 31, 2002. It is the first absolutely sincere Israeli eye-witness
>testimony on what
>actually happened in Jenin, by one of those who did it and are proud of it.
>
>After publication - and in spite of it - the unit to which the man belongs
>received from
>the army command an official citation for outstanding service.
>
>[A transcript of the Hebrew original will soon be published on our
>website, and is
>available at request.]
>
>= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
>"I made them a stadium in the middle of the camp"
>= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
>
> I entered Jenin, driven by madness, by desperation, in the worst condition
> possible.
> I told my wife: "If anything happens to me, at least someone will take
> care of
> you".
> The funny bit was, I didn't even know how to operate the D-9.
> Within two hours, they taught me to drive forwards, and make a flat surface.
> I tied the 'Beitar' football team flag to the back of the tractor and
> told them: "Move
>away, let me work.".
> For three days, I just erased and erased
> I kept drinking whisky to fight off fatigue
> I didn't see dead bodies under the blade of the D-9, but I don't care if
> there
> where any.
>
>By Tsadok Yeheskeli, Yediot Aharonot.
>
>Moshe Nissim, nicknamed "Kurdi Bear1", the D-9 operator who became the
>terror of
>the Jenin refugee camp inhabitants, speaks with no censorship about his
>time of glory.
>
>"I entered Jenin driven by madness, by desperation, I felt I have nothing
>to loose, That
>even if I 'get it', no big deal.
>I told my wife: "If anything happens to me, at least someone will take
>care of you!".
>I started my reserve service, in the worst conditions possible. Maybe this
>is why I
>didn't give a damn. Not about explosive charges, not about gun fire.
>"My life was in deep shit for the past one and a half years. For almost
>half a year I am
>suspended from work as a senior inspector in the Jerusalem municipality.
>I worked there for 17 years, till that cursed day, January the 20th,
>exactly my 40th
>birthday, when the police came and arrested me.
>They said that I and my colleagues in the inspection unit are suspected
>for being
>bribed by contractors and other business owners, that in fact, we are a
>corrupted
>bunch.
>"This is a terrible injustice. I am a very friendly guy, and in this job
>you mix with people
>you inspect. But bribery? Me?
>I am in debt for hundreds of thousands of Shekels long before all this
>story. Had I
>taken bribes, I would have money, but I couldn't even pay the lawyer.
>Since then I am
>suspended. My wife was fired as well, and I have four children to keep.
>"This was not the first blow. A few months earlier, I was injured badly in
>my back, my
>wife was fired, and my son got run over and had to be operated to save his
>leg.
>Today he is OK, but his big dream, and mine, that he will once be a player
>in the
>Beitar Jerusalem team, this dream is probably gone forever. Pity. He was
>really
>talented. I have already promised him to get him into the children's
>Beitar team.
>, "we are all being recruited to do reserve service, but you are not called."
>"Truth is, that I understood my commanders. Hey, I've been doing my
>reserves duty for
>16 years now, and I was useless. I did nothing but make trouble.
>
> card table, open a bottle. If any officer would dare send me to guard
> duty, I would
>send him first. Kurdi always did his thing.
>If I felt like going to a Beitar football match, or going home, no one
>could stop me. I
>would just start the car and go.
>"Truth is, they didn't even know me. When I am given responsibility, I can
>act
>differently, In the "Versailles" disaster3 I was in charge of all the
>inspection team on
>location. When I was seen by one of the guys of my military unit, he was
>shocked.
>He said: "In the army you can't tie your shoelaces, and here you are a big
>chief!"
>omise to work", I pleaded with the battalion commander. Finally, he agreed
>to give me
>a chance.
>"I said to myself: "Kurdi, you can't let them down. No more running wild!".
>
>
>The speaker is Moshe Nissim, AKA "Moshe Nissim Beitar Jerusalem".
>In the Jenin refugee camp, he was called, over the military radio: "Kurdi
>Bear".
>Kurdi, because this is the name he insisted on. Bear, after the D-9 he was
>driving,
>demolishing house after house.
>There was not one soldier in Jenin that did not hear this name. Kurdi Bear
>was
>considered the most devoted, brave and probably the most destructive operator.
>A man, that the Jenin camp inquiry committee, would want very much to have
>a word
>with.
>For 75 hours, with no break, he sat on the huge bulldozer, charges
>exploding around
>him, and erased house after house.
>His story, which he tells openly and with no inhibitions, is far from
>being a regular war
>myth. Medals, so it seems, will not be awarded for it. (Actually, his
>company was later
>awarded a citation for outstanding service.)
>
>The experience
>"The funny bit is, I didn't even know how to operate the D-9. I have never
>been an
>operator. But I begged them to give me a chance to learn.
>Before we went into Shekhem (Nablus), I asked some of the guys to teach
>me. They
>sat with me for two hours. They taught me how to drive forwards and make a
>flat
>surface.
>"I took it on with no problem and told them: 'That's it. Move aside and
>let me work.'.
>This is what happened in Jenin as well. I have never demolished a house
>before, or
>even a wall. I got into the D-9 with a friend of mine, a Yemenite. I let
>him work for an
>hour, and then told him, 'OK. I got the idea.'
>"But the real thing started the day 13 of our soldiers were killed up that
>alley in the
>Jenin refugee camp.
> started going mad: 'Get back,' he shouted, 'we have no escort!', but I
> had to get to
>know the place better, to find an exit, just in case we needed one. I was
>not afraid to
>die. At least I was insured. This would have helped my family.
>
>The Flag
>y and the kids: 'you will see my tractor on television. When you see the
>Beitar flag,
>that will be me'. And this is exactly what happened.
> I am. I always go to the Beitar matches, in a Beitar colored Galabia (an
> Arab man's
>dress), and a big drum of the Kurds from the Castel. Once, after our first
>national
>championship, I took a ride on the roof of a car, carrying the drum, all
>the way to
>Jerusalem.
> better than to talk to me if Beitar lost a match.
>aeli army) officer I worked with to let me go up there and hang it, but he
>refused. He
>said I would be shot if I tried. Pity.
> here. Don't you worry.'.
>"On the radio, they wanted to call me 'Moshe-Bear', but I insisted on
>Kurdi. I told the
>Golanis, I am Kurdi, and I won't answer if you call me by any other name.'
>That is how
>'Kurdi Bear' was born. This is my name, and I am stubborn.
>"In the reserves, they already got used to my signature: 'Moshe Nissim Beitar
>Jerusalem'.For a while they asked me to stop it, but finally they just
>gave up.
>
>Going in
>ere let into the camp earlier, with all our might, twenty-four soldiers
>would not have
>been killed in this camp.
>"The moment I went into the camp, for the first time, I just thought of
>how to help these
>soldiers. These fighters. Children the age of my son. I couldn't grasp how
>they worked
>there, were a charge blows up on you, with every step you take.
>"With the first mission I was given, to open a track inside the camp, I
>understood what
>kind of hell this was.
>ey would not have to take even one step outside their shelter. One step
>was enough in
>order to lose an arm or a leg.
>ds. They just planted charges everywhere.
>"For me, in the D-9, it was nothing. I didn't mind. You would just hear
>the explosions.
>y thing that mattered was that these soldiers must not risk themselves
>just to eat or
>drink something."
>"I fell in love with those children. I was willing to do with my tractor
>anything they would
>ask for. I begged for work: 'Let me finish another house, open another
>track.'
>They, in return, protected me. I would leave the tractor without weapons,
>nothing. Just
>walked in. They told me I am mad, but I said: 'Leave me alone. Anyhow, the
>armored
>vest will not save me.' This is how I worked. Even without a shirt. Half
>naked.
> whisky and something to munch on.
>me of them."
>
>
>
>The purity of our weapons
> soldiers. I worked where our soldiers were slaughtered. They didn't tell
> all the truth
>about what happened. they drilled holes in the walls, holes for gun
>barrels. Anyone
>who escaped the charges, was shot through these holes.
>idn't give a damn about demolishing all the houses I've demolished - and I
>have
>demolished plenty. By the end, I built the 'Teddy' football stadium there.
>emolish, waving white flags. We screwed just those who wanted to fight.
>, because if they had returned to their homes, they would blow up.
>ouses, would understand they were in a death trap. I thought about saving
>them. I
>didn't give a damn about the Palestinians, but I didn't just ruin with no
>reason. It was all
>under orders.
>enerations. If I am sorry for anything, it is for not tearing the whole
>camp down.
>
>Satisfaction
>r guys inside, and they forgot to tell me.
>rd, we would ask for a tank shell.
>ecause the army didn't want the cameras and press to see us working. I was
>really upset, because I
>had plans to knock down the big sign at the entrance of Jenin - three
>poles with a picture of Arafa
>t. But on Sunday, they pulled us away before I had time to do it.
>I got back there. The battalion-commander was in shock when he saw me. The
>other operators all crac
>ked up and needed rest, but I refused to leave. I wanted more.
> have buried all those Palestinians alive.
>ook care of them, of the children. The soldiers gave them candy. But I had
>no mercy for the parents
> of these children.
>I remembered the picture on television, of the mother who said she will
>bear children so that they
>will explode in Tel Aviv. I asked the Palestinian women I saw there:
>'Aren't you ashamed?'
>vitation.
>'Do you want the entire company to come over to your house?'
>I told him: 'As far as I am concerned, bring the whole battalion.'
>I phoned my mother, from the D-9, and told her that the whole battalion
>was coming. She said: 'no s
>weat'. I am waiting for them".
>
>Politics
>
>ad more fun. That is, If they would let me tear the whole camp down. I
>have no mercy.
> the camp. And yes, it was justified. They mowed our soldiers down. They
> had a
>chance to surrender.
>tball stadium, so they can play. This was our gift to the camp. Better
>than killing them.
>They will sit quietly. Jenin will not return to what it use to be."
>
>Epilog
>Two days after getting out of Jenin, 'Kurdi Bear' was admitted into
>hospital, suffering
>from pneumonia. As it turned out, the 75 straight hours in the D-9 took
>their toll. Some
>days after he had returned home, a phone call woke him up in the middle of
>the night.
>"I got home one night, and for some reason, I couldn't sleep. I was
>uncomfortable.
>Till 4 AM I just wandered about, suddenly the phone rings: 'Are you Nati's
>father?'
>I sked what happened. 'Get over here, to the hospital.' 'Tell me the
>truth' I told her.
>.
>led us back to the hospital. They were in shock: The kid just tore the
>respiration tubes
>off. He woke up."
>
>freezes for a second, and tries to get his son back into reality. "Nati",
>he says softly,
>"I've already told you, Beitar has lost."
>g ten years back or even more, but forgets within minutes who he is
>talking with. "Why
>am I here?" he asks his parents again and again, and bows his head with
>embarrassment when an acquaintance reminds him of a conversation they had
>just the
>day before.
>s for his battered Subaru that tries to make the journey from the Castel
>neighborhood
>to the hospital. Kurdi wants to build himself a tent in front of the
>hospital. For the time
>being, he sleeps in the car.
>"Jenin has strengthened me," he says. "It helped me forget my troubles. I
>had hoped it
>would be some turning point, until this hit me. But what happened to Nati
>taught me
>what really is important. I am living now for my son. The rest is really
>not important."
>The friends from his reserves unit are helping him.
>y him."
>Yeffet Damti, his tractor partner from Jenin, says that one thing is
>certain: "On the
>next mission, I am only going with Kurdi".
>Kurdi, for his part, thanks his commanders that gave him the chance.
>For the time being, they are wrapping him with attention and sympathy.
>They came
>here, to the hospital, just to be with him. Just so he won't be lonely.
>They are talking
>about raising funds to help him. When they meet him next to his son's bed,
>back
>come the memories from those 75 hours.
>The chats around the son's bed continue till the management of the
>hospital called and
>begged them to stop bragging about destroying Jenin. There are Arab
>therapists who
>might be hurt, and one of the Arab patients has already complained.
>
> ----
> Full transcript of the war crimes panel available on the Gush site
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>
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>
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