Majdal Shams

Yesterday I accompanied vintage friends, Jon and Marion Boock and our guests from New Zealand on a late morning drive to a vantage point near Kibbutz Meirav

The road from Beit Alfa to Meirav winds bend after bend up Mount Gilboa to the junction where it joins the Gilboa scenic route. At one turn in the road a signpost informed us we had reached sea-level. Further on the Jezreel Valley landscape of neatly manicured fields, fishponds and citrus groves below us was replaced by the equally orderly Beit Shean Valley panorama set against the background of the Gilead Mountains across the river in Jordan.

At the vantage point near Meirav slabs of reinforced concrete were meant to provide protection if someone in Jelabun, a short distance below us in northern Samaria, fancied us for target practice. Instead the slabs provided shade from the midday sun on the exposed side opposite the village. A welcome westerly breeze helped reduce the heat stress while I pointed out how close we were to the security fence and recounted the ups and downs of reciprocal relations between Kibbutz Meirav and Jelabun.

The previous day the five of us had driven around Lake Kinneret stopping along the way at Domus Galilaeae, a modern Catholic religious complex close to the place thought to be the site of the Sermon on the Mount. Then we visited the Church of the Beatitudes, Tabgha, Capernaum and Ein Gev.

Deviating from the itinerary we drove in the direction of El Hama as far as the horseshoe bend where the road climbs to the Golan Heights. The signpost indicated that we could continue driving as far as Majdal Shams. That northern Druze town in the Golan Heights wasn’t in our itinerary and I doubt if it was accessible. Earlier in the week another attempt was made by Palestinians and sympathisers to breach the border fence near Majdal Shams.

We were content to view the Yarmouk River, no more than stream at this time of year. Across the ravine we could see other vehicles driving in another country, Jordan. Up river we saw the old railway bridge destroyed by the Israeli army in 1948. It was near here that a Muslim army led by Khalid ibn al-Walid defeated a combined Byzantine force in August 636. It was the end of an era, the crescent was about to replace the cross in this region and make inroads in Europe.

We had yet to complete the last leg of our tour, so we turned back stopping only at selected points along the way to Ein Harod.

I want to return to where I started and pick up the narrative at the vantage point close to Jelabun

Last year I quoted from an article written by Israeli journalist Akiva Eldar,” In better days,” he wrote, “other days, before the second year of the intifada and before a high barbed-wire fence separated Kibbutz Meirav from the northern West Bank, Hanukkah was a holiday for the residents of the nearby village of Jelabun; Meirav's candle factory was the source of livelihood for a number of Jelabun families. It was a win-win situation.
But two fatal attacks in the area put an end to neighbourly relations between the 70 young kibbutz families and the people of Jelabun. A high fence now slices across a 200-metre wide swath between Meirav and Jelabun.”

The article entitled “A one-time Hanukkah miracle” left readers waiting for the sequel, a concluding happy end. With no happy end in sight we’ll have to make do with the security fences and a strong army

The fence, wall or whatever else it has been called will probably never be completed. So far the completed 60% of the planned length is doing what Hadrian’s Wall and the Great Wall of China failed to do – keep enemies out. Maybe we are fooling ourselves and one day when we weaken they will get us. In the meantime at a bargain price of one million dollars a kilometre (some say twice as much)we have bought security. At first glance the fence by Jelabun didn’t appear to impress our guests. Perhaps it looked too much like a New Zealand cattle fence, however on closer observation they appreciated that the barrier plus its low-tech adjacent dirt roads used by trackers to detect intruders and the hi-tech surveillance add-ons make up a very sophisticated anti-terrorist package.

Jelabun appeared to be deserted, not a soul in sight then suddenly we saw someone walking in one of the alleys. I heard a dog barking and then the unsynchronised wail of the muezzins calling the faithful to prayer echoed up the rise to the vantage point where we stood. The dog reminded me of a feature article I had read in the weekend supplement to Yediot Ahronot. It concerned the IDF’s canine special forces unit, code- name Oketz. Most armies use trained dogs in military operations; however the IDF has kept its canine unit almost out of sight on a low profile. Understandably even the generation of Israelis born after the Holocaust knows about the use of attack dogs by the Nazi military and police forces. Furthermore, attempts made to delegitimise Israel by individuals, organisations and some governments liken our armed forces to Nazi storm troopers or SS guards.

The article briefly mentioned the unit’s history, background, training methods and its importance in routine service and military operations. Most of the article was devoted to the unit’s dog cemetery where 60 fighting dogs killed in action are buried. All the dogs buried in the cemetery have individual named tombstones Recently the unit observed a remembrance day for the dogs it lost in active service.

I know of a military canine cemetery on Guam and there are probably similar cemeteries in other places, however the love and attention devoted by the Oketz unit to its dogs strengthens my conviction that the IDF is a morally conscious fighting force. It has its own clearly defined code of ethics and a jurisprudence system to enforce it. I place my trust in it and not in Goldstone reports, watch-group vigilantes, nor biased U.N human rights committees.

They don’t like our fences and would have us tear them down. The diatribe against the fence comes at a time when the United States government is building a fence to keep out illegal Mexican immigrants. Spain has built a fence, with European Union funding, to separate its enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla from Morocco to prevent poor people from sub-Saharan Africa from entering Europe.

India constructed a 460-mile barrier in Kashmir to halt infiltrations supported by Pakistan. Saudi Arabia built a 60-mile barrier along an undefined border zone with Yemen to halt arms smuggling and plans to build a 500-mile fence along its border with Iraq.Turkey built a barrier in the southern province of Alexandretta, which was formerly in Syria. In Cyprus and other places separation barriers have been built too.

As I watched the newscasts at the beginning of the week showing the repeated attempts made by would be infiltrators from Syria to breach the border fence near Majdal Shams I wondered what they were trying to achieve.

It seems The Economist is adopting a pronounced anti-Israel tone reminiscent of The Guardian. This week a lead article warned, “If Israel hoped that memories of its conquests would fade as the years passed, the marches on June 5th by Palestinians marking 44 years of its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan were a rude awakening. Hundreds marched again in an effort to return to the occupied Golan, only to be met by Israeli snipers. Eyewitnesses in Majdal Shams, the largest remaining town in the Golan Heights, spoke of hill-sides strewn with wounded, as some 20 ambulances ferried the bodies to hospital. By sundown, when Israeli forces resorted to tear-gas to clear protesters, news agencies quoting Syrian sources reported 23 dead.”

IDF and military affairs analyst Ron Ben Yishai claims the organisers of the Naksa Day protests failed to drum up support for their demonstrations. He noted the lack of motivation and enthusiasm on the Palestinian side. Calls urging people to protest were sporadic and lacked conviction. They failed to incite large numbers of Palestinians protestors living in the refugee camps near Damascus.

The Syrian government’s involvement in the protests was clearly evident. It arranged the transporting of protesters from Damascus to the border. It made sure the event was fully covered on the official Syrian TV channel, which set up several broadcast points and covered the protests in live time. The government made sure the ambulances and medical teams were deployed in advance at points of friction.

“However, this time,” says Ben Yishai, “The IDF and Israel’s other security forces were thoroughly prepared on the operational, planning, legal and intelligence fronts. The difference was mostly evident on the Syrian and Lebanese borders. IDF Northern Command officials conducted an in depth analysis of “Nakba Day” events and were prepared for the Naksa Day protests well in advance.

This time advance preparations were made to contain rioting masses. In particular the creation of a major obstacle near Majdal Shams to hinder the protesters . All obstacles can be breached, yet the minutes, hours or days it takes to do so usually make all the difference between the success and failure of the soldiers defending the position. The obstacle allows defenders to break the momentum of the initial assault wave, whether we are dealing with excited masses, infiltrators, or even suicide bombers.

The obstacle also allows the IDF to channel infiltrators into what army officials refer to as the ‘playing field,’ where forces are deployed to ‘contain’ the incident and cope with the oncoming rush using crowd dispersal means, arms that are less lethal, or sniper fire aimed at the legs in line with predetermined rules. An obstacle also grants defenders precious time to dispatch reserve forces to points of friction that were not predicted in advance.

Near Majdal Shams, the new obstacle proved its efficiency. The protesters failed to reach the border fence as they did on “Nakba Day.” The combination of barbed wire and trenches made progress almost impossible. Those who nonetheless attempted to move towards the border fence and ignored warnings in Arabic broadcasted by megaphone , as well as warning shots in the air, were shot in the legs by snipers deployed at predetermined positions.

Everything was done in a controlled, level-headed manner with minimal use of live fire. Most of those shot were wounded, and those killed were apparently moving fast, thus making it difficult for snipers to hit accurately. Alternately, they may have died as result of blood loss during the lengthy evacuation process. The IDF prepared a large quantity of crowd dispersal means on the Golan which were mostly unused. Large reserve forces were also prepared but were not used. “

AFP correspondent Sara Hussein reporting from Majdal Shams said

"The town’s residents voiced mixed feelings as demonstrators from Syria charged towards the ceasefire line on Sunday.

Some found it inspiring to see hundreds of protesters braving Israeli gunfire to try and breach the armistice fence. But others, wary of the economic downturn the Druze town has experienced since a similar protest last month, worried that new demonstrations would only drive away more visitors and end in bloodshed without achieving anything.

Two days later we encountered tourists at all the sites along our route.

It appears Majdal Shams wasn’t in their itinerary.

Have a good weekend.

Beni 9^th of June, 2011.