“Just Like in a Zoo“

You have to open your eyes to really see the occupation. The occupation is soldiers not just on security missions, but also chasing an eight-year-old kid who may have thrown a stone. It’s soldiers not only guarding borders, but also maintaining the daily oppression of civilians. It’s soldiers not only ignoring their duty to protect local residents, but sometimes harassing them for no reason. Such harassment can be merely a snide remark, or it can be much worse. On 8 Jan. 2014, B’Tselem field researchers Manal Ja’abri and Musa Abu Hashhash encountered soldiers detaining two eight-year-old boys at the entrance to al-’Arrub refugee camp: Ahmad al-Ghreidi and Hilmi al-Ghreidi. Manal Ja’abri began documenting the incident with her video camera and insisted on her right to do so, after soldiers initially tried to prevent her from filming. The children were released some ten minutes later. A lieutenant who was on the scene spoke to the children throughout the incident, although he had been