July 22, 2003

A Bad Cop Story

The last photo my camera took. Israeli policeman (who could tell?) in my face.
I think this guy qualifies as a bad cop. He worked pretty hard to provoke our van driver.
He had just double-kicked the Palestinian man in the right of the photo.
Behind him you can see another policeman with the driver of my service van.

[Bethlehem, West Bank] The adrenaline is still pumping as I write this. Physical confrontations with the police aren't my favorite thing to do on a hot summer afternoon. It started like this...

I was heading to Bethlehem from Jerusalem in a clearly identifiable Palestinian van. It was full of twelve Palestinians riding home. Along the way to the checkpoint, the driver had to make several stops to let off passengers. After one stop, he pulled back into the road, evidently cutting off a driver. The car blew its horn, and the young van driver yielded and allowed the car to pass. Then the car crawled along in front of the van, not permitting it to move. When the van changed lanes, the car cut it off. Several times the van almost hit the car. The van made many attempts to just move on up the road, but the car always swerved to keep the van from passing. Two women were riding in the front of the van with the driver. One was visibly upset and telling the driver something. A passenger wanted out, so the van pulled over and two people got out. The car had continued ahead slowly and was in a line of cars waiting at a light. Our van pulled up to the car and as the van driver reached out to grab the passenger car door handle, the car moved over to the van. The car window rolled down and words were exchanged between the car and the van driver.

Here in the middle of a multiple-lane highway, two young Israeli men, who dressed like maybe they had just been to the gym, rolled out of the car, came over to the van and pulled our Palestinian driver out! The car passenger pushed the driver to a nearby wall. The other Israeli came to the other door of the van and grabbed it open and got in front of the women! I thought it was getting totally out of hand, so I made hasty (and in retrospect -- perhaps bad) decision, and I got out of the van. Another Palestinian got out with me.

The Israeli car driver was totally livid, and I told him to RELAX, RE-LAX, REE-LAX. Then he ignored the women and started to argue with the Palestinian who had gotten out of the van with me. I mistakenly thought if I snapped a few photos, maybe the Israeli guy would calm down a little and not do anything he didn't want photographed. Instead he grabs the guy who had gotten out of the van with me, and pushed him to the wall beside the van driver. I followed them (note to self: perhaps mistake, mistake, mistake -- but what should you do -- stand by and watch someone get beat up by a punk?).

The guy was not resisting, but the Israeli driver gives the Palestinian guy in the van with me a few hard kicks. I shouted at him to stop (perhaps mistake, mistake, mistake -- but what should you do -- stand by and watch someone get kicked by a punk?), and then he came at me. I noticed that the other Israeli guy was now wearing a battered Israeli policeman's cap! Police? What? Police had been swerving in front of our van like a couple of jerks, not allowing us to move? Incredible! These people are the best trained forces in the world? I've seen more mature behavior from a group of children. Hey, no doubt they had probably gotten cut off, but would that cause a well-trained police officer to get out of their car and manhandle the other driver? Well sure, if the other driver was Palestinian. (I hope that's not part of their training.) I hadn't known that they were the police -- I thought they were just regular angry idiots with a terrible case of road rage.

The angry guy grabbed my camera and yelled some things at me in Hebrew. He yanked on it a few times, but the strap was tightly wrapped around my arm, and I wouldn't let loose. (Here's something that I never understand -- if you're not doing anything wrong, why would you mind if I take a few photos?) I kept telling him to relax, and I would put my camera back into the bag. In case he didn't understand, I motioned that I would put the camera back into my bag. He kept yelling Hebrew, yanking on my camera, and I kept telling him to relax.

I wasn't angry, but I really thought the guy was going to punch me. I had just seen him kick a guy hard a couple of times, and he was really in my face. I remember thinking that I hoped he didn't hit me full-on in the mouth. Finally we both heard a crack and some sort of electronic groan from my zoom lens. I unwrapped the strap and gave him my broken camera. He set it on the wall and returned to harass the van rider. Then the Israeli guy puts a light on the top of his car to show that he was the police. All of the occupants of the van had to get out and everyone's papers were checked and radioed in. While the policeman was busy, I put my camera in my bag.

Finally, after a long wait, and much angry talking at the Palestinians, the police drove off. I tested my camera, but it behaved strangely and my zoom lens wouldn't work. Darn! This was a nice camera, and we've been through a lot together. I'm going to check the warranty of my Canon G2 to see if Israeli police brutality is covered. (Note to children reading this: GOOD policemen are your best friends.)

Angry guy yanks open door and enters van on top of the women. Who knew he was an Israeli policeman?
I thought things were going too crazy, so I got out.

Israeli policeman pulls open the front van door and argues with the Palestinian guy who got out of the van with me.