False Dichotomies

For the next eight months I will be working at the Home Front base on the edge of Ramle. Ramle is – for want of a better word – grimy. It is a mixed working-class Jewish-Arab town, where relations are generally ok, but tensions are never far from the surface. A few months ago, some soldiers had stones thrown at them while walking to the bus station, housed in a municipal building with a style that is incongruous with its surroundings. There were also warnings of attempted kidnapping of soldiers in the area. As a result, all soldiers serving at the base were told they could only walk to the bus station in pairs. Note the absurdity: an army which forbids its soldiers from walking on its own sovereign turf. Read more