I remember there was the Friday riot. When you arrive, first of all you see the Shoter checkpoint full of stones from the other side, full of stones from all the Fridays, and settlers come to rile up the soldiers. A border police platoon comes there, too.

The border police and the soldiers talk to the settlers? Sure, they’re best friends.

Do they see what’s happening on the other side (the Palestinian side), The settlers? They walk up to the roof, there’s a roof of one of our buildings right above the checkpoint, you walk up to the fourth floor and you stand on the roof and you see what’s going on there.

But it’s the home of a Palestinian family, isn’t it? I remember I walked up there a few times as well, there are steps leading up.

Isn’t it an IDF post? No, it’s a totally improvised post. The directive is to go there once an hour, to stand there for a bit and see that they're not planning anything on the other side.

During a riot, do you go up there? I think so.

And shoot [tear] gas from there? Yes, tear gas grenades.

So there are soldiers who handle the riot and settlers simply stand next to them and watch? Yes.

And do the soldiers try to prevent it? Did anyone consider it improper, even on an operational level? It’s a situation in which you’re shooting gas, and the gas always flies back at you in the end. Also, with the wind – somehow you always feel that gas. You don’t care, whoever stands there and gets the gas, they can drop dead, it doesn’t matter to you.

But weren’t you told "keep them away?" No.

The riot, by the way, do you know how it begins? I don’t know, they never really briefed us on why it happens on Friday of all days.

But nothing happened? no incident that led to the riot? There was just a riot? [On] Friday morning, you know that as soon as you come at eight in the morning, you see a crazy border police platoon with the craziest gear possible, standing there, waiting for the riot.

It’s a recurrent ritual? Yes.