We had some kind of outpost on the Assaf junction. There were like three makeshift shacks, some guys suddenly appeared there and we had no choice but to guard them. This outpost created a lot of friction with Burqa (a Palestinian village near Ramallah). It’s an exposed hilltop near the road.

What does a lot of friction mean?Friction between hilltop youth and farmers from the village that passed through on the road. It means that now when they see a Palestinian getting close to their territory, they summon us; we go there all the time for no real reason.

Is it the settlers' territory?It's the area they’re in, [but] it is not theirs. As the army, we can’t touch them or do anything, we waited for them to be evacuated.

They situate themselves on territory that’s agricultural territory?It’s an open territory, south of them there are Burqa’s groves, around one kilometer south. Usually they report to us that there’s a Palestinian nearby so we pop over, bring a tracker and scan to make sure he doesn’t come… a very exhausting activity, lots of "crying wolf “ kind of thing.

How do they get you over there?They have a phone number for the council’s operations room, a civilian operations room, a phone center of sorts. They call and the center knows to summon us.

And every time there’s a call, you go?We respond as if there was an infiltration into the settlement. Forces, trackers.

Was it fenced off or anything?Nothing, nothing. They didn’t even have a floor.

So what do you mean infiltrate? Where are the Palestinians penetrating - between the caravans?Yes.