Have you ever encountered settler violence directed against you or Palestinians? That happened quite a bit, both against us and against Palestinians. They have this practice of sorts, mainly the young ones, where they just stand in a place where Palestinians pass through, [they] just sit there and wait, and the moment they see any Palestinians go by, they simply get up and start provoking them, and that quickly leads to brawls.

Do you remember seeing such incidents firsthand? Yes, in Tel Rumeida at the Gilber checkpoint. There, I remember, it was settler kids between the ages of 6 to 8. A group of them stand there next to the checkpoint, and the moment Palestinian kids go by, they just start provoking them and start a fight. I also remember many times when it was said that we can’t touch the settlers. It's also up to the Company Commander there are company commanders who come up to you and say: if you see a brawl, for example, separate. don’t worry, I’ll back you up.

And what about other cases? In other cases you aren’t backed up.

So what are you supposed to do? It depends on the orders you’re given, I remember being told not to touch them. I did pull them apart, but the children always stand by your post and ramble on. If you tell them to go away or something like that, they have a lot of nerve and they tell you: you can’t touch me, you can’t tell me where to be. They really feel like they own the place.