When you arrive at the area, you get instructions as to what you're supposed to do if a settler attacks a Palestinian, a herd of sheep, olive trees, stuff like that - what are you supposed to do?

Nothing. The subject never came up. Nobody even thought of it as an option. At no stage does the army teach you how to handle a civilian population. That's not your role as a commander in the army, and the only thing that trains you for this is the field. Even the indecent procedure of detaining a Palestinian for two hours or 12 hours, or not detaining him at all, or slapping him while you're at it – it depends [on who you are]. Your political views, too, influence your decision making dramatically at any given time and place, because you're king. The commander on the ground is king, he determines everything, and he really has the power to decide who shall live and who shall die.

And facing the settlers? When it happens with settlers, do you still have all those powers? No. The settlers are on our side, and the Palestinians are the enemy. It's very simple, who‘s a friend and who’s a foe. So by definition, we know: this is an enemy, that’s a friend, and therefore we will naturally handle a settler with kid gloves.

There were cases of settlers attacking both soldiers and officers. Are you authorized to arrest a settler, to detain? The unequivocal answer is no. There are no specifications. During training you learn how to handle riots, you learn how to handle an e-n-e-m-y. The legal definition of the army's role in the territories is to maintain order. The police’s role in a normal country, for that matter.

Did they [your commanders] talk to you about the term ‘protected civilians’? Are you familiar with it? No, I'm not. I can say that I don't receive any clear, sensible, instructions as to how to handle the population and maintain daily order. And as a result, you find yourself in a situation of uncertainty, which is very problematic. At best, there’s a commander who uses his, say, moral, lawful, whatever, discretion, and does the right thing. At worst, there's a commander who doesn't use his discretion, or it doesn’t interest him, and does the wrong thing. But generally what happens is that we call the police. As far as I'm concerned, as the army on the ground, I don't want to deal with it at all. I don't want to deal with the situation. I wait for the police to arrive as quickly as possible. It’s funny, we, those trusted to maintain order, wait for the professionals to come and do that.