I recall very well my first ascent to Mount Ebal. We started running convoys up there. A tank goes first, followed by all the other vehicles. There was no access road to the army post on Mount Ebal, so we drove there and the road was closed to Palestinian traffic. This is a road going from Shavei Shomron settlement to Mount Ebal, actually cutting off all the exits from Nablus to the villages lying between Nablus and Jenin. So the Palestinians, in order to keep moving from the villages north of Nablus to Nablus itself, had to break this rule and cut across this road on dirt tracks. So we saw a truck that got stuck on the side of the road climbing up one of these dirt tracks, its back side slightly on the road, not that it blocked the convoys in any way. So the company commander gave an order to move this truck with the tank. I was the tank's driver.

Were there people inside the truck?Yes, they were ordered to get out. The truth is this is rather embarrassing, but I was young then and got pretty excited. It also seemed natural to me – here these guys have violated instructions, entered a road forbidden them, and now their truck will be handled accordingly. Yes, not nice. I began to run the tank over the truck, and its whole back side got bent. When I moved back, it boomed back and all sorts of stuff started leaking, there was heavy damage. So I pushed it up a bit and I remember it slipped entirely off the road and got stuck. There is a slight incline there from the road towards the mountain and it got stuck uphill and stood there until they managed to get it out. This was disproportionate punishment.

By order of the commander?The company commander. I think this was a Haruv unit.

You were subordinate to Haruv?Yes.