National Public Radio’s “This American Life” features this story on its April 19th broadcast:
Mapping the Palestinians
Israeli soldiers routinely burst into West Bank Palestinian homes in the middle of the night, rousing the inhabitants and taking snapshots of their male children. This is part of a data collection process known as “mapping.” But then IDF commanders reportedly throw out the data. A reporter tries to find out what this is all about.
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| A green glow stick |
Other tactics mentioned are glow sticks randomly tossed into homes at night and the ritual of the “mock arrest” (someone is randomly taken from home at night, handcuffed and held in a military vehicle, without explanation, for a half hour or more until returned later that night). It turns out that these are all ways of asserting Israel’s presence: getting inside people’s heads that the army is always there.
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