"...the minister of defence, Yitzhak Rabin, like a stern father reprimanding his unruly children, had announced his policy of 'force, might and beatings'..." (p. 89)
"How could we have imagined that a time would come when thousands of soldiers would pass through towns, villages and refugee camps in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, breaking all accepted human rights norms, stopping passers-by and humiliating them, beating them or detaining them, shooting at unarmed demonstrators and imposing long-term curfews on entire communities under the orders of their highest-ranking officers? What was the point of producing another report when this was well-known throughout the world? What was the role of a human rights organization at a time like this?" (p. 90)
Witnessing an assault on a Palestinian man by Israeli soldiers, Shehadeh and his colleagues go to the police station to report a crime. There are at least forty soldiers outside the police station, also soldiers entering and leaving the building. Screams can be heard from inside. Jonathan Kuttab, Shehadeh's colleague, states his business to an army officer who tells them to leave and pushes them away. They go. Filing a complaint would have meant filling out forms, providing a statement and leaving their names and credentials - a futile exercise.
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