Bedouins serving in the IDF are deployed along Israel's borders where they track terrorist infiltrators to keep the country safe
By Jake Wallis Simons | Daily Mail | March 7, 2016
THE GOLAN HEIGHTS, Israel -- At first glance, this stretch of rocky ground beside a path in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights does not seem to be a threat.
To the expert eye, however, it is potentially deadly. That's because an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) has been planted inside a hollow rock, a tactic commonly used by the terror group Hezbollah.
For the elite unit of Israeli army trackers based on the border with Syria and Lebanon, the ability to identify such threats can mean life or death. Or as Major Guy Gadir, 41, the commander of the unit puts it, 'it can mean the difference between a good day or a very bad day'.
MailOnline joined Major Gadir and two of his men on patrol at a secret location close to the tense border with southern Lebanon, Hezbollah's stronghold, where he revealed some of the secrets used by his unit to track down terrorists seeking to kill civilians or capture soldiers across the border.
Major Gadir is one of up to 300,000 Bedouin Arabs living in Israel, all of whom are Sunni Muslims. Many Bedouin are deeply patriotic and volunteer to fight for the Jewish state.
Due to their desert nomadic heritage, they have developed extraordinary tracking abilities which they put into action in special units within the Israeli army.
Major Gadir begins by demonstrating how to detect Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). 'One tactic of terrorists like Hezbollah is to hide their bombs in fake rocks,' he says.
'As a Bedouin, all of your senses are highly sensitive to your environment. Your eyes, ears, sense of touch and even your nose can alert you to danger in the area.'
At first he relies mainly on appearances, watching out for anything that doesn't fit. 'If a particular rock is a different shape or colour, or has a hole or protrusion that looks man-made, that makes us instantly suspicious,' he says.
'It's a matter of knowing intimately the type of rocks that are present in the area, and having enough alertness and perceptiveness to notice when something is not right.'
Soldiers also have to be keenly aware of the danger of tripwires, he added, which can be almost invisible when they are stretched low across a path.
The variety of fake rocks is apparent as the demonstration goes on. Some are dark grey while others are light brown or white. This, Major Gadir says, is intentional.
'The terrorists often change the disguise of their bombs. As soon as we start to learn their techniques, they evolve,' he says. 'That's why the Bedouin's ancient tracking skills are needed, because it's not like a textbook that anyone can follow.'
These unique skills have been passed down through the generations, and are now being used by the IDF. This was illustrated last year, when a Bedouin veteran visited Israeli education minister Naftali Bennett while he was mourning for his father at home.
The two former comrades shared reminiscences about their time in the military, including an incident in 1993 in which the tracker saved Bennett's life in Lebanon.
They were on a foot patrol, Bennet explained, when 'suddenly Fawas he yelled at me to stop. I immediately stood still. He said not to move and began cleaning the stones. He pulled out an anti-personnel mine.'
'If you are going to be a good tracker, you need to have grown up in nature,' says Major Gadir. 'You can't be a city dweller. You need to know every detail of the area you are working in, and also have the kind of knowledge that can only be passed on through the generations.'
It is remarkable, he adds, that the Israeli army, which is famed for its advanced weaponry and hi-tech equipment, relies on centuries-old traditions for tracking infiltrators.
'Every man in my village has volunteered to serve in the army,' Major Gadir tells MailOnline. 'We feel that Israel is our home and we get on well with our Jewish friends and neighbors. We are proud to fight for the country.'
The terrain in northern Israel is comprised of areas of dirt and sand as well as rocks, and this offers another set of clues to the Bedouin trackers. In addition to footprints, they can spot traces left when an enemy has knelt, covered his tracks or walked backwards to disguise his trail.
'It's all about knowing which signs to look for, and being experienced enough to pick them up,' Gadir says. 'For example, we came across a distinctive line in the dirt, and we realized that an enemy had been there.
'The mark had come from his gunstrap, the edge of which had brushed the ground as he stooped.'
Hezbollah infiltrators are often bent on acts of terror, but can also be engaged in drugs trafficking.
'Israel is a small country, but it can be difficult to apprehend a single person if he manages to somehow get across the border,' says Major Gadir.
'Bedouin trackers are a first line of defense. We can stop a serious problem before it even starts.'
The Bedouin's job is made more difficult, he adds, when their quarry takes measures throw them off the scent. Hezbollah, Hamas and other terror groups are keenly aware of the skills of the Bedouin trackers, and when an infiltration occurs, it can lead to a game of cat-and-mouse.
'Often a terrorist will try to walk on stones or other hard surfaces so that he doesn't leave any marks,' Major Gadir explains.
'We can still catch him, because we look out for those stones that have subtle circular impressions at their base, suggesting that they have had weight on them recently.'
A telltale clump of grass bent across a piece of old metal can tell the trained eye that an enemy combatant has been there, Major Gadir explains.
'If a blade of grass gets caught under his boot as he steps on a hard surface, that can leave a sign for us,' he says.
'An ordinary person would never notice it, but to us it is a very clear sign.
'Terrorists know that we are here, so they try to avoid detection using all sorts of methods.
'But unless a man is able to fly above the ground, he will always leave some sort of trail that can be picked up by people like us.'
When an enemy has been spotted moving through an area of trees and shrubs, the Bedouin draw on a different set of ancient skills. By watching, listening to and even smelling the foliage, a good tracker can tell how many enemy were there, whether they were carrying weapons and supplies, and how recently they passed by.
'If we examine fallen foliage carefully, we can see how fresh it is,' says Major Gadir. 'The fresher the leaves and twigs, the more recently they were knocked off the bush, and the hotter the trail.'
Bedouins are even able to use their highly-tuned sense of smell to detect a trail when there is no visible damage to bushes.
'The scent of fresh sap can tell us that someone has disturbed the leaves recently, meaning that we are on the right track,' Major Gadir explains.
The alliance between Israel and the Bedouin began in the early 20th Century, when Jews and Bedouin joined forces to protect the Jewish communities from their hostile Arab neighbors during the British Mandate.
In 1948, when Israel was established, the Bedouin pledged their allegiance to the Jewish State and were granted full citizenship.
Today, the Bedouin comprise about 2.5 percent of Israel’s population.
Although they are exempt from conscription, up to 10 per cent of eligible Bedouin men continue the tradition by volunteering for the IDF each year.
They often join tracking units, drawing on their desert heritage to catch terrorists seeking to infiltrate the country along Israel’s borders. Major Gadir commands one such unit on the Lebanese border.
A total of 363 Bedouin have died defending Israel since its inception, and about 1,700 Bedouin soldiers are currently enlisted.
Arabs who serve in the IDF are usually viewed as traitors by Palestinians. Last year, Mira Azar, a Palestinian singer, made this attitude plain in a song entitled Tell Me, Are You Satisfied With Yourself?.
In the music video, Azar sings in the middle of a ruined village while archive footage of Israel-Palestinian violence is played.
‘Tell me, have you seen the pictures?’ she sings. ‘Tell me, have you heard the news? And still you want to serve? How can you raise your weapon at your brother?’
Mohammed Ka’abiya, a Bedouin veteran who served in Israel's helicopter division, said that he speaks for the majority of the Bedouin when he dismisses this criticism.
‘I didn't fight against Arab people. I was fighting against terror organisations because I don't want the Arab people to be injured or killed,’ he told MailOnline.
'Arabs are victims of the terrorist organizations.
‘Some people call us traitors, but Israel is a democracy where all cultures and colors have the same rights. The ones who refuse to serve are the real traitors.’
No comments:
Post a Comment