Your article clearly reflects the frustration of the pride and the sense of duty of a motivated soldier . Definitely a delicate balance should be struck between carrying out the duty thoroughly and trying not to go too far too fast while fulfilling the mission . But which is , in the long run , better for one's country : to have a few soldiers wounded or to have the entire image and reputation of the country and its people severely damaged for a long time ? Wars and armed confrontations are only a means to long-lasting political solutions ( wars are a tool of politics ) . In the final analysis giving up the West Bank to Palestinians would certainly relieve Israel of that heavy burden ... ! By the way , regarding the video , one side of the conflict can claim the Israeli soldiers were running away while the other side of the conflict can boast the Israeli soldiers were simply wisely beating a retreat...No shame here but only wisdom... !

to beautify our Bio-data? to get job as Shomer/Guard? there is little or no value for an israeli soldier at west bank or hebron in particular. the truth is, those arab demonstrators are but terrorist in disguise, even those that died in Gaza during operation (excluding women & children); an arab terrorist becomes civilian when they are killed in action. is it formidable to have a rule "..permitted to shoot the man in the legs, but only if the firebomb was lighted and the terrorist was about to throw it at a car." as stated above? this is disgusting from the Govt. to introduce such rules in a place like West Bank. I came from India, India ha a strict rules of engagement when it comes to terrorist, it has PO TA laws and AFSPA Laws, Israel can introduced such laws for an Israeli Army....

similar to those of the police units in the west democracies.

If soldiers are sent on a mission they must be allowed to react properly to any situation, with the means that an army disposes of. Otherwise you may as well send some "peace activists" in order to organize with the Palis a friendly rock-trowing "peace" demonstration.

I can’t believe this .... Israel can not afford political correctness.... Give the soldiers the tools to deal with this nonsense?? remove these people for a month and fine their families for this.

give this Zionist Anonymous who is armed to the teeth more authority to kill PAL children who have nothing but stones. btw anonymous, what are "Israeli" soldiers doing in the state of Palestine?! be ready for ICC trail :)

I thank you for your loyal service, sir. I question something far more fundamental: Why are the best soldiers in the world being used as policemen? Combat soldiers are trained to kill, not to control crowds. In the past, Miluimniks were used in that function since they were older, more 'seasoned' and family men. They shouldn't be used either. If you want a sharp knife to remain so, don't use it for anything else. My thanks to you and your thoughtfulness.

... and making himself out to be too much of a poor "martyr". (Given where he lives, might he have a political agenda ?) Indeed he serves in an IDF combat unit - which he acknowledges is set up to fight terrorists and armies. Optimally the Border Police - and not the IDF - should be used for crowd control including civilians throwing rocks. If the Borderr Police are present, he would not be placed in these problematic situations where he is combat-trained - yet not facing "combatants". He might as well be placed in the middle of Tel Aviv directling traffic!

in 2008 olmert and barak were in power and we all know olmert is a raving pacifist who makes all kinds of concessions out of fear and to in his mind have the support of the US. Barak is a military guy who thinks that force does not work against arabs and he is 70, his best years are behind him and thank god he is leaving the scene. General yaalon should get the defense post and if bibi does an end run to appoint mofaz or still keep barak as defense minister, then I can no longer deal with the matter. if that is the case, i will no longer support israel.

I believe that you are saying that force should be applied slowly and carefully. I say you are quite wrong, and the IDF machers are quite wrong. We have seen what gradual buildup of force does. We saw it in Vietnam where the Vietcong became accutomed to the gradual buildup, and were "training on the job" as it were. The thing to do with these Arab mamzerim is to hit them hard, painfully and fast, and keep doing it. When they know that throwing lethal rocks can result in them getting broken legs or arms, they wil start thinking twice about it. Especially if the hospitals refuse to treat those actively partaking in riots. They are really terrorists. If the goody-goody chief bottle-washers want to get good headlines then they can douse the rioters in indelibly coloured and lasting stinky liquid. It doesn't hurt, and leaved lasting memories. I've been advocating this for years and years......

Salma armed to the teeth perhaps, But why is it that they feel invincible and unafraid to throw rocks, molotovs and point replica guns at soldiers? Because they know they won't be arrested or shot. Your constantly criticizing the IDF but what would happen to your brothers for example in Gaza if they threw rocks at Hamas policemen? What would the PA do to them? We already saw the protest of PA against Hamas which saw them thrown from buildings, tortured and shot in the streets for having separate political views. The fact that you as a Palestinian can even share freely your views on an Israeli news site shows how tolerant we are. You don't have to look across continents to see what Islamic armies do to their civilians who protest - I.e Syria to Egypt to Iran to Sudan So where we may be armed to the teeth as you put it, we are the most humane and moral army in the world and the fact you voice your opinion as a Palestinian on an Israeli news page further proves my point. Salam/Shalom

The problem isn't the rules of engagement, but the situation of having an 'army' face civilian protesters. Status quo in West Bank is untenable. Either annex and 'police' it OR get out and draw a border. Then the army can go on proper missions. Gaza shows that all of Israel & most of world supports legitimate self-defense, but army vs civilians is a loser and leads to internal divisions.

If these rioters run from border police, then the answer to our dilemma is not to use IDF soldiers for crowd control, and to use border police more.