The crazy officer Moshe comes to a village
Haaretz, 11 February 1994.
Not far from Ramallah there is a little village named Abud. On the hills surrounding the village there are olive groves, and herds of sheep are grazing between the trees. The first almonds were flourishing this week. One day, three weeks ago, soldiers arrived at the home of Mahmoud Abd Al-Majeed, a peasant, father of eight sons and three daughters. The soldiers moved from one room to another. In the bedroom of one of the sons they found a live rifle bullet. The bullet stood openly on the table as a decoration. The soldiers confiscated the bullet and arrested five members of the family.
Ibrahim Abd Al-Majeed, the son in whose room the bullet was found, explained to the soldiers its origin. He makes a living by repairing sun boilers. Often it happens that religious settlers from the neighbourhood come to the village and shoot at the boilers, either as a revenge for stones thrown at them by boys of the village when they are passing by or just so. Near one of the boilers which he repaired, Abd Al Majeed found the bullet and took it home as a decorative souvenir. The soldiers did not believe him. They said that they must check if there is no workshop for the manufacturing of bullets in the house, they said. They brought heavy hammers and additional equipment and started to demolish the toilet rooms. They tore out the bathtub, the toilets, all the water taps, opened the floor and made holes in the walls. They broke doors and furniture. Last week the house looked as if a battle had been raging there. The work continued for hours, day and night. The 19 inhabitants of the house were forced to stay in one room. They were not allowed to use the toilets. The little children were disregarded. When the soldiers left there were no toilets any more. It turned out there was no arms factory either.
That night soldiers moved from one house to another in the village, woke up all the inhabitants, forced dozens of men to get up, get dressed and to wait not far from Abd Al Majeed’s house. It was almost midnight. This was their first meeting with the new officer. "I am crazy captain Moshe", he introduced himself: Moshe Al Majnoon [in Arabic]. "I came to establish order in the village. I heard there is a mess. Slogans on the walls. This will stop now. Do not get involved with me. I am crazy". To show that he meant what he said, Crazy Moshe took his gun and started shooting into the air. Then he told the villagers to go and see what he did to Abd Al Majeed’s house. The villagers went to see the house and became convinced: Captain Moshe is crazy. They have a lot of experience with crazy people. The village got into the news four years ago when soldiers forced the inhabitants to smear paint on their faces and to dance and sing: "This is Purim".
Mohammed Abd Al Majeed’s forefathers settled in this village 500 years ago, he told me this week. Yes, he told me, his son did something foolish when he brought the bullet home. He wanted something decorative for the bedroom. Some people find bullets and hang them on a chain around the neck. Abd Al Majeed called an assessor who gave him an evaluation of the damage. Some 15,000 dollar. Who will compensate him?