Palestinian violinist slams claim troops didn't force him to play


Haaretz
 Date: 11-30-04

By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service

A Palestinian man photographed playing his violin at the Beit Iba checkpoint near Nablus in the West Bank earlier this month on Tuesday rejected the Israel Defense Forces' claims that he played of his own accord.

The findings of an IDF probe into the November 9 incident was presented Tuesday to the head of the IDF's Central Command, Moshe Kaplinksy and showed that the man, Wissam Tayam, was asked by soldiers at the checkpoint to open the violin case for inspection, and began playing, even though he was not asked to do so. After a few seconds, the Civil Administration's officer at the checkpoint asked Tayam to stop playing, the report states.

Kaplinsky said Tuesday in response to the findings of the report that the soldiers had shown a lack of sensitivity, but not a lack of respect toward the Palestinian, nor did they intend to ridicule him.

The incident was filmed by Horit Herman-Peled, a volunteer for the women's human rights organization Machsom Watch, and reported by Haaretz for the first time last week.

The 28-year-old resident of the Farah refugee camp in the northern West Bank studies music at Al Najath University. "I did not offer them to play," he told Haaretz on Tuesday. "They asked me to open the case and show them the instrument, which was fine by me. But then they asked me to play; I did not offer to play. That does not sound logical. They asked me to play something sad, to match their mood.

"I felt humiliated," Tayam said Tuesday. "I always identified with the Jews who suffered in Europe [at the time of the Nazis] and after that they come and do the same thing to us."

When asked if perhaps the soldiers wanted him to play to ensure that the violin was not booby-trapped or contained explosives, Tayam said, "it doesn't make sense that they thought there were explosives in the violin. If they thought that, they would have made me move some distance from them [before playing], fearing I might blow up. I do not understand why they forced me to play. Most of the soldiers at the checkpoint know me, as I work there twice a week. The problems arise when new soldiers come."

The IDF's probe was based partly on testimony given by another Machsom Watch volunteer, Rachel Bar-Or, who witnessed the incident. She told Haaretz on Tuesday that she gave the IDF her testimony before she learned that Tayam vigorously denies playing voluntarily for the soldiers.

She said that until she read the violinist's account of the incident in the press, she was more than prepared to believe the soldiers' version of events at the checkpoint. "When I found out that the Palestinian was denying [their story], I had no reason to prefer the IDF?s version of events over his."

She said that she and the other volunteers at the checkpoint did not hear the exchange between the soldiers and the violinist, and in addition, the conversation was held in Arabic, which none of the volunteers understand.

Another volunteer, Neta Efroni, also claims that the volunteers did not hear the exchange between the Palestinian and the soldiers.

Wissam Tayam playing his violin at the Beit Iba checkpoint outside Nablus. The army called the incident 'insensitive.' (Horit Herman-Peled)

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