Parents’ Day

October 27, 2008 - 9:58 PM by

police 3.JPGI love field trips. But I had never been on one before in a police van led by cop packing an impressive looking piece.

No, the authorities hadn’t finally caught on to me and sent me up the river. It was part of ‘Parents Day’ in the Israel Police department for families with children serving their army duty in the police.

For someone who’s always kept their distance from authority, I felt pretty comfortable as my wife and about 12 other adults joined my daughters commanders for a half day tour of the area they patrol on a day-in day-out basis.

This was a part of Israel we don’t usually get to see… the Shai district, which runs from the Shomron settlement of Eli to the Jerusalem area settlements of Adam and Anatot around to the east and the Modi’in-area settlement of Nili, Kiryat Sefer and others. The operative word, I guess, is settlements.

As parents, we tend to pack away in the backs of our minds the fact that our daughter is driving around 12 hours a day arbitrating olive picking disputes between Arabs and Jews, removing settlers from illegal outposts, arresting husbands who are abusing their wives or children, controlling traffic after an auto accident, confiscating knives, drugs and other contraband from cars stopped at roadblocks… and doing it all on roads and neighborhoods which are high risk anyway for rock throwing attacks and even worse.

polcie 1.JPGWe received some insight into the complexities and nuances of keeping the peace in an area where there’s constant conflict, where nobody really knows who owns those olive groves, where a caravan can be put up illegally but the police are powerless to dismantle it, unless the political echelon gives the ok.

We visited Eli – amazing view and weather, the archeological site of Tel Shilo, the oldest settlement in Shomron, Ofra, and Amona, the site of a violent scene two years ago when police tore down permanent buildings built there illegally. Those same settlers who were fighting the police then are the same ones who receive full service the next day when their car is stolen by someone in the Palestinian village next door.

We ended up in the police district headquarters at Beit El, where we were greeted by our children in uniform and treated to a luncheon feast.

When our daughter’s commander walked toward me at one point with a purposeful look, my heart started beating and the first words that came to mind were going to be ‘but it was for medicinal purposes only’. But he only wanted to talk about seeing Paul McCartney last month and compare notes.

adina mom.JPGI was a little disappointed because when we were stuck in a traffic jam just past the Hizme checkpoint heading out of Jerusalem into the territories, the driver didn’t just put the siren on and pass all the cars at a high speed. That would have been cool.

But the police seemed pleased with how their first Parents Day turned out, and they plan to do it again. The commander left us with some good advice. Make sure to give your daughter or son a hug or a pat on the back once in a while, because they’re doing an amazing job at trying to keep our country safe. I know I’ll be doing that a lot from now on.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , • Category: coexistence, Crime, General, Israeliness, Life 

Comments

4 Comments on Parents’ Day

  1. Sol on Tue, Oct 28th 2008 7:29 AM

    2. Kol Ha’kavod to Adina. We are very proud of her!!!!

  2. Arnon on Wed, Oct 29th 2008 8:26 PM

    3. Adina, i’m going to give your fathter a hug or a pat on the back when i’ll see him …

  3. David on Thu, Oct 30th 2008 8:33 PM

    4. Help in fixing that parking ticket would be even better Arnon..

  4. Maskil on Mon, Nov 10th 2008 7:21 PM

    5. Kol Ha’kavod to your daughter and all the other sons and daughters who play their part in keeping Israel safe. This “thin blue line” formed by the police and the other uniformed/security services is all that stands between Israel and a fate we have had dreadful glimpses of in the past.

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