Leaving the West Bank

The last few months I have been stationed in the West Bank.  There really hasn't been too much to report, I spent most of my time guarding the Jewish settlers and occasionally entered a few of the Arab villages to arrest terrorists (which at the time I deemed a little too confidential to reveal in such a public forum).

However, seeing as how we just finished our post in the West Bank and are going to be starting a three month drill in which we refresh everything we have learned, I think it is probably alright to go into a few details.  Over the last two months our battalion has been asked to arrest several terrorists, but the majority of the arrests were canceled at the last minute.  For instance, we obtained information that there was a Hamas member in a nearby village with several weapons at home, but before we moved out the mission was canceled because it was unknown which of three potential house he would be in.  

The largest mission we went on took place in Nablus.  Before two or three years Nablus was considered the most dangerous city in the West Bank.  Soldiers who entered could expect to be met with heavy resistance in the form of road side bombs or gunfire.  These days the resistance is minimal to non-existent but the Hams and Fatah members continue to use Nablus as a hub for terrorist activity.  Unlike most missions which entail one or two teams, 4 of the 5 teams in our battalion took place in this mission.  My team was asked to help surround the bomb makers home in case he attempts to escape as one of the other teams entered his home and arrested him.  The mission was a success and we met with no resistance.  

Other than a few other canceled missions we didn't see much action.  We are now going to the north for a refresher in all of our training in order to remain war-time ready.