And there is no claim of rock throwing here, or any other premise to justify this type of treatment. Just spiteful acts of dehumanizing degradation.

And when the response comes in the form of violence, a response from the US is demanded.

It was slightly after midday. Suddenly a Border Police jeep pulled up next to [an illegal immigrant in Israel]. `Where are you going?` Abu Ali was asked, and he replied, `To buy a chicken.` The Border Police checked the items the donkey was carrying and then examined Abu Ali`s papers. A shabah [illegal]. Bingo.

With the animal`s reins they tied Abu Ali`s hands behind his back and made him lie on his stomach on the ground, face down. The Border Police like to `punish` the shabahim they catch. Abu Ali relates that they placed a cinderblock on his back and then whipped the donkey to make it walk. Abu Ali`s donkey is old and stubborn, or maybe he only obeys his master--whatever the case, it refused to budge. Abu Ali says he also pulled with his bound hands, so the donkey would not move. It is not difficult to guess what would have happened if the donkey had panicked and started to gallop, with Abu Ali lying face down, hands tied behind his back to the animal. At one point one of the Border Policemen also stood on Abu Ali`s back, one foot on him and one foot on the cinderblock, to put pressure on him.

The abuse went on for about a quarter of an hour, Abu Ali says. Finally the Israeli troops gave up tryi ng to make the stubborn donkey move and ordered Abu Ali to get up. They spoke Arabic. Abu Ali says that one of them covered his eyes with his hands and another struck him once in the face with a stone. He still has a scar on the right side, below his lip. They threatened him, saying that `if he wandered around here again, he would be killed.` They then sent him on his way. Abu Ali did not file a complaint with the Police Investigations Department. He wanted to complain to the Palestinian police and have them pass on the complaint, but was dissuaded from doing so by the policeman in his village, who told him, `People are getting killed here, so be thankful that you`re alive and healthy.`

It didn't take long for the oppressed to become the oppressors did it.