Bradley man describes west bank volunteer work
By Randal Higgins, Cleveland Bureau
Chattanooga Times Free Press

October 7, 2002

Cleveland, Tenn. -- In the Israeli West bank settlement where he volunteers as a guard, Joel Swafford is known by his nickname "Tennessee."

"I'm from the Volunteer State, and I'm rather proud of that, and I want the people here to remember that someone from Tennessee came over to help," he said.

Mr. Swafford was interviewed by telephone from the settlement where he is a volunteer with the IBFICU, an international group of Jews and non-Jews.

He had been considering volunteering for the international group that uses trained dogs to guard Israeli settlements. It was the events of Sept. 11, 2001, he said, that settled the issue for him.

"I'm 34. That's a little too old to be running the obstacle course at Fort Benning," he said.

After talking with Jack Saunders, a fellow member of a local congregation called Bnai Noach, Mr. Swafford flew to New York on a recent weekend. On the following Wednesday, he was in Israel.

Mr. Swafford is in Tapauch, about five miles south of Sheechem, according to Mr. Saunders. The settlement overlooks Israel's Transmarian Highway, the connecting route between Tel Aviv and the coast on the west and Jordan on the east. It is an area where surrounding settlements have come under recent attacks.

"It was a little bit of a culture shock," said Mr. Swafford, who is not Jewish, "but it is a very beautiful place. It is very hot here."

As part of his training, Mr. Swafford and fellow legionaires are up at 6 a.m. each day. Early prayers are available but or not required, he said. After breakfast, there is physical training and training with the dogs.

"I'm a little older, so they cut me a little slack," he laughed. Most of the legionaires, he said want to move to Israel.

At night, the legionaires pull guard duty.

"We have three different Arab villages. Two of them are less than half a mile away and the other is about a thousand yards away," Mr. Swafford said. While the Israeli settlers live in a compound, he said, the Arab villages sprawl around them.

"It is an eerie feeling listening to the prayer calls coming at you from so close and from three places," he said. "They are planting olive trees closer and closer to us to claim more of the land between us," he said.

On his first night in the West Bank, Mr. Swafford said, "We had quite a few flares go off, and I heard gunfire down by our gate, but I didn't take part in that."

A week later, the Israeli Defense Force captured two infiltrators, he said. The Israeli soldiers asked the legion volunteers to use their dogs to track where the infiltrators had been.

"We found where they had ditched two AK47's before the IDF caught up with them," Mr. Swafford said.

"Quite a few" of the legionaires are American, Mr. Swafford said. Most are between 17 and 22 years old, he said.

And while some of them are planning to move to Israel permanently, Mr. Swafford said, "I'm quite happy being an American. I'm not ready to give up my citizenship at this point."

His main concern for the legion, Mr. Swafford said, is funding.

"We are so underfunded," he said. "The equipment we use is very antiquated. And of course we are all volunteers. We are not supported by the government."

He said the unit has two Uzi machine guns from the 1967 war, an old van and two Vietnam era M-16's.

Mr. Swafford plans to return to the United States soon for a fund-raising tour. He hopes to speak at church groups and seek support for the legion.