News, articles and documents from
the Holy Land
Issue No. 131 - Saturday, 9 February 2002
Dear Friends, Brothers and
Sisters,
Sometimes you feel that instead of moving ahead you go back.. This
is the common feeling of everybody in this time of lack or absence of vision.
This state of no progress is deadly because “vita in motu” = life is in
movement, not any movement but movement towards better days and better style of
life. All this is due to not to absence of movement but many movements in the
wrong way which instead to make a positive change in the situation it
complicates things more than it is already complicated. Therefore, I think that
we need men of vision, we need prophets who can open our eyes, especially the
blind eyes of the leaders of this world.
You
cannot appreciate the great value of life if you don’t pass through an
experience of suffering or sickness or death of a beloved one… Then you can
understand how hard to share or suffer with him and with others… For this
reason, I think that while the suffering of everybody from both sides is
increasing, the leaders of this region and of the world are wasting their time
on talking and arguing on stupid things… They should feel with the hardship of
their citizens and do their best to alleviate it as soon as possible. When the
cause of the sickness is known then the ways to heal it will be very easy and
fast… The sickness is occupation and the fastest cure is its end and the mutual
recognitions of one another’s right to independence, freedom and dignity.. It
is not impossible.. It is possible that we become friends and also good neighbors
… Why not!? It is better to change the enemy to a friend instead of having him
as on your head to threat you day and night.
While
we approach the lent time, 40 days before Easter, we will have another occasion
of a strong period of fasting and prayer for justice and peace in the Holy
Land, and I am sure that many we join us in this effort through their prayer
and solidarity… Therefore, I expect our religious leaders to appeal for a
campaign of solidarity to support us through, prayer, fasting, moral and
spiritual and material support, foremost through the return of tourists and
pilgrims to the Holy Land which will be the best sign of solidarity with both
peoples and especially with the small Christian community.
You
will find in today’s Olive Branch several interesting documents and articles:
1)
Fr.
Iyad Twal, one of our parish priests is sharing the experience of the VIA
DOLOROSA IN BIRZEIT!!! It
seems that the daily life of everybody became a via dolorosa.
2)
In
her Jerusalem Journal # 46, Sister Mary still have a lot of things to share with
us about her experience of
planting olive trees with the Rabbis for Human Rights.
3) Two girls, Joanne Musleh
& Nadine Ali, from
Saint Joseph School, express
their feelings in the LETTER FROM BETHLEHEM # 13. They have a message to say!
4)
“The
Privilege of Choice” is the monthly article written by Samia Khoury.
5)
Dr Harry Hagopian returns to us with his “American
Choreography in the Holy Land?”.
It seems that he became a real doctor and give us a worthwhile diagnosis of
this enigmatic superpower, which is acting as the policeman of the world.
6)
“A wall or
Justice around Jerusalem?” is an article written by my brother Dr. Sami Aldeeb,
in reaction to the plan of separation and closure of Jerusalem.
7)
‘The territories are not Israel’ is the text of the letter
published in the Israeli press Jan. 25. 104 soldiers have signed.
VIA
DOLOROSA IN BIRZEIT!!!
My Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Today, we had a very special service. We prayed the 14 Stations of the Cross in
the houses in Birzeit. We made this event for many reasons:
The community used to go to Jerusalem during the Lenten Season to pray in the
different churches where our Lord passed on His way to the Crucifixion. But
this year because of the crisis we decided to do it in Birzeit. (We are not
allowed to go and visit Jerusalem due to the military occupation).
Every single house in Birzeit passes through difficult times, and every family
has a "painful story" or life experience to tell.
We are experiencing a great spiritual lesson, that regardless of the pain and
the hard time we experience in our daily lives, we have a mission to
accomplish, a faith to believe in and God's love to share and make His love
real in our daily lives.
It was a surprising blessing that many people attended the Stations of the
Cross and many people were waiting in the houses to pray and keep the candle of
hope lit so that one day we will celebrate the resurrection. Also, many Muslims
and even some Christians thought that we are doing kind of peaceful and
"prayerful" demonstration.
One of the surprising things that occurred was that some families asked to pray
the Stations of the Cross and Crucifixion of Jesus in their houses!!!!
As we shared together the difficult time and the prayers, I ask you please to
continue with us on this path and pray with us that one day we will realize our
dream of justice and a peaceful life in the "Land of Absent
Peace".
Abouna Iyad Twal
Pastor
Regina Pacis Catholic Church
Birzeit, Palestine
Jerusalem
Journal # 45
Sister Mary
9 February 2002
Although a week
has passed, I am still "unpacking" my experience of planting olive
trees with the Rabbis for Human Rights. Perhaps because I have seen so many
ancient olive presses and present day harvesting of olives, as well as last
year's effort to prevent destruction of olive trees by Israeli settlers in the
Palestinian village of Deir Istiya, I've felt a bit of overload throughout this
week.
The olive tree is one that gives everything for use: its shade, its leaves for victory laurels, its fruit for food, oil for light, food, medicine, ointment, soap, fragrance and ritual anointing. Its pits are used as fuel and the wood for carving and fuel. Those whose lives are intertwined with the olive tree in these ways consider themselves blessed. Many of the olive trees in the Palestinian villages are hundreds of years old, some even a thousand or more. They have been gentle and generous "family members' for innumerable generations. It is not unusual for a man to tell you that his father's great grandfather planted this olive grove during the Turkish occupation or before.
For the Christian community here in Palestine, this tree is also a symbol of
the rootedness to their land for the past 2000 years. Like the olive tree, the
Christian community here has withstood the vicissitudes of a long history of
occupation, and continued its steadfast presence and faithful witness to Christ
since apostolic times. The olive tree has become a political symbol for all the
Palestinian people, expressing their endurance and resilience during this
chaotic time of violent oppression. No wonder the settlers are so intent on
uprooting any olive trees nearby their settlements on lands confiscated from
Arab villages. Even the Israeli Occupation Force has been know to uproot
olive trees using chains attached to American-made Apache helicopters. In
fact, since the Oslo "peace" Accords in 1993, Israelis have managed
to uproot over 52, 500 olive trees; far more were uprooted than we could plant.
Last week when I returned to the Palestinian village of Deir Istiya, I stood
underneath an ancient uprooted tree. Its roots literally help boulders three
feet or more in diameter, up in the air above my head. My heart told me it was
evil to do this to this ancient tree. But I knew that even more evil was what
had been done to the people of this village who had offered me a gentle and
warm hospitality. These families were losing their trees, and thus their
livelihood, as settlers bulldozed roads through the village olive groves,
destroying the trees in their way.
In the story of Noah the olive leaf was a symbol of the end of chaos. Yet those who claim the Torah as sacred, seem to have forgotten....
LETTER FROM BETHLEHEM
(13)
Joanne Musleh & Nadine
Ali
Saint Joseph School
Bethlehem /Palestine
Fear, depression, anxiety,....all those
emotions were struggling to get out of our scared souls...
These are the feelings we share with all
the Palestinians.
The hard days under occupation and the
scary nights of shelling and bombing led some Palestinians to throw stones and
led others to sacrifice their lives in explosions and made us write this
article.
We are 17-year-old students at Saint
Joseph School/Bethlehem. Our names are Nadine and Joanne. We would like to
share with you something different the media can't offer you. Something other
than the usual news since we know you started losing interest in it. We'd like
to share with you some parts of our daily life that we think resemble the life
of many youth in Bethlehem.
Going back to our memories made us
realize how many things we have been giving up, and we also noticed the way our
reaction is changing towards the events, which are taking place.
Starting with the first days of the
Intifada...The time, when we were unaware of how serious the situation was, we
enjoyed our first days off from school, but later on we realized that it's not
a joke. Seeing all these martyrs and injured people on TV made us think that
having no school isn't worthy.
Being away from school wasn't the only
change; our whole lifestyle was turned upside down. For instance, sleeping in
our own bedrooms on a comfortable bed was no longer habitual since it was safer
to spend the night in the basement or even in the stairwells. The place wasn't
that important because all we cared about was to wake up the next day with no
one being hurt from the shelling.
With all that, life had to go on. In the morning, students had to go back to their school after sleepless nights. Girls in our school used to share their own experiences with each other. Sometimes, classes were cut by the noise of a passing funeral of a martyr.
This is not everything we want to share
with you. We still have a lot to tell. We will keep you posted in another issue
of the Letter from Bethlehem.
The Privilege of Choice
by Samia Khoury
After my January
article was posted on A Globe of Witnesses, I was talking to my friend Cedar
and expressing my worries about finding an issue to write about every month.
She assured me that with the deteriorating situation in Palestine, I should not
have any problem. How right she was. Now, my problem is one of choice. So much
has happened this past month, starting with the shooting of our neighbor
Shihadeh on the way to Nablus, and ending with the State of the Union speech by
Mr. Bush. I have found myself having the problem of choice. But then: what
about choice, I thought. "Choice" itself seems to be an issue. So
many rallies and demonstrations are demanding the right of choice; a privilege
so many people or groups of people are deprived of. How much justice is there
in choice itself?
Powerful countries and powerful people have more choices than oppressed
countries and helpless people. I often wonder how much these privileged people
really appreciate what they have, and appreciate the privilege of choice.
Rich countries and rich people have more choices than poor countries and poor
people. Powerful countries and powerful people have more choices than oppressed
countries and helpless people. I often wonder how much these privileged people
really appreciate what they have, and appreciate the
privilege of choice. As far as they are concerned, waking up in the morning and
choosing between running a bath in their tub or taking a shower is a normal
fact of life, taken for granted. Whereas in so many countries the choice is not
even there, when there is no running water in the tap.
Privileged people can choose whether they will enjoy the comforts of life —
never mind those who are less privileged — or whether they will do something
about it so that all can share in the good things in this world. There are many
genuinely good people around the world, and many of them have made very
good choices. They have helped support the oppressed and the underprivileged,
and have spoken up against social, economic and political injustice wherever it
happens to be.
Sometimes people make the wrong choices, consciously or unconsciously, and it
can hurt them or cost them their lives. Our neighbor Shihadeh took a great risk
by going to Nablus on duty with a pharmaceutical company to deliver much needed
medicines to an area that has been under siege. His
mother — who had been widowed ten years ago — begged him not to go, realizing
how dangerous those roads have become. He made his choice and was shot dead by
unknown assailants on that death journey. How do you console such a mother who
had already given one of her sons to the church as a Franciscan priest? Father
George, in his eulogy, said that she was a blessed woman, for she offered one son
to the world, and the other one to the heavens. Bless his soul.
In his State of the Union speech, Mr. Bush very conspicuously made a choice to
avoid referring to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Maybe he was wiser than we
all have assumed, for he did not want to say the wrong thing and get another
standing ovation. When the powerful make choices that affect other peoples and
their destinies, the criteria for these choices are crucial. Unless a choice is
based on justice and morality, it will never bring peace or security for
anyone.
So often we Palestinians have been blamed for not taking advantage of the
choices that we have been offered: "Missed Opportunities," as Israel
and the USA administration call them… The reality is that the only choices we
ever had were between a bad offer and a worse offer.
So often we Palestinians have been blamed for not taking advantage of the
choices that we have been offered: "Missed Opportunities," as Israel
and the USA administration call them. They were simply part of the Israeli
disinformation plan to discredit the Palestinians as peace partners. The
reality is that the only choices we ever had were between a bad offer and a
worse offer. This started with the partition scheme of Palestine in 1948, which
was a glaring injustice. It allocated 56% of the land to a Jewish
minority who were only 32.5% of the population and who owned only 5.6% of the
land by purchase. And it ends up with Ehud Barak’s "generous offer at Camp
David," whereby Israel would return only 88% of the Occupied Territories
of 1967 (which are themselves only 22% of historic Palestine). It would also
have annexed big chunks of the West Bank and Jerusalem, fragmented the country
into four cantons, and denied the right of return of Palestinian refugees. That
in no way was a generous offer; it ultimately led us to make a choice between
acquiescing to the occupation or rebelling against it.
Like other oppressed peoples throughout history, our choice was made loud and
clear with the Intifada: "End the Occupation." But desperate people
are not privileged people. They do not have many choices. When all is lost —
homes, businesses, land, children, livelihood, and all means of normal living —
when they are provoked time and again into violent reactions and driven to
desperation, they are faced with one scary choice, that of losing their
humanity.
The Israeli leaders, however, have the power and the army, so they have the
privilege of making a choice. Why do they not learn the lessons of history, and
listen to the voices of dissent? These include the young Israeli soldiers who
are serving in Israeli jails for refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories,
the Israeli peace and women’s groups who are demanding the "End to the
Occupation," and brave journalists and writers like Gideon Levy, Amira
Hass and Uri Avnery. It is time for Israel, "the only democracy in the
Middle East," to make the right choice: whether it wants to continue to be
an oppressive regime, or to end the Occupation and grant the Palestinians their
liberation, thus sparing both peoples further suffering. The USA administration
has to make a choice as well: whether it wants to continue supporting an
oppressive regime and letting the "war on terrorism" blind it from
the reality on the ground and from the root causes of terrorism, or whether it
wants to support justice and freedom for all. This is a moral issue.
Samia Khoury is a regular contributor to A Globe of Witnesses.
Her monthly column is Justice & Liberation. Samia may be reached by email
at samia_khoury@hotmail.com
American Choreography
in the Holy Land?
Dr Harry Hagopian, KSL-KOG
Darkness
cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr
Last
week, I returned to London from a six-week speaking tour of the United States.
This was my first foray back into America after the tragic and murderous events
of 11 September 2001. And I must admit that the time I spent there helped me
understand more clearly the way that the American collective psyche has changed
in the last five months, and how much this change has also had an impact on the
Holy Land - in other words, on Israel and Palestine.
I
have now had well over a week to process my impressions, and I do believe that
a sea change has indeed overcome this vast country. If ever the individual
states of the Union have been ‘bonded’ together, this is that time! One cannot
ignore the feeling of collective solidarity that has overtaken most Americans.
In fact, such senses of patriotism and pride in being American had never been
so tangible or manifest during my previous visits. It is interesting to note
how Americans have reacted to this latest terrorist affront to their very
heartland by wrapping themselves up in their flag! Indeed, my readers might
recall that I have commented in previous articles about the singular Texan
propensity of hoisting the Lone Star flag everywhere in Texas as an affirmation
of their larger-than life identity. Today, almost all Americans across the
whole country are exhibiting this same outward sense of patriotism. For an
Armenian Christian like me, with both Middle Eastern and European frames of
reference, I find this attitude rather daunting - and perhaps even
overwhelming! True, it is healthy to have loyalty toward one’s own country and
to react forcefully to any external menace were it not also a tad too
jingoistic or overweening by non-American standards.
Mind
you, I appreciate this tendency as one that Europe - by virtue of its history
and age - has almost forgotten these days. However, I am also somewhat wary of
any nation that aspires to have all the answers, provide all the solutions and
hold all the morality of our world in its lap - and then impose them upon us
with its awesome military might. But America is a giant that has stirred again,
and its omniscient pronouncements about ‘evil’ or about enforcing a new order
for the world perhaps reflect its own need of putting down some roots or even
re-discovering old ones.
Over
and above such generalities, though, I was interested in sussing out the
attitude of the Bush administration toward Israel and Palestine. Where did
America stand on this issue now following the utter defeat of the Taliban in
Afghanistan? How had the winds of change affected America? But first, how had
it affected American citizens?
It
is easier to answer the latter part of my question! Americans by and large have scant knowledge of the variables
of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict! They are not truly interested in what is
occurring in that ‘troublesome’ part of the world, and what they do know is
gleaned almost exclusively from the box and the broadsheets that usually tend
to depict this conflict monochromatically as one pitting David against Goliath!
In the minds of the large majority of uninformed or disinterested Americans,
Israel is being challenged by a stereotypical bunch of ill-intentioned and vile
terrorists who are hell-bent on blowing themselves up and taking with them as
many Israeli Jews as possible. And those few informed or interested - ranging
from churches to organizations to missionaries to individuals - remain far too
chary and timorous to speak out against the tide. They might nod in private,
but they remain pretty much implacable in public! Yet, in view of the sense of
outrage and self-righteousness that envelops America these days, can anyone
blame Americans? After all, Israel is to be congratulated for its successful
public relations exercises, and the Arabs should collectively be bemoaned for
their abject failure in soldering their cause!
But
of more immediate relevance to me was the current ‘official’ position of the
Bush administration. It seems that this Republican administration has decided -
without actually saying so - that the reality of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict (with a tendency by some officials to substitute ‘conflict’ for
‘dispute’ as if this were a mere lovers’ tiff!) is best interpreted by General
Ariel Sharon. Otherwise said, this congenital conflict homes in
straightforwardly on the issue of law and order! In the past couple of weeks or
so, all of Washington’s admonitions about violence - which had at least
preserved a semblance of even-handedness in the past - have been aimed at
Chairman Arafat. It had even been hinted that the United States would break off
all contact with the Palestinian Authority - although President Bush refused to
do so during his meeting with PM Ariel Sharon at the White House yesterday. It
has further been suggested that the test of any renewed ‘respectability’ for
Arafat is that he should quell the current uprising. But in my opinion, the bar
for this test is set exceedingly - if not unrealistically - high! Yet, there is
meagre ‘dovish’ dissent from this view in the US corridors of power, except for
a few inaudible voices in the State Department! Some politicians - notably Vice
President Dick Cheney - would even like to be more ‘hawkish’ toward the
Palestinians and simply let Prime Minister Sharon become once again General
Sharon with the gloves off!
It is tempting to assign the cause of this change to the new atmosphere of ‘counter-terrorism’ after 11 September 2001. But in fact, those terrorist events seemed for a while to point policy-makers in the opposite direction. PM Sharon lost a huge number of points in Washington by publicly comparing George Bush to Neville Chamberlain (British Prime Minister during the early years of WWII who tried to strike a ‘peace’ deal with Germany and was accused of boastful appeasement). President Bush in turn made his ever-first public endorsement of a Palestinian state. A sharp distinction was also drawn in Washington between the forces of al-Qa’eda - which were deemed ‘terrorist’ - and the freedom-seeking grievances of Palestinians now living under a third generation of military occupation. Furthermore, it has long been implicit that the USA cannot hope to win friends in the Arab and Muslim worlds if it seems callously insensitive to the plight of Palestinians. The rulers of Saudi Arabia underlined this fact recently when they issued a strong statement warning against any formal breach of relations with Arafat.
However, things have shifted a fair bit! The credit that Saudi Arabia enjoys in Washington today is not what it used to be some years or months ago. The kingdom was a feeble friend, if a friend at all, in the struggle against the Taliban. Indeed, the expediency of this relationship, and of the American military bases on Saudi soil, are being debated openly in Washington these days. The mood in America is somewhat impatient and bellicose! All ‘allies’ are being judged by loyalty alone, and there is little susceptibility about issues of American popularity anymore. Better feared than respected or liked - this is what one official told me, and it summarises the American mindset quite shrewdly.
However,
the real catalytic event seems to have been the recent capture by Israel of a
covert shipload of weaponry aboard Karine A bound for Gaza. Peeling away the
various false flags from this operation, the track has led to the Palestinian
Authority. The logic suggests that if Arafat knew about the shipment, then he
acted in bad faith. And if he did not, and had the wool pulled over his face by
his subordinates, then he is practically a spent force as a negotiating
partner. This could well be Sharon’s two-pronged fork on which he has long
hoped to impale his old nemesis. Sharon’s motives are pretty transparent.
Terrorism, or no terrorism, he believes that the West Bank was given to the
Zionist movement by God. For him, it is not an issue of ‘security’. After all,
nobody who is primarily interested in Jewish security would insist on building
settlements in far-flung Gaza at this time! The USA, however, can hardly be
expected to use the Old Testament or the Holy Koran as negotiating tools in
attempting to arbitrate a territorial clash between two strident nationalist
tendencies! The questions that beg answers these days are whether America has a
plan for a Palestinian homeland without Arafat? Does it have another partner in mind? Does it actually have a plan?
I
did not come across anybody in the USA who would answer those vital questions
for me! The truth is that the Bush
position is pockmarked with paradoxes. His government is largely made up of
oilmen. Traditionally, oilmen have shown some sympathy or understanding toward
the Arab cause - perhaps only to keep the Arab world ‘sweet’. But the
administration is also increasingly made up of ‘security-minded’ technocrats
who see the world through a military optic. After all, is the American envoy to
the Israelis and Palestinians not a full-blown General by the name of Anthony
Zinni? To such types, it is self-evident that Arafat has only one job of
policing his own people. But how they expect him to be a dictator without [the
structures of] a state is a detail that is not made plain! How is he supposed
to ‘pacify’ Gaza, Ramallah and Bethlehem in one year when Israel failed to
‘pacify’ those places in thirty years (even with a mighty army) is another mere
detail that is not made plain either! And how is he meant to implement
virtually any order when he is holed up under duress in his residence in
Ramallah is once more not plain!
After all, anyone with
some political savvy about the Middle East knows that the monies and support
for Hamas and the Islamic Jihad group come largely from Saudi Arabia. Yet, not
once has any American spokesperson called publicly for that financial pipeline
to be stopped forthwith! This is in part because it would be tactless to
‘embarrass’ a friend, but more so because America wants to put Arafat - rather
than Saudi Arabia - on the spot. After all, that is much easier to achieve and
also more beneficial to America in terms both of oil supplies and strategic
alliances!
Talking
to American officials, pundits, opinion-spinners and journalists, I got the
impression of a short-term policy being choreographed as it goes along! This is
erroneous and counter-productive - but it is also opportunistic and scary at a
time when morality is being shovelled out in copious quantities, and when the
world has become divided into the ‘good guys’ versus the ‘bad guys’ camps! The
USA has been the direct sponsor of almost every Middle East peace negotiation
since the six-day war of 1967. It is also the main paymaster and arms supplier
of Israel. There is therefore a latent incompatibility in this attitude, but it
need not become dominant so long as Washington uses its enormous clout and
leverage to help secure Israeli compliance with an impressive bushel of UN
Security Council resolutions.
Will
it? Clearly, this cannot happen if the tail is allowed to wag the dog!
© harry-bvH @ 7 February 2002
A
wall or Justice around Jerusalem?
Newspapers
report that Israeli politicians are planning to build a wall around Jerusalem
to improve security for the city. Such a plan proves that these politicians are
not able or don't like to understand what are the reasons of insecurity in
Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel.
There are two
main reasons behind the insecurity in Israel. The first is the injustice. Let
us remember that Israel has destroyed 385 Palestinian villages, including the
village of Emmaus, which has been razed by Israeli-American bulldozers and
transformed into a picnic place called Canada Park. The inhabitants of these
villages have been expelled and many of them live in 61 concentrations camps as
cattle inside Palestine/Israel or in the surrounding countries. Instead of
allowing their return to their lands, Israel continues its policy of
destruction, humiliation, occupation and killing. Daily Israeli-American
bulldozers, protected by the Israeli Army, are razing houses and pushing the
population into despair. Those that Israeli politicians call
"terrorists" are the sons of those desperate refugees.
The second
reason is linked with the personality of Mr. Sharon. This man is thirsty of
blood and destruction. He proved it in the occupation of Beirut and the
massacres of Sabra and Shatilla, and now in the West Bank and Gaza. As this
instinct is contagious, it is extending as rabies among Israeli generals as
well as among the Palestinian hopeless youngsters.
Instead of
creating a wall around Jerusalem, transforming the city into a large prison for
its inhabitants, it would be less expensive and more efficient to build four
walls around Mr. Sharon or to send him back to his country of origin, Russia.
This will improve the security not only to Jerusalem, but also to all
Israel/Palestine and the Middle East region. In the same time, Israeli
politicians must end the occupation, the humiliation and the destruction, and
find a solution to the Palestinian refugees based on justice and not
frustration. This means that Israel has to allow them to return to their lands
and to construct their 385 destroyed villages. 2700 years ago, the prophet
Isaiah said: "Peace will be the fruit of justice" (32:17). Without
justice, there will never be peace in the Middle East.
Sami Aldeeb,
doctor of laws
Christian
of Palestinian Origin
e-mail: aldeeb@gmx.fr
homepage: http://go.to/samipage
‘The territories are not Israel’
The following is the text of the letter published in the Israeli press Jan. 25. 104 soldiers have signed.
- We, reserve combat officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces;
- Who were raised upon the principles of Zionism, sacrifice and giving to the people of Israel and to the state of Israel, who have always served in the front lines, and who were the first to carry out any mission, light or heavy, in order to protect the state of Israel and strengthen it;
- We, combat officers and soldiers who have served the State of Israel for long weeks every year, in spite of the dear cost to our personal lives, have been on reserve duty all over the occupied territories, and were issued commands and directives that had nothing to do with the security of our country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the Palestinian people. We, whose eyes have seen the bloody toll this occupation exacts from both sides;
- We, who sensed how the commands issued to us in the territories destroy all the values we had absorbed while growing up in this country;
- We, who understand now that the price of occupation is the loss of [the Israel Defense Forces’] human character and the corruption of the entire Israeli society;
- We, who know that the territories are not Israel, and that all settlements are bound to be evacuated in the end;
- We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements. We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.
- We hereby declare that we shall continue serving in the Israel Defense Forces in any mission that serves Israel’s defense. The missions of occupation and oppression do not serve this purpose and we shall take no part in them.
Related Web site:
Letter and signatories
www.seruv.org
National Catholic Reporter, February 8, 2002
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