Subscribe to the Newsletter
Receive our e-newsletter and other important updates about the Refuser Movement.
Refuser Solidarity Network Newsletter
Current Newsletter
July, 2008
GREETINGS FROM THE REFUSER SOLIDARITY NETWORK!
The summer 2008 issue of the RSN newsletter includes updates from the organizations we support, as well as links to current activities by military Refusers in Israel/Palestine, Europe and North America.
WHO WE ARE: The Refuser Solidarity Network (RSN) was formed in April of 2002 to provide support for the growing Refuser Movement in Israel. The initial impetus for the establishment of the RSN was the publication in January 2002 of the Combatants Letter by a group of 52 reserve officers, which later became Ometz Le'sarev or Courage to Refuse. RSN now supports Combatants for Peace, Yesh G'vul, the Shiministim, New Profile and other Israeli organizations advocating peaceful conflict resolution in Israel/Palestine and working to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories seized in 1967. A 501(c)3 charitable organization, RSN makes grants to refuser groups to support their work financially. RSN is funded entirely by contributions from individuals in the U.S. and around the world. Our mission statement is as follows:
RSN builds support for, seeks to increase the visibility of, and educates the public about the Israeli refuser movements, with the objective of working together with refusers to end Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.
To learn more about RSN, visit our website at .
BREAKING THE SILENCE COMES TO THE U.S.
Breaking the Silence, an organization of veteran Israeli soldiers that collects testimonies of soldiers who served in the Occupied Territories during the Second Intifada, brought its exhibit of photographs videos to Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and other American cities last March. The exhibit, accompanied by two Israeli veterans, also traveled to other venues in the northeast, including Washington D.C., and Portland, Maine.
You can read more about the BTS U.S. tour, including blog entries by participants and audience members, at the BTS web site, breakingthesilenceexhibit.org.
ISRAEL'S 60th ANNIVERSARY: ALTERNATIVE COMMEMORATIONS
Combatants for Peace, Yesh G'vul and New Profile all held alternative observances marking Israel's 60th anniversary with renewed calls to end the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Territories. Yesh G'vul sponsored its annual beacon lighting ceremony for a more just, equitable and deserving Israel on May 7 in Jerusalem. Beacon lighters included Jewish and Arab-Israeli peace activists, with music was provided by Combatants for Peace co-founder Yonatan Shapira. His song "Numu, Numu" (the Pilots' Lullaby) was heard accompanying a large-screen video of the 2002 bombing of a Gaza apartment building that killed more than a dozen Palestinians, most of them children, along with Hamas commander Salah Shechade and his wife. The title of the song, which translates as "Go to sleep," comes from a comment by the expedition Commander Dan Halutz, who told his pilots, "You can sleep well at night. I also sleep well, by the way." See pictures of the beacon lighting ceremony and watch a YouTube video of Yonatan's song at yeshgvul.org.
Combatants for Peace conducted an independent memorial ceremony on May 6 in Tmuna Theater in Tel Aviv. Among the speakers was Nurit Peled-Elhanan, winner of the Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament for Human Rights and Freedom of Thought and a lecturer in language and education at Hebrew University. Read her speech at alternativenews.org.
Another alternative to the official 60th anniversary proceedings was an open letter to Israeli Minister of Ehud Barak from Dov Yirmiya, a 94-year-old ex-colonel in the Israeli army and long-time peace activist. Yirmiya, a veteran of the 1948 War, returned his invitation to the official proceedings and condemned the conversion of the army "from 'the Israeli Defense Force' to an army of occupation and oppression." After Ha'aretz failed to publish the letter, it was printed in the Communist Weekly Zo Haderekh; an English translation can be found at canadiandimension.com.
NEWS FROM THE REFUSER MOVEMENT
The Combatants for Peace movement was started jointly by Palestinians and Israelis who have taken an active part in the cycle of violence--Israelis as soldiers in the Israeli army (IDF) and Palestinians as part of the violent struggle for Palestinian freedom. Since 2005, CFP has organized meetings between Israeli and Palestinian veterans in which both sides tell about the violent actions that they have taken part in and about the turning point that led them to understand the limits of violence. These combatants' meetings allow each side to understand the other's narrative through reconciliation rather than conflict.
In January, CFP member Yaniv Itzkovich was awarded the inaugural Ha'aretz First Book Prize for his novel Pulse, a work describing two days in the lives of an Israeli soldier and his family. The judges called Itzkovich's book "a first novel that is impressively striking for being so attuned to language," and compared it to Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Itzkovich was one of the original signers of CFP's founding document, the 2002 Combatants Letter. Read about his award at haaretz.com.
Five members of Combatants for Peace were detained by Israeli police on May 24 after trying to remove roadblocks around the village of Samoa in South Mount Hebron, where village residents are forced to travel miles in order to receive medical treatment or sell goods. Spokesman Yonatan Shapira said, "We won't be stopped, not by police officers, not by settlers, and not by politicians." Read the entire article and see photos of the activists at ynetnews.com.
Combatants for Peace was also featured in the April 18 issue of the London-based Jewish Chronicle, where Michal Levertov interviewed two Palestinian and two Israeli members of the group. You can find a link to this story and other articles about recent CFP activities at the CFP web site, combatantsforpeace.org.
CFP co-founders Bassam Aramin and IDF veterans Elik Elhanan and Yonatan Shapira spent two weeks in the United States on a speaking tour titled "What Happened to Abir?" The title of the tour refers to Aramin's 10-year-old daughter, who was shot in the head in January 2007 by an Israeli police officer as she left school near East Jerusalem. Their tour took them to New York City Burlington, Vermont, Washington DC, Orange County, Sand Diego and the San Francisco Bay area. In addition to well-attended presentations at synagogues, mosques, cafes and classrooms, the speakers were interviewed on local and national media and connected with members of many U.S. peace groups. Photos and press clips can be viewed at combatantsforpeace.org (scroll down to "United States - speaking tour"). Bassam Aramin's open letter to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak appears at counterpunch.org.
After returning to Israel, Bassam led a memorial for Abir along with CFP co-founder Zohar Shapira, marking the first year of Abir's Garden, a playground designed as a safe place for children to play and grow in peace. Construction of the site is under way and after the next round of fundraising CFP will plant olive and fruit trees and out in paving stones and benches. Read more about Abir's Garden at the Rebuilding Alliance web site, rebuildingalliance.org.
Yesh G'vul ("There is a limit!") is an Israeli peace group campaigning against the Occupation by backing soldiers who refuse duties in the Occupied Territories. Yesh G'vul arose in response to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It offers counseling to soldiers who wrestle with the painful choice between serving policies they find abhorrent and defying military discipline. The organization provides moral and material backing for those who elect to refuse, ranging from financial support for families of jailed refuseniks to vigils at the military prisons where they are held. The oldest of the refuser groups, Yesh G'vul continues to struggle against illegal military actions in the Occupied Territories.
In addition to its annual Alternative Independence Day ceremony (see above), Yesh G'vul continues to promote public opposition to the Occupation and to support soldiers jailed for their refusal to serve in the Territories. On May 13, Matan Israeli, an art student at Bezalel Academy, was sentenced to 21 days in prison for refusing to serve in the Ramallah area. Another refuser, 32-year-old first Sergeant (Res.) Daniel Cronberg, served 14 days in a military prison for refusing to serve in the army. On July 5, Yesh G'vul led a solidarity vigil for Daniel on the hill overlooking the prison where he was being held. Upon his release, Daniel was immediately called up again by his unit and again refused to participate in military activities in the Occupied Territories. On July 10 he was sentenced to an additional term of 7 days in military prison. Yesh G'vul is considering further action on Daniel's behalf and will post developments on their website (see above).
Two Israeli peace activists, Yael and Zohar, were attacked by half a dozen young men while after distributing Yesh G'vul leaflets following a peaceful anti-Occupation demonstration in Tel Aviv. The attackers are still at large. Read more about the attack and its aftermath at yeshgvul.org.
THE SHMINISTIM
Although Israel mandates universal military service, many graduates avoid service through "gray" refusal: they obtain letters from doctors and psychiatrists excusing them from service, or they leave the country. The Shministim are a group of high school graduates who take a more direct (and braver) approach, refusing induction directly because of their opposition to the Occupation. June 27, they invited young men and women considering refusal to a meeting in Tel Aviv, explaining: "Our political and social power depends on our ability to organize. As a group we will be able to make a difference." The group also sponsored a discussion of the abuse of Palestinian detainees by Israeli soldiers, an event that coincided with the annual UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
New Profile is a group of feminist women and men who oppose the militarization of Israeli society. NP works for a truly democratic civic education, teaching the practice of peace and conflict resolution, rather than training children to enlist and accept warfare.
Last month New Profile released its annual report of activities for 2007. The report describes a Refusers Support Network Seminar in Tel Aviv aimed at coaching new counselors; plans for regional workshops to support network counselors; and accounts of New Profile's three major youth support projects: youth groups, weekend seminars, and an annual Alternative Summer Camp. New Profile's newest campaign, "Think Before Enlisting," was prompted by increasing media attention to "draft dodging" led by a group calling itself the Parents' Forum for an Equal Share of the Burden, whose slogan is "A True Israeli Doesn't Dodge the Draft." A New Profile-sponsored anti-enlistment ad which appeared on several internet web sites in May provoked demands by The Parents Forum that New Profile be closed down as a nonprofit organization and its members prosecuted for conducting illegal activities. In response, "Think Before Enlisting" is reaching out to youth and their parents through media workshops, a brochure and electronic networking. Read about this continuing struggle in a May 12 Jerusalem Post article with commentary by New Profile at New Profile's Google Group.
New Profile also works with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition and Amnesty International to analyze the militarization of Israeli society and examine Israeli participation in the global arms industry. You can read the entire New Profile 2007 Report at newprofile.org.
OTHER LINKS TO ANTI-OCCUPATION ACTIVITIES IN ISRAEL/PALESTINE
A report in Ha'aretz reveals that the number of Israelis joining the IDF will decline starting next year, in keeping with the decline of enrollment in state schools. In response, the IDF plans to strengthen its battle against draft evasion and draft refusal: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/997658.html. An analysis in Occupation Magazine explores the issue in depth: http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24798.
Another Ha'aretz article profiles Shifa al-Qudsi, a 30-year-old Palestinian woman who became a peace activist after spending six years in an Israeli jail for a failed suicide-bombing attempt. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/960283.html.
The Free Gaza Movement will launch a sailboat expedition on August 1 to protest the Israeli occupation. Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals from 15 countries will sail to Gaza to break the siege and express nonviolent solidarity with the people of Gaza. Read more at freegaza.org.
ICHAD-USA, the American counterpart of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, sponsors a variety of educational activities as well as a summer camp during which volunteers rebuild the home of a Palestinian family whose house has been demolished by Israeli authorities. Read more at icahdusa.org
B'tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, maintains an active web site detailing Israeli human rights violations in the Territories and resistance by Israeli-Palestinian peace groups. Of particular interest is a project called "Shooting Back," in which Palestinians in high-conflict areas are provided with video cameras to help bring the reality of their lives to public attention. You can see videos from the Shooting Back project as well as other stories of resistance at btselem.org.
RSN NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT!
You can help the efforts of refusers and peace activists in Israel/Palestine!
Forward this newsletter to your own peace and justice networks and encourage others to learn about our work
Send us news, links to articles about refusers and anti-occupation work in Israel-Palestine at our newsletter address, rsnnewsletter@yahoo.com.
And most important, donate to RSN. RSN is the only charitable organization established in the United States that provides grants to refuser organizations. You can make a secure on-line donation by going to the RSN web site, refusersolidarity.net, and clicking on the DONATE NOW link.
If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please send an e-mail to rsnnewsletter@yahoo.com with the subject line "unsubscribe."