Με την Ισραηλινή αντιρρησία συνείδησης Atalya Ben Abba

At the request of the JewishSolidarity twitter account (@solid_jews), I decided to translate the whole letter. Enjoy!

(Stuff in italics is my notes)

[Translator’s note: Hebrew has gendered forms for verbs, and the entire letter is written in the female form. The male form is often the default when talking about a group of people, and so, this reflects either a majority of female signatories, or an openly anti-sexist intent. This is impossible to appreciate in an English translation, but is of value to note either way. The Hebrew version also takes care to point out that «this letter is addressed to all genders and sexes».]

We, young people, write this letter to declare our refusal to serve in the army. The army is carrying out a racist governmental policy which violates basic human rights, which applies one system of law for Israelis and another for Palestinians in the same territory. Therefore, we have decided not to take part in the occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people, which separates people into two hostile camps. So long as people live under an occupation which deprives them of human rights and national rights, we can never achieve peace.

For over 50 years, the rights of the Palestinian people have been denied, by the separation wall which tears the West Bank apart, the siege on Gaza, and many other means. Settlements dissect the West Bank and separate the Palestinians into enclaves, striving to prevent any territorial continuity. Private Palestinian lands are expropriated for the sake of new settlements, homes are demolished on a regular basis, and hundreds of thousands of people are having their rights to electricity and clean water infringed upon. In addition, Palestinians are being deprived of basic political rights, including the right to self-expression, protest, and to participate in democratic elections for the Palestinian Authority. The freedom to report and spread information is also being denied by arrests of reporters and censorship. The cycle of hate, violence and terrorism ruins the lives of Palestinians and Israelis. To improve the lives of all of us who live between the Jordan and the sea, we must end the occupation and make peace. This «temporary» situation has been going on for 50 years, and we will not continue to abide by it.

Militarism is well-planted in Israeli society and in our consciousness. Kindergarteners go to army exhibitions, officers lecture in schools, live fire drills [are being conducted] in high-schools, and militant [Should probably be ‘militaristic’] messages [are given] in various classes in schools. In this way we prepare our children to be soldiers in the next war, without thinking that there might be a choice. The militarization of Israel creates the justifications and makes us emotionally prepared, not just to enlist, but to be willing to hurt and kill the Other. In a reality in which the army is of paramount value in society, we go against the outlook that promotes war and conflict over compromise and peace. In our refusal, we express our opposition to this militaristic ideology.

Israel’s class divisions are also related to its occupation and settlement policy; a policy that lies in conflict with the interests of the working class and serves the capitalists. The exploitation of the Palestinian workforce from the [1967-occupied] territories inserts workers devoid of rights into the Israeli capitalist system, thus strengthening the tycoons [in Israeli left-wing discourse, this word is used to describe the biggest and most politically influential capitalists.]. The occupation feeds them economically, via the arms industry and the building of the separation wall, unlike the Israeli working class, which suffers from its taxes being spent on settlements instead of welfare, education and health. This system also forces us to depend on trade with the US and other countries, and on their economic support for Israel’s military interests. These examples all show that social justice in Israel cannot be obtained without ending the occupation. We do not accept sacrificing the quality of life for both peoples on the altar of Greater Israel.

Testimonies by soldiers and retired senior members of the security forces teach us that there is no possibility to change this system from within, and that the reality of the occupation prevents such change from within. The power to change reality lies not with the individual soldier but with the system as a whole, and the blame also does not lie with the individual soldier, but with the army and the government. We demand that this system be changed, and we will not cooperate with it as long as it continues to work towards a goal that we find unconscionable.

Years of military rule over the Palestinian population, and still no end appears in sight. An entire people is subjected to deliberate, institutional incitement against Palestinians on both sides of the green line [The pre-1967 demarcation line between Israel and the West Bank]. And here we are, young people soon to be drafted, from different parts of the country, from different social backgrounds, refusing to believe the system of incitement, refusing to take part in the government’s arm of oppression and occupation. We refuse to join and serve in the army out of a commitment to the values of peace, justice and equality, knowing that there is another reality that we can create together. We call on other people our age to ask themselves, does your military service help create this reality?

Πηγή:https://tomov.gr