This summer I had the privilege of meeting Haggai Matar when I helped organize a speaking tour for him, when he was here in New York.
Haggai is the founder of a group of young Israeli high school students who refuse to serve in the Israeli army. Haggai is going to jail today as a consequence of his refusal to serve.
Here’s Haggai’s message to his friends:
Dear Friends,
On the coming Wednesday, October 23rd, I will be imprisoned for my refusal to enlist to the Israeli army – and army which I consider to be brutal and inhumane, its foundations based on racism and war-crimes.
Attached you can find my declaration, in Hebrew and in English.
Many of you have heard me talking about the occupation in the past, and understand why there is, for me, no other way but refusing. Just to give you a taste of the occupation from the last 24 hours: Palestinian farmers went out to harvest their olives yesterday, a Saturday. They were accompanied by tens of Israeli peace-activists. Not 10 minutes passed – and settlers from near by illegal (according to international law) Jewish settlements came out with guns and started shooting: some in the air, and some in the direction of the workers. The Israeli army got to the scene – and sent the farmers and the activists away. Another village in that area was attacked by settlers, and the last families – of what was once a village of tens of families – fled the scene, leaving the village empty. THIS is racism. THIS is ethnic-cleansing. THIS is the occupation.
I am likely to be put in jail for a period of about 3-4 months. In that time, you would be able to contact me by the following means: E-mail – Send an e-mail to: Shministim@hotmail.com , to learn of my situation, and to get word through to me.
Normal mail – Send letters to Shministim, PO Box 70094, Haifa 31700, Israel. The letters will be gives to me when people visit me in jail.
Through all these, you would be able to learn about my status, and get word through to me. You could also use these to contact and learn more about the refusal movement in Israel – and especially about the Seniors’ Letter (Michtav HaShministim).
I would love to hear from all of you,
Take care,
Good bye,
Haggai
This is Haggai’s full decleration:
Today, October 23rd, 2002, I will be sent to the military prison, as a result of my insistence upon my political views, which prevent me from enlisting to the IDF.
Despite my young age, merely 18, and despite the fact that I do not carry with me memories from Israel?s past, I can wholeheartedly declare that Israel has reached an unprecedented moral low. This extreme deterioration began with ?Barak?s generous offers?, which were but another attempt at forcing a unilateral agreement upon the Palestinian people. Today, the militarization and racism among the Jewish population have reached the level of fascism. The repression of critical thinking, the total acceptance of the occupation?s crimes, the idolization of the army and the gradual acceptance of the principles of ?ethnic cleansing?? all these constitute only part of our society?s collapse. To this list one should add the systematic mistreatment of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, the hateful violence addressed at peace demonstrators, and the heartless attitude towards the abnormal and the weak. With all these, I refuse to cooperate.
The voice of conscience and the lessons humanity should have learnt from countless similar situations in the past leave me no choice but to refuse enlistment to the Israeli army ? which is falsely dubbed a ?Defence Force?. My refusal to enlist is inevitable. The oppression known by the peoples of this area at the age of the Empires, the torment of the slaves and the Indians in North America, the Algerian War of Independence and Apartheid in South Africa ? all these precedents have made my refusal inevitable. My grandfather?s actions in the Second World War, in his fight against Nazi Fascism, and his belief in humanism ? these too lead to my refusal. At home I learnt of oppression and justice. At the face of such evil as one may find here and now, there is no other way.
On this significant day of my life, accompanied by my supportive family and friends, I wish to acknowledge my companions, the unseen heroes of our struggle: the Palestinian who endures the occupation without turning to violence against the Israeli civilian population, in spite of his lack of hope for a decent life; the Palestinian citizen of Israel, who keeps striving for co-existence despite day-to-day humiliations; the youth who avoids serving the occupation, her upbringing notwithstanding; the European peace activist, who physically defends Palestinians in the Occupied Territories; and my friend, a girl who was raised in a right-wing family, fell in love with an Arab and was consequently driven out of her home. While in prison, when forced to salute State and Army ? I shall, in my mind and heart, be saluting all my brave friends, to whom I cannot equal, because of my identity; all those who sacrifice so much more then I do ? for peace, against the occupation. –
Haggai Matar