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Sat. Jan 23: demo support imprisoned CO Tair Kminer
Support imprisoned CO Tair Kaminer!
A demonstration in support of imprisoned conscientious objector Tair Kaminer
will take place 12.00 Noon on Saturday, January 23, 2016 in front of the
military prison at Zrifin. Meeting place is the parking lot of the entrance
to Zrifin from Rishon Letzion.
Transportation leaves at 11:00 am from Binyaney Hauma (The Jerusalem
International Convention Center) and from the Arlozorov Street Raiway
Styation in Tel Aviv . Note – transportation is also available from Haifa –
call Danny at 052-5655542.
We will be happy to have take part on Saturday in expressing support for
Tair Kaminer and the other objectors who refuse to serve the occupation.
Tair and her fellows do not need to “break their silence” about experiences
in the Occupied Territories. They choose no to go there in the first place,
not to take part in occupation, repression and human rights violations.
We will hold the action even if it rains.
Background:
Tair Kaminer, a 19-year Israeli, got a call up order - requesting her to
show up at the Israeli Army Induction Center (`Bakum`) in Tel Hashomer, east
of Tel Aviv, on 12pm, Sunday, January 10, 2016 . She does intend to show up
at the stipulated time and place - but not in order to embark on the two
years of obligatory military service required of girls under Israeli law.
Instead, she will inform the recruiting officers of her refusal to become
part of an army of occupation and oppression - whereupon, most likely, she
will be sent to the military prison,
Friends and supporters will accompany Tair to the gates of the Induction
Center at 12pm on Sunday, and hold a solidarity vigil on the spot.
For further details and possible interviews, please contact Hanna - +972-
(0)54-4732253. For transportation (there will be a bus from Tel Aviv) please
contact Yasmin +972-(0)50-4226629.
Background:
In recent months, there were several reports in the Israeli media of IDF
girl soldiers standing at roadblocks throughout the West Bank and taking
part in late night raids on Palestinian villages, culminating with entering
Palestinian homes and taking `suspect Palestinians` off to interrogation by
Israel`s Security Service. On several occasions girl soldiers were commended
for their part in shooting and killing Palestinians who were defined as
terrorists. The reports of military correspondents tend to present such girl
soldiers as positive role models, examples of `gender equality` and `female
empowerment`.
Tair Kaminer, along with her fellow activists of the `Mesarvot` (`Refusers`)
group, rejects out of hand such forms of `equality` and `empowerment` - the
possibility generously offered to young Israeli women to join with their
male counterparts inan army of occupation and take their `equal` share in
the task of daily oppressing Palestinian men and women.
Following is the text of the public statement of which Tair Kaminer intends
to present a copy to the recruiting officers.
Why I Refuse - Tair Kaminer`s statement
My name is Tair Kaminer, I am 19. A few months ago a ended a year of
volunteering with the Israeli Boy and Girl Scouts in the town of Sderot, on
the Gaza Strip border. In a few days, I will be going to jail.
An entire year I volunteered in Sderot, working with children living in a
war zone, and it was there that I decided to refuse to serve in the Israeli
military. My refusal comes from my will to make a contribution to the
society of which I am a part and make this a better place to live, from my
commitment to the struggle for peace and equality.
The children I worked with grew up in the heart of the conflict, and went
through traumatic experiences from a young age. In many of them, this has
generated a terrible hatred - which is quite understandable, especially in
young children. Like them, many of the children living in the Gaza Strip and
the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, in an even more harsh
reality, learn to hate the other side. They, too, cannot be blamed. When I
look at all these children, at the next generation of both sides and the
reality in which they live, I can but see the continuation of trauma and
pain. And I say: Enough!
For years now there’s no political horizon, no peace process anywhere in
sight. There’s no attempt of any kind to bring peace to Gaza or to Sderot.
As long as the violent military way holds sway, we will simply have further
generations growing up with a heritage of hate, which will only make things
even worse. We must stop this - now!
This is why I am refusing: I will not take an active part in the occupation
of the Palestinian Territories and in the injustice to the Palestinian
people that is perpetrated again and again under this occupation. I will not
take part in the cycle of hatred in Gaza and Sderot.
My draft date was set for January 10th, 2016. On that day I will report to
the Tel Hashomer Induction Center, to declare my refusal to serve in the
military - and my willingness to do an alternative civil service.
In conversation with some people I care about I’ve been accused of
undermining democracy, though my refusal to abide by the laws which were
enacted by an elected Parliament. But the Palestinians in the Occupied
Territories live under the rule of the Government of Israel, though they had
no voice whatsoever in electing that government. I believe that as long as
Israel continues to be an occupying country, it will continue moving further
and further away from from democracy.Therefore, my refusal is part of the
struggle for democracy - not an anti-democratic act.
I have been told that I am avoiding my responsibility for the security of
Israel. But as a woman who regards all people as equal - and all their lives
as equally important - I cannot accept the security argument as applying to
Jews only . Especially now, as the wave or terror continues, when it becomes
clear and evident that the military cannot ensure protection to the Jews,
either. It is very simple - one cannot create an island of security in the
midst of an oppressive occupation. True security can be created only when
the Palestinian people live in freedom and dignity, in their own an
independent state alongside Israel.
There were those who worried about my personal future in a country in which
performing military service is held to be of supreme importance in the
fabric of daily social intercourse. Caring for my future prospects, they
suggested that I do serve in the army, regardless of my opinions - or at
least that I don`t make my refusal public. But through all the difficulties
and worries, I chose to declare my refusal openly, for all to hear. This
country, this society, are too important to me - I cannot and will not agree
to keep silent. That was not the way I was brought up - to care only for
myself and my private concerns. The life I had until now has been about
giving and social responsibility, and such I want it to continue.
System Message: INFO/1 (, line 50)
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text because it`s so short.
Even if I must pay a personal price for my refusal, this price will be
worthwhile if it to helps place the occupation on the agenda of Israeli
public discourse. Far too many Israelis don’t directly feel the occupation,
and they tend to forget about it in their daily lives - lives that are
eminently safe in comparison with those of Palestinians, or even of the
Israelis who live in the Western Negev (Gaza border area) . We are told that
there is no way other than the violent military way. But I believe that this
is the most destructive way, and that there are others. I wish to remind all
of us that there does exist an alternative: negotiations, peace, optimism, a
true will to live in equality, safety and freedom. We are told that the
military is not a political institution - but the decision to serve in the
military is a highly political one, no less so than the decision to refuse.
We, the young people, must understand the full implications of such a
choice. We need to understand its consequences for our society. After having
deliberated these issues, I took the decision to refuse. I am not scared of
the military prison - what truly frightens me is our society losing its
humanity.
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