[Peace-discuss] Statement by Israeli Conscientious Objector

[David Green]

The following statement is from Haggai Matar, a recent
Israeli high school graduate who is refusing to enlist
in the military. He toured in the U.S. around the same
time as the refusenik we had in Champaign.

STATEMENT BY HAGGAI MATAR

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


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