Israeli soldiers Breaking Silence about Palestine

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http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9b2_1267742809

West Roxbury —
Breaking the Silence, an organization of veteran Israel Defense Force soldiers who served in the occupied Palestinian territories, spoke to an audience at West Roxbury's Temple Hillel B'nai Torah last week.

The audience listened to the disparity between the soldiers' experiences and the image Israeli and American society has about the occupation.

Dana Golan, 27, execu More..tive director of Breaking the Silence, visited the temple on Feb.24 as part of a U.S. tour. The Workmen's Circle, the New Israel Fund and the temple sponsored the event.

Breaking the Silence has collected, and published, testimonies from more than 700 male and female soldiers, with the goal of providing an accurate depiction of what it means to be an occupier and to control Palestinian citizens on a daily basis.

Breaking the Silence has collected testimonies since it was founded in 2004.

In January, the organization released "Women Soldiers' Testimonies," which includes interviews with 96 women who served as medics, officers, combatants, and noncommissioned education and social officers.

The unedited testimonies are researched and crosschecked with witnesses or human rights organizations before they're printed. The majority of soldiers remain anonymous, because of pressures from Israeli society and the Israel Defense Force. "Soldiers are afraid to speak up because Israeli society isn't willing to listen," said Golan.

Although the soldiers come from different backgrounds and hold different beliefs, the common ground, according to Golan, is the moral dilemma and questions they want to pose to their society.

Golan, an Israeli citizen, joined the IDF at age 18, where she served in the education corps until 2004. After undergoing three months of training, Golan learned she would be based in Hebron.

"I didn't even know how to get there. I soon found out all I had to do was go to a bus station in Jerusalem and I would be there in less than an hour. It was so close to where I lived, yet so far from my own world," said Golan, who served in Hebron from November 2001 to May 2002.

Several hundred Jewish settlers live among approximately 170,000 Palestinians in Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank. The two groups clash on a daily basis, according to Golan, because they live in such close proximity.

"Soldiers soon realize there's a gap between what's going on in Hebron, and what people in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv think is going on," said Golan.

Breaking the Silence speaks with Israeli citizens of all ages to discuss the meaning of occupation, and "of the moral price most people don't know about," said Golan. The organization conducts tours into Hebron, giving visitors a taste of life in an occupied city.

The soldiers control the daily lives of Palestinian citizens, according to Golan. Cases of abuse toward Palestinians are explained as extreme cases, or justified as military necessities. "We're told, 'This is what you have to do so the Israeli people will be safe,'" she said

Golan said she was raised to be a good human being before she was trained to be a soldier. "I cannot forget that I have morals and values, just because someone says I have no choice," she said, "Maybe that's why I was always frustrated and couldn't accept the way the Palestinians were treated."

She told the audience about the first time she realized what occupation entailed.

"We [IDF soldiers] barged into a house in the middle of the night — a house where a mom, a dad, two kids and a grandmother lived. We had to take each drawer out, turn it upside down, and let everything fall to the floor. Within two minutes, everything was all over the place; it was a complete mess," she said. "I asked the commander, 'When do we clean everything up and put things back in order?' He just looked at me and laughed. I was so naïve."

Golan said she did not tell anyone about her experience for 2 1/2 years. "I felt so ashamed," she said, "According to the value system we're taught, this was not supposed to happen."

Breaking the Silence hopes to teach the Israeli public, including young people who will eventually be drafted by the IDF, to the realities of occupation. The organization speaks to young people, with the hope that they will question the occupation and the way the Palestinians are treated.

"Israeli society, which sends young soldiers to the occupied territories and to war, must know what is going on in its name," said Golan.

Rabbi Barbara Rosman Penzner, of Temple Hillel B'nai Torah, said she applauds the courage of the veteran soldiers for standing up and speaking out in order to prevent further injustice.

"We're here, speaking together to demonstrate it's possible to criticize out of love," said Penzner.

Golan said the testimonies place a mirror before Israeli society, which tries to keep the occupation as far away from home as possible.

"If someone has the chance to change something, it's us. We're doing it out of deep concern. I hope Israeli society will take a moral stand against the occupation, and that history will not repeat itself. I don't want to have to send my children and grandchildren to do the same thing I did," said Golan