- Dear Friends,
-
- I would like to share with you some of my thoughts as
I pass the long hours peeling bags of onions, washing dozens of large oily
pots, or when I am asked to explain myself to those around me, people who
find it difficult to understand my motives. Why does a man of my age--married
with two children--"need all this"? Why is it worth my while
to refuse serving in the occupied territories?
-
- Such questions have forced me to examine my actions from
the perspective of the other prisoners. Here is a man, 36 years old, who
is imprisoned with soldiers half his age. He is separated from his family,
forbidden to take off his hat (even when sitting in his cell or while eating),
to use a pillow or sheets, to wear a watch, to eat in the dining hall (rather,
he eats on a folding table in the hallway near his cell, all the while
behind bars) and to speak while working or eating. He is forced to work
fourteen hours a day (in the kitchen or cleaning the bathrooms on the base),
to stand at attention and yell "Attention!" every time an officer
passes and to obey a long list of other commands and prohibitions, whose
sole purpose is to humiliate him. Why would anybody in his right mind subject
himself to this?
-
- In order to answer the above question seriously, one
has to recall the alternative, what it was I refused to do. There is indeed
an effort to humiliate me through a variety of regulations. But I believe
that humiliating another human being is more humiliating by far. To look,
for example, into the eyes of a Palestinian at a checkpoint and prevent
him/her from reaching work, school, or the hospital. To look into the eyes
of the residents upon whom I have just imposed another day of curfew--a
curfew that seems to have no beginning and no end. To look into the eyes
of a farmer whose orchards I am ordered to uproot--or in the eyes of a
family whose house I am about to demolish. And to see my reflection in
the eyes of these people: a despised soldier in front of trembling people
who beg for his mercy. This, to me, is much, much more humiliating.
-
- There are, of course, those who claim that the presence
of people like me in the occupied territories can make the occupation more
humane. Indeed, it cannot be denied that one can uproot an orchard politely,
demolish a house quietly and in a civilized manner, and perhaps even expel
an entire population from their village--as has been done in South Hebron--in
an organized and less violent way. It is possible, it seems, to calmly
dispossess and oppress an entire people. The question, however, still arises:
Can a person who wishes to retain his humanity carry out such actions?
-
- For me, the answer is clear: No.
-
- So when we, the refuseniks, declare that there are certain
things that a just person simply does not do, we do not mean working in
a kitchen, since such work is dignified. We mean actions that humiliate
and deny the humanity of the Other. There is no doubt that it is better
to sit in jail, isolated, wearing a hat, silent, washing dishes and peeling
onions.
-
- I prefer--by far--to shed tears when I cut bag after
bag of onions over the tears that arise whenever I conjure up images of
the occupation.
-
- Sincerely,
- Yigal
-
-
-
- Comment
-
- From Sheryl Jackson
- moonfyre1@earthlink.net
- 11-9-2
-
- I pray that Americans will just exhibit 10% of this man's
integrity and resolve. If we would just use less gas, refuse to buy from
Kompanies that have moved overseas, stop eating so much frivolous food,
just bend over and pick up everything we drop on the floor, we would be
a better country and could be proud to be Americans.
-
- This letter once again made me cry, and I will cry every
time I peel another onion, because I will remember this man and the hell
he is living in for his spiritual principles.
-
- And I will pray every day for this man's attitude to
sweep across Israel and America. This man is a hero and a spiritual warrior.
God bless you, sir.
-
- Sheryl Jackson
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