Kim Bullimore
Eyal Brami and Alex Kohn are 18 years old and serving time in an Israeli jail. Their crime is their refusal to be conscripted into the Israeli military and to serve as part of an occupying force in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
Along with 300 other students, male and female, from years 11 and 12, in March 2005 Brami and Kohn signed a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon publicly declaring that "we shall refuse to take part in the occupation and repression policy adopted by the government of Israel".
Theirs was the second letter of its kind in the last four years. The first was published in August 2001 with 62 signatories.
Five of the first letter's co-signers — Haggi Matar, Matan Kaminer, Noam Bahat, Shimri Tzameret and Adam Maor — served a year of consecutive prison terms before being court-martialled and sentenced to a further two years imprisonment in January 2004. They were released in September 2004.
The 2001 letter inspired others, including military officers, to refuse to serve in the OPT and became the foundation for the growing refusenik movement.
Military service is mandatory for all Israelis and the students who have signed the "shministim" letters are at the forefront of opposing the occupation and the militarisation of Israeli schools.
Founded in 1997, New Profile is an organisation that campaigns for the demilitarisation of Israeli society. According to New Profile's 2004 study, Child Recruitment in Israel, "the military is physically present in schools and school activities" and the "official curricula and textbooks also reflect the militaristic attitudes inherent in the Israeli educational system, all the way from kindergarten to the last years of high school, where there is a mandatory programme for all Jewish state-run schools called 'preparation for the IDF [Israeli Defence Force]', that in most cases includes actual military training."
In kindergartens and primary schools, Israeli children are encouraged to send gift packages, write letters of gratitude to soldiers and participate in day-outings to military bases. An article in the June 28, 2002, Israeli daily Haaretz reported that at one Tel Aviv kindergarten "graduation" ceremony, the children paraded "in what seemed like IDF uniforms".
"At another kindergarten, in a small town near Tel-Aviv, the graduation ceremony included storming targets with (toy) swords", Haaretz reported. The children "recited texts about their being fighters in the service of the state of Israel".
In high school, students are faced with a daily military presence in their schools, including uniformed soldiers who work as "teacher-soldiers" and "youth guides". In addition, principals are often "retired career officers", who have no formal teaching training and are expected to use their military experience both in managing the schools and in motivating children to serve in the military.
Since 1984, large-scale preparatory programs have been run by the ministries of education and defence to facilitate identification with the IDF and to enable smooth recruitment of students into the armed forces.
Between the ages of 16 and 17, Israeli students are considered by law as being "Intended for Security Service". During the ISS period, students receive their first call-up. They must present themselves for medical examination and intelligence tests. If a student fails to report, warrants are issued. If they fail to heed further call-ups, students and their families may be subject to police raids and arrest. Some students have reported having their family homes raided at 3 am.
Omri Evron, one of the organisers of the 2005 letter, told Green Left Weekly that while they were still in a minority, the number of students refusing call-up is increasing.
The campaign by high school resisters has started to gain national prominence in Israel with not only the publication of the second "shiministim" letter but also several student protests against the militarisation of Israeli high schools. In December 2004, students at the Ironi Aleph high school in Tel Aviv chained themselves to the entrance of the school to prevent an air force general from giving a "motivational" speech and against the planned introduction of a new military education program.
Under this new program, called New Generation, senior military officers would be assigned to 70 schools (later to be expanded to 250 schools). New Profile activist, Diana Dolev told GLW that the aim of the New Generation program is to make students "better citizens of the Jewish state by serving in the army, especially by volunteering to serve in combat units".
The program includes teaching units on how to "motivate" students to perform military duty. Dolev told GLW that factors it listed as decreasing their motivation include "peace talks" and having parents "who fail to encourage their child to serve as a combat fighter".
Evron told GLW that student refuseniks are continuing to organise demonstrations outside conscription centres and jails and to participate in anti-occupation demonstrations with Palestinians. In addition, they are organising "open-crowd discussion about the occupation and military service in schools all around the country" and working on a new 10-page booklet that will present "the history and basic facts about the occupation".
Some 1600 Israelis — officers, reserve and mandatory service soldiers and high school students — have declared their refusal to either serve in the OPT or in the military.
"Even if you don't hear about us, we exist, and we are here, fighting for freedom, equality and peace in the Middle East. And we are not giving up, that's for sure", said Evron.
From Green Left Weekly, April 27, 2005.
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