clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

The Israeli soldiers breaking their silence on the occupation

June 10, 2014 at 9:38 am

Zehava Galon, Chair of Israel’s Meretz Party, stood on a podium in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square and read out the testimony of an Israeli soldier. She was one of many readers taking part in an event marking the tenth anniversary of the founding of “Breaking the Silence,” an organisation formed by ex- Israeli soldiers seeking to highlight the reality of military service to the Israeli general public.

For ten hours straight, the testimonies’ of Israeli soldiers were recited. They were individual stories documenting a people’s daily humiliation and degradation, but functioned as jigsaw pieces fitting together to illustrate a wider picture- one of the Israeli militaries absolute control and the Palestinian’s absolute oppression.

From a sergeants testimony of what it takes to move up the ranks in the Israeli military, to a military police officer on being a Palestinian in the wrong place at the wrong time, the purpose of the non-stop recitals was to draw attention to the fact these instances are not exceptions perpetrated by the odd rogue soldier, but are, in fact, commonplace. Yehuda Saul, one of the organisations founders and a former soldier himself commented to the Guardian, “What we wanted to show by reading for ten hours is that the things described in the testimonies we have collected are not exceptional, rather they are unexceptional.”

Included in the recital was Sergent Anver Gvaryahu testimony recalling his realisation that he was expected to kill to be considered successful in the Israeli military- “At some point I realised that someone who wants to succeed has to bring him (the commander) dead people. You’re looking through the binoculars and searching for someone to kill, that’s what you want to do. And you want to kill him.”

Another testimony from an anonymous sergeant recounted the death of unarmed man on a rooftop in Nablus, West Bank, and concluded with his stark realisation-“In the United States there’s the death penalty, for every death sentence there are like a thousand appeals and convictions…..And here, a 26 year old guy, my company commander, sentenced an unarmed man to death.”

“Breaking the Silence” has collected over 950 testimonies from Israeli soldiers over the ten years of its existence- all with similar threads of power and subjugation. This oral history not only illustrates the daily situation for Palestinians living under occupation, but also shows young veterans scarred by their own actions and paints a picture of an Israeli society which may one day pay the price for the continuing reality. Gil Hillel, formerly of the military police patrol in the West Bank city of Hebron said, “I came to the field from a humane place…I thought I will go into a combat focused unit and I’ll give it touches of humanity. And I turned into a monster and I can’t look myself in the eye and for that…I am not alone.”

“I ask anyone that sees my testimony, just to think about it, it’s the reality. It’s not just mine, it is everyone’s in the field, and anyone who gets such limitless power. It’s what we turn into, it our society.”

So why did these soldiers break their silence? One former sergeant explained during a video featured on the organisation’s website, “Somehow regular people don’t want to hear why we are there (the Occupied Palestinian Territories) and what we are doing. They worry for the most part. They prefer to think we are protecting the world and I think it’s important to burst that bubble.”

Micha Kurz formerly of the 50th Battalion, Nahal Bridge Unit, also in a video recording, said, “For me “Breaking the silence” was a reflection in the face of our daily reality.”

“For us to understand, for my mother to know, for my family and all my friends to know in Tel Aviv, the Israeli mainstream to understand- that our reality is based over control of another nation. To get to the point where it makes no sense that people are living their lives in Tel Aviv, and here on Jerusalem’s Jaffa street things go on as usual….without thinking of what’s happening an hour’s drive from their home, even less,” he said.

“Breaking the silence puts a mirror in front of our eyes.”

 

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.