My name is Tair Kaminer and I was recently released from prison

10 August 2016, Alternative Information Center http://www.alternativenews.org (Israel)

Written by Tair Kaminer

 

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After spending 155 days in Israeli prison, Tair Kaminer reflects on her decision to refuse serving in the Israeli army. She is the longest serving female conscientious objector in Israeli history.

I sat in jail for 155 days. I sat in jail because I decided I wasn't prepared to serve in the army. I was not prepared to serve in an army that oppresses the Palestinian people, an army that allows our government to preserve the fragile security situation in the western Negev, an army that participates in besieging Gaza, an army that every day defends settlers by violating Palestinian rights.

My choice not to serve was essentially very personal. I don’t know

Hatred Unlimited

09/07/2016, Gush Shalom גוש שלום http://zope.gush-shalom.org (Israel)

Uri Avnery אורי אבנרי*

A PALESTINIAN youngster breaks into a settlement, enters the nearest house, stabs a 13-year old girl in her sleep and is killed.

Three Israeli men kidnap a 12-year old Palestinian boy at random, take him to an open field and burn him alive.

Two Palestinians from a small town near Hebron enter Israel illegally, have coffee in a Tel Aviv amusement quarter and then shoot up everybody around before they are captured. They become national heroes.

An Israeli soldier sees a severely wounded Palestinian attacker lying on the ground, approaches him and shoots him in the head at point blank range. He is applauded by most Israelis.

These are not "normal" actions even in a guerrilla war. They are the manifestations of bottomless hatred, a hatred so terrible that it overcomes all norms of humanity.

THIS WAS not always so. A few days after the 1967 war, in which Israel conquered East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, I traveled alone though the newly occupied territories. I was welcomed almost everywhere, people were eager to sell me their goods, tell me their stories. They were curious about the Israelis, much as we