imprisoned objectors update

["David Raban" <draban at pob.huji.ac.il>]

Dear friends,

Passover, the festival of freedom is approaching, and at the same time
millions of Palestinians have their frredom deprived of hem on a daily
basis. Detentions, arrests, curfews, roadblocks, closure.. all these words
that we hear all the time, all of them intended to deprive the Palestinians
of any kind of freedom.
And while all this is going on, 14 conscientious objectors will find
themselves in military prison for their refusal to take part in the
deprivation of another people's freedom.

This update will include:
-news and events
-information about objectors in prison
-call for action

NEWS AND EVENTS

-last Friday, 11.4., about 1500 people gathered to demonstrate in support
of the refusers. Among the participants were members of all refuser
movements, including Druze objectors, and the parents of objectors
currently in prison. in addition,  Aviv Gefen, a popular singer, appeared
performed the crowd, poet Ytzhak Laor, a refuser himself , spoke, as well
as the former mininster of education, Shulamit Aloni.

-"Yesh-Gvul" movement will hold this year an alternative Passover Seder in
front of prison no  4, to support those who have given up their freedom for
the freedom of others.
We will meet at Friday, 18.4. at 13:00 at Rishon Gate, the entrance to
Tzrifin base. Transportation:
Jerusalem : 12:00. BINYANEI HAU',MA
Tel aviv: 12:15 Avrlozeruv/Namir
For further information : 02 6250271,
<mailto:info at yesh-gvul.org>info at yesh-gvul.org

-Supreme Court appeal- Yoni Ben Artzi:
the supreme court rejected conscientious objector Yoni Ben Artzi's appeal
to be tried in a civilian court in stead of a military court. The appeal
claimed that this is not the case of a soldiers disobeying orders, but of a
civilian who refuses to become a soldier. Yoni was already sentenced seven
times for his refusal to join the army, spent about 200 days in prison, and
for the last two months he is held in "open detention", like the rest of
the objectors who are to appear before a court martial.
The judges wrote that " conscientious objection is an important question,
but this does not mean that the military court is not capable of dealing
with it"
Yoni will continue his open detention until his court martial proceedings
are over.

Court martial:
Conscientious objectors Haggai Matar, Adam Maor, Shimri Tzameret, Noam
Bahat and Matan Kaminer were brought today (15.4) in fornt of the military
court, for their refusal to enlist . all five of them have already spet up
to 5 terms in prison prior to the court martial.
They were represented by adv. Dov Hanin, . the defence claimed that the
their requests to be dismissed from military service were not dealt with
properly, and that they have already been tried several times for the same
offence.  The judge instructed both parties to submit to him further
arguments in writing, and the court will assemble again in 1 month.
All five objectors will continue to be held on open detention in the mean
time. The judge also agreed to let them spend the Passover with their
families.

In prison:
In adittion to Yoni Ben-Artzi, Haggai Matar, Adam Maor, Shimri Tzameret,
Noam Bahat and Matan Kaminer, who are in open detention, there are eight
more objectors in prison:

Rabi'a Jihad Sa'ad:

Rabi'a , a pacifist, is help in prison no. 4, were he waits to be tried for
desertion.  He has been held this way for two months now. His prison
adresss:
Rabi'a Jihad Sa'ad, military i.d. 7232895, prison 4, military post 02507.

Yaron Be'eri:

Yron, 31 years old, a geology student, was sentenced to 28 days for his
refusal to serve in the occupied territories. He is due to be released on
5.5.03. his prison address:
Yaron Be'eri, plugat milu'im , prison 4, military post 02507.
Konstatin Soskin:

Konstantin, a pacifist, was sentenced twice already. The first time for 14
days, and the second for 28 days, which he is spending in the isolation
ward because of his refusal to wear a uniform. Konstantin  saw the
"conscientious committee" but they refused to accept that he is motivated
by his conscience.
His address:
Kosntantin Soskin, isolation ward, prison 4, military post 02507.

Yoel Perlman:

Yoel, a pacifist, was sentenced on 6.4. to 28 days for his refusal to enlist.
He is currently in the isolation ward.
From Yoel's letter to the conscience committee (who did not see him):
My name is Yoel Perlman and I would like to declare that I am a pcifist,
that is, I don not believe in the use of violence weather it is mental,
verbal or physical.
The use of violence is not legitimate even for self defence, and in the
first place one should avoid getting into a position of a conflictŠ the
only legitimate way to deal with conflicts is, first of all, to stop the
violence in out minds first, and only then to deal with the situation with
love, compassion, and compromise. The use of violence always causes
destruction and killing of living beings. Violence hurts the aggressor as
well as the victim, is not equally than even more, so that both sides are
victims of the same violence.
From all the above it is clear that I cannot take part in the Israeli army,
or in any other army . an army is an organization meant ofr the use of
violence weather it is for purposes of defense or attack. The army uses
violence not only against the enemy but also against its own soldiers, and
so expanding circles of violence are created in the society. Every position
in the army is related to violence either directly or indirectly, and to
the killing of living beings directly or indirectlyŠ for these reasons I
refuse to part in any position in the army or in a position associated with
the military. I am willing to serve in a civilian service which helps
society as an alternative to the army, although I know that this kind of
service is not available.
The gap between my beliefs and my way of life and the concept of army is
big. .and therefore  I ask to be exempt form military service.
Yoel's prison address:
Yoel Perlman, isolation ward, prison4, military post 02507.

Itay Riv

Yesh-Gvul activist Itay Riv was sentenced on 6.4. to 28  days in military
prison no. 6 for his refusal to "perform any military duty". Itay is the
spokesman of Yesh-Gvul, and lately gave a lecture tour in Italy, and was
invited to speak in the huge demonstration against the war in Iraq.
Itay's prison address:
Itay Riv, POB 16238 Tel Aviv.

Rotem Ronen:

Conscientious objector Rotem Ronen was imprisoned on 6.4 for 14 days for
his refusal to enlist into the Israeli army.
Rotem's prison address:
Rotem Ronen, prison 4, pluga alef, military post 02507.

Amit Ris:

Conscientious objector Amit Ris was imprisoned on 6.4 for 14 days for his
refusal to enlist into the Israeli army.
Amit's prison address:
Amit Ris, prison 4, pluga alef, military post 02507.

Ilya Gintzburg:

Conscientious objector Ilya Gintzburg was imprisoned on 17.3 for 28 days
for his refusal to enlist into the Israeli army. That sentence is now over
,he is expected to be sentenced again.
From Ilya's statement:
Serving in the IDF is a political statement. It is a consent to serve the
army and the state for three years.. during the last years the state of
Israel have been trying to eliminate every trace of a welfare state, the
cuts in budget are a declaration of war on the working people and on the
weak layers in society.
In addition to the occupation's harming the Palestinian people, it only
adds to the motivation of the terror organizations to commit acts of
terrorism, which hurt mostly the people form the weak layers of societyŠ
I can say that the state had lost the moral right, which it is in doubt
weather it had before, to call me tp reform my "duty" towards it. if it
does not fulfill its basic obligations to he citizens, I cannot fight for
those who declared war on myself.

Raseiny Hotorinsky:

Raseiny, a pcifist, was sentenced on 16.3. to 35 days. His expected release
date is 18.4.

What can we do?

First of all, please circulate this message and the information contained in
it as widely as possible, not only through e-mail, but also on websites,
conventional media, by word of mouth, etc.
Other recommendations for action:
1.sign the online -
<http://www.petitiononline.com/091202/petition.html>petition:

2. Sending Letters of Support for Prisoners

Please send the prisoners your messages of support to the addresses above or
to:

[Prisoner's name]
POB 16238
Tel-Aviv
Israel.

Messages of support could also be sent to all imprisoned objectors by
e-mail, at <mailto:dash at seruv.org.il>mailto:dash at seruv.org.il.

In addition to the letters of support, you can also send packages to
prisoners (to counter the Israeli custom of sending gift packages to
soldiers). You can use the POB above for that purpose. Note that there is no
way to insert foodstuffs into the prison. Books, on the other hand, are the
prisoner's best friends.
2. Letters to Authorities

It is recommended to send letters of protest on behalf of the objectors to:

Mr. Shaul Mofaz,
Minister of Defence,
Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan St.,
Tel-Aviv 61909,
Israel.
E-mail: <mailto:sar at mod.gov.il>mailto:sar at mod.gov.il or
<mailto:pniot at mod.gov.il>mailto:pniot at mod.gov.il
Fax: ++972-3-696-27-57 / ++972-3-691-69-40 / ++972-3-691-79-15

Copies can be sent to the commanders of the prisons at:

Commander of Military Prison No. 4,
Military Prison No. 4,
Military postal number 02507,
IDF
Israel.
Fax: ++972-3-957-52-76

Another useful address for sending copies would be the Military Attorney
General:

Brig. Gen. Menachem Finklestein
Chief Military Attorney
Military postal code 9605
IDF
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-569-43-70

In the cases of draft resisters and conscripts it would be especially
useful to send your appeals to the Commander of the Induction Base in
Tel-Hashomer. It is this officer that ultimately decides whether an
objector is to be exempted from military service or sent to another round
in prison:
Deborah Chassid
Commander of Induction Base, Tel-Hashomer
Military Postal Code 02718, IDF
Israel.
Fax: ++972-3-737-60-52


You can also protest to the local Israeli embassy, you can find the
addresses on the
web<http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfh/Eng/Ntz/Ntz_Israel.asp?seek=1&let=85>:
http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfh/Eng/Ntz/Ntz_Israel.asp?seek=1&let=85

Copies of appeals in can also be sent to:

Head of Incompatibles Unit
Induction Base (Baqum)
Tel-Hashomer
Fax: ++972-3-737-67-05.

Addresses of additional military and government officials, as well as those
of some Israeli media, to which you can send copies of your appeals, can be

found at this web address:
<http://www.newprofile.org/english/Summery_CO_01.html>http://www.newprofile.org/english/Summery_CO_01.html
(see the bottom of the
page).

Please be aware that writing to the media at this time is more important
than ever.

A standard sample letter is available at the bottom of the same web page
(<http://www.newprofile.org/english/Summery_CO_01.html#sample>http://www.newprofile.org/english/Summery_CO_01.html#sample).
However it
would be advisable to adjust your letter to the particular circumstances of
the case.

Thank you,
David Raban, New Profile.