APPEAL: Help the Israeli refuseniks!

Submitted by Anon on 22 January, 2004 - 5:06

Dear comrades,
The Refusers Parents Forum is an informal organisation of friends and relatives of Israeli Conscientious Objectors who have just been sentenced for a second year in military jail. They have refused to enlist in the Israel army (IDF) while it remains an occupation force.
We have started a petition calling for the Government to free these COs. The petition text, details of the trial, their testimonies and all the background is available on our website.

www.refuz.org.il

The petition

As we see it, your government is jailing [the COs] because of their convictions!

These young men chose to tell the truth -that it is against their conscience to do what your government wants the army to do. They believe that the army should not be a tool for oppressing another people. The Israeli Army should exist for one purpose only - that of genuine defense. But its present purpose and conduct is the opposite: by maintaining the seemingly endless occupation of the Palestinian Territories and denying the Palestinians their most basic human rights, it also destroys the Israeli society, its moral values, its economy, and yields terror attacks. This is no defense army. Indeed, the young draft resisters are willing to serve their society in an alternative, civil service.

We understand that it is particularly hard for your government to hear the voice of conscience - but breaking the mirror will not hide the facts. Inflicting harsh prison sentences only serves to arouse the protest of all those who are beyond the reach of your intimidation.

Release the five conscientious objectors NOW

People can also help us by:

  1. Tell us of any union or other public body that has passed resolutions that can be described as favouring "human rights" in the occupied territories and calling for the withdrawal of the IDF.
  2. Formulating a resolution endorsing our petition that could put to a vote in unions to which they belong.

Jonathan Sivan
parents@refuz.org.il

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