Letter from a Military Jail
by Yigal Bronner
Dissident Voice
November 11, 2002
Dear
Friends,
I would like to share with you some of my thoughts as I
pass the long hours peeling bags of onions, washing dozens of large oily pots,
or when I am asked to explain myself to those around me, people who find it
difficult to understand my motives. Why does a man of my age -- married with
two children -- "need all this?"
Why is it "worth my while" to refuse serving the occupied
territories?
Such questions have forced me to examine my actions from
the perspective of the other prisoners.
Here is a man, 36 years old, who is imprisoned with soldiers half his
age. He is separated from his family,
forbidden to take off his hat (even when sitting in his cell or while eating),
forbidden to use a pillow or sheets, to wear a watch, to eat in the dining hall
(rather, he eats on a folding table in the hallway near his cell all the while behind bars), and to speak
while working or while eating. He is
forced to work 14 hours a day (in the kitchen or cleaning the bathrooms on the
base), to stand at attention and yell, "Attention!" every time an
officer passes, and to obey a long list of other commands and prohibitions,
whose sole purpose is to humiliate him.
Why would anybody in his right mind subject himself to this?
In order to answer the above question seriously, one has to
recall the alternative, what it was I refused to do. There is indeed an effort to humiliate me through a variety of
regulations. But I believe that
humiliating another human being is more humiliating by far. To look, for example, into the eyes of a
Palestinian at a checkpoint and prevent him/her from reaching work, school, or
the hospital. To look into the eyes of
the residents upon whom I have just imposed another day of curfew -- a curfew
that seems to have no beginning and no end.
To look into the eyes of a farmer whose orchards I am ordered to uproot
-- or in the eyes of a family whose house I am about to demolish. And to see my reflection in the eyes of
these people: A despised soldier in front of trembling people who beg for his
mercy. This, to me, is much much more
humiliating.
There are, of course, those who claim that the presence of
people like me in the Occupied Territories can make the occupation more
humane. Indeed, it cannot be denied
that one can uproot an orchard politely, demolish a house quietly and in a
civilized manner, and perhaps even expel an entire population from their
village -- as has been done in South Hebron -- in an organized and less violent
way. It is possible, it seems, to
calmly dispossess and oppress an entire people. The question, however, still arises: can a person who wishes to
retain his humanity carry out such actions?
For me, the answer is clear: No.
So when we, the refusniks, declare that there are certain
things that a just person simply does not do, we do not mean working in a
kitchen since such work is dignified. We mean actions that humiliate and deny
the humanity of the Other. There is no
doubt that it is better to sit in jail, isolated, wearing a hat, silent,
washing dishes, and peeling onions.
I prefer -- by far -- to shed tears when I cut bag after
bag of onions over the tears that arise whenever I conjure up images of the
occupation.
Sincerely,
Yigal
Dr. Yigal Bronner
teaches Indian studies at Tel Aviv University, an activist in Ta'ayush Arab-Jewish Partnership, and a contributor
to The Other Israel: Voices of Refusal and Dissent. He was sentenced to 28 days in prison for refusing to serve in
the Occupied Territories.