Free Yair Khilou!
More Israeli youth refuse induction
By Michael Kramer
"I fail to understand how the repression of the
Palestinian resistance to Israel by means of state terror--more
cruel and of wider scale even than the counter terror which it
provokes--serves the society that I am part of. How does the
activity of the state, implemented through the army, benefit me
and those I care for? The 'sterile' Jewish space created by the
State of Israel is a ghetto for its Jewish residents as well.
It prevents them from integrating into the Middle East. Nobody
is safe in this space--neither Jews nor Arabs."
--Yair Khilou
Yair Khilou, a recent high school graduate and political
activist, was arrested at his home on Dec. 23 after he refused
to be inducted into the so-called Israeli Defense Forces. He
was jailed at the Tel-Hashomer induction base and transferred
the next day to Military Prison No. 4.
Khilou is one of a growing number of Israeli youths and
military reservists who refuse to take part in the
apartheid-like occupation of Palestine. Some limit their
refusal to serving in the West Bank and Gaza regions of
Palestine only. These regions came under Israeli occupation
after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Others, like Khilou,
refuse to serve in the U.S.-armed and -financed IDF anywhere in
Palestine, including the Negev and Galilee. These regions have
been occupied since 1948.
Khilou was one of the organizers of a letter dated Aug. 19,
2001, that was sent to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon by
62 soon-to-be-drafted youth. In it, they announced that they
would not take part in "confiscation of lands, arrests,
executions without trial, destruction of houses, closure,
torture and prevention of medical treatment."
According to the Hebrew language monthly Etgar (No. 4),
"These 12th-graders continue a tradition established by youth
in earlier times but they are also different. In earlier
letters of this sort, refusal was described as a personal step.
This time the signers call on others to do the same."
Some among the group have been influenced by the events that
took place in Seattle, Quebec City and Genoa where young people
have begun to challenge the global system put in place by U.S.
finance capital and kept in place by the Pentagon and its
puppets like the IDF.
As in other mobilizations, the Internet and email played an
important role in bringing the 62 together. And just like
draft-age youth in the white-minority population in apartheid
South Africa, many Israeli youth have left the country rather
than serve in a military that is in essence an occupying
colonial army.
In an interview with the Etgar staff Khilou explained, "My
decision was political from the beginning. The thought began to
develop two years ago, as an anti-Zionist thing. I didn't go
along with the idea of a state with a Jewish majority. ...
Later my views developed more along class lines. The army's
operations are basically in the interests of the rich."
Michal Bar-Or also signed the letter, and in the same
interview she discussed the importance of solidarity: "I see a
connection between the Palestinian struggle and our refusal. By
means of the group letter, where we refuse to do something that
would hurt them, we show them they have support and we
strengthen them in what they are doing."
The letter has received wide publicity, not only in Israel
but in the Arab countries as well. A group of Palestinian
families who have had relatives killed by the IDF has written
to thank the youths for their stand. So has a group of students
in the West Bank.
Ariel Sharon, prime minister of the Israeli settler state,
is a documented war criminal. He has commanded military units
that have intentionally murdered non-combatant civilian
populations in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. According to
current U.S. law he should be denied an entry visa into the
United States and his various fund-raising organizations should
be closed down.
The IDF is a terrorist organization. Its everyday conduct
violates the United Nations Charter, various United Nations
resolutions and the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Israeli youth
who refuse to become part of this U.S.-financed terrorist
operation should be given political asylum in the country of
their choice.
Free Yair Khilou!
Kramer served in the IDF from 1972
to 1976.
Reprinted from the Jan. 10, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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