P.O.Box 46081, London W9 2ZF jfjfp@jfjfp.org
Page last updated
August 29, 2008
Understanding the conflict
page under construction
Our webpage Related Organisations gives links to the websites of almost every important campaigning, research or simply critical Israeli organisation. If you know of others we should include, please e-mail us.
The Refuseniks
Remembrance
Latest: New wave of school-leaver refuseniks (August 2008)
Financial support for Refuseniks needed urgently
The Keren Yesh Gvul, the fund to give support to Refuseniks, have promised money to all but are having severe problems keeping to this. There are now Refuseniks from the elite units, pilots and the paras, who are older and have families to support and who are in greater need. More money is desperately needed and this is a practical way those of us who live more comfortably in the UK can offer very real and concrete assistance.
Reservist refusers don't receive the IDF salary compensation for lost income. Many of them have a family to maintain. With an increasing number of refusers, the Keren Yesh Gvul (specific fund for compensations) is emptying rapidly. If you want the refuseniks to continue to receive at least some support in the future, please send a cheque made out to 'Israeli Refuseniks' to us at P.O.Box 37402, London N3 2XG.
We will consolidate all sums received and make a single transfer to Yesh Gvul thus minimising exchange and banks charges which can be very high, especially on small sums.
1. For the current situation among the Refusniks see what you can do.
For an overview of the solidarity movement see the Refuser Solidarity Network presentation of their work.
To act now or to find the latest news and campaigns visit the Refuser Solidarity Network, 'a web portal to unite international supporters of Israeli Refusers'
2. Refusenik websites:The Refuser Solidarity Network, 'a web portal to unite international supporters of Israeli Refusers'
The Courage to Refuse site - with their Combatant's Letter of refusal
The Shministim (the Seniors) site
The Yesh Gvul (There is a Border) site
Breaking the Silence - Soldiers speak out about Hebron
An exhibition of soldiers' testimonies of routine activities took place in June 2004 in Tel Aviv; the group who put it togther continue to campaign: contact Yehuda Shaul.3. Follow these links for statements by various resisters:
f) Materials on the Breaking the Silence exhibition:
Yitzhak Laor In Hebron
The soldiers' own written testimonies
Transcript of the exhibition videoe) 27 pilots refuse to fly targetted assassination missions statement of 24 September 2003
(See also Uri Avnery The Magnificent 27 and David Grossman Listen to the pilots on the lessons israelis should draw from the pilots' protest.)e) Matan Kaminer's statement of 8th December 2002
c) Haggai Matar's statement of 23rd October 2002 as he was about to be imprisoned
b) Shani Werner's biting comments on the male chauvinism of the Refusenik movement
a) Guardian feature on Refusenik Jonathan "Yoni" Ben-Artzi, Benyamin Netanyahu's nephew
4. Speech in appreciation of Yesh GvulSusan Sontag
Adapted from Susan Sontag's speech on 30 March 2003 at the presentation of the Rothko Chapel Oscar Romero Award to Ishai Menuchin, chairman of Yesh Gvul.
4. Related linksa) Amnesty International's condemnation of Israel's treatment of conscientious objectors , December 2002
b) The War Resisters' International's report on conscientious objection in Israel to the UN Committee on Human Rights, February 2003 and the statement of their Executive Committee on court-martials in Israel.
In addition, 15 May is International Conscientious Objectors' Day. It is focussed this year on Israeli refuseniks and nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation
Remembrance: Deir Yassin today and the work of Zochrot
On 9 April 1948 the Irgun and the Stern Gang killed 100-130 men, women and children in cold blood in the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin. The village was repopulated with Jewish immigrants and the name Deir Yassin was wiped off the map.
Deir Yassin was not the only massacre to take place at the time, on either side. But because more then any other single event, Deir Yassin signalled the flight of the Palestinians which was to lead to their eventual dispossession and exile, it has come to occupy a very special place in the Palestinian collective memory.
But Deir Yassin is an important event in Jewish history too. Coming just three years after the liberation of Auschwitz, Deir Yassin symbolises the Jewish transition from enslavement to empowerment and, in too many cases, from abused to abuser. For many Jews and Israelis the massacre has become a symbol for Jews and Israelis trying to understand and to own their responsibility for the historical and ongoing persecution of the Palestinians.
Deir Yassin Remembered is an organization focusing specifically on the memory and significance of that event. Zochrot is a group of Israelis that has made remembrance in general central to its work, aiming to raise awareness to the tragedy and suffering of the Palestinian people, particularly among the Jewish population of Israel. Posting signs at demolished Palestinian villages is one way to advance this goal and it organises regular events in Israel to do precisely that, representing the past to the current inhabitants.
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6. On Thursday, 7 April 2005, about 100 people participated in an event to commemorate 57 years since the massacre at Deir Yassin. Hanna Marmelstein reports on the event.
Ghada Karmi
c.1,000 words
Though the Zionists perpetrated many other massacres in Palestine, Deir Yassin remains the most significant and symbolic... as Menachem Begin... said: "There would not have been a state of Israel without the victory at Deir Yassin."
4. Position Paper on Posting Signs at the Sites of Demolished Palestinian Villages
Eytan Bronstein, of the Israeli organisation Zochrot
c.1,100 words
"We are a group of Israelis that aim to raise awareness to the tragedy and suffering of the Palestinian people, particularly among the Jewish population of Israel... Calling attention to the Naqba in Hebrew - at schools, universities, and in other public arenas - should be an objective of all who desire mutual recognition and peace between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East."
3. Two talks at the Deir Yassin commemoration at in London, April 6th 2003Deir Yassin: Remembrance, Acknowledgement, Transcendence, by Dr Salma Khadra Jayyusi
Remembering and Resisting: On Deir Yassin and the Jewish Future, by Marc H Ellis
Plus:
Deir Yassin remembered in Israel, April 2003 Two brief reports
Photographs from Deir Yassin commemoration, Jerusalem April 2003
2. In Sight of Yad Vashem: Jews and Deir Yassin Remembranceby Paul Eisen, London-based director of Deir Yassin Remembered
1. The Sun Always Sets on Deir YassinDr. Esti Rimmer
Esti Rimmer is an Israeli living in the U.K. This piece was written after Esti's return home after attending the DYD2001 commemoration at the Peacock theatre in London. It's a remarkable piece which looks at Deir Yassin through the eyes of an Israeli child.
