Zwei Artikel aus dem Common Ground News Service:

Der erste, von Rabbi Marc Gopin sieht die jüngsten Bewegungen im politischen Raum als eine "günstige Gelegenheit, neu Parteikoalitionen zu gründen, die quer zu den religiösen und ethnischen Trennlinien stehen". "Millionen Menschen wird es langsam klar, dass der Schlüssel zur _langfristigen_ Sicherheit ihrer Gesellschaften in einer gesunden Wirtschaft liegt, die alle enthnischen und Klassen-Trennungen übersteigt, sowie in einer interdependenten Beziehung mit der globalisierten Welt, in der Rechtsstaatlichkeit vorherrscht, sowie ein gemeinsames Bekenntnis zu gesetzlich durchgesetztem Schutz vor Extremismus und die Bereitschaft, Vereinbarungen zu schließen, die allen zugute kommen."

Damit das Bild aber nicht zu positiv aussieht, erinnert uns der zweite Artikel, von Daoud Kuttab, dass die öffentliche Meinung im Nahen Osten nur unter ganz bestimmten Bedingungen wichtig ist. "Veränderungen können im Nahen Osten auf zwei Wegen erlangt werden: Bei der ersten Methode, muss man überwältigende öffentliche Unterstützung in einer Gemeinschaft erzielen. Dafür müssen Aktivisten ihre Erwartungen senken und sich auf einen gemeinsamen Vielfachen einigen, der überwältigende öffentliche Unterstützung gewinnen kann. Die einzige andere Methode ist Druck von außen auf die Führer."

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Nach der Verschleppung von vier Mitglieder des Christian Peace Team in Irak (das in unseren Medien verblasst neben der der deutschen Osthoff), haben langfristige Mitglieder der Organisation eine Botschaft öffentlich gemacht, in der sie festhalten, dass sie sich der Risiken, die sowohl die Iraker wie auch Internationale zur Zeit gegenüberstehen, bewusst sind und bekräftigen, dass diese Risiken nicht stärker wiegen als das Ziel ihrer Presenz. Sie hoffen, dass sie "durch Liebe zu Freunden wie Feinden und durch gewaltlose Intervention sie diejenigen, die systematisch unterdrückt werden helfen und dadurch einen kleinen Beitrag leisten können zur Veränderung dieser unbeständigen Situation." Sie wenden sich gegen den Einsatz von Gewalt um ihre Arbeiter zu retten, sollten sie gekidnappt, als Geiseln genommen oder in einer Konfliktsituation gefangen sein. Das CPT Irak Team hat 120 Menschen in 16 Delegationen in den letzten drei Jahren nach Irak gebracht.

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Am vergangenen Montag haben Palästinenser von At-Tuwani ihr Land im Khoruba Tal gepflügt und gesät. Bevor sie anfingen hatten sie mit dem District Coordinating Office (DCO) der israelischen Armee ausgemacht, dass ein Offizier dabei sein würde, da ihr Land in der Nähe des Siedlungsaußenposten Havot Ma'on liegt. Der Offizier kam nicht zur abgemachten Zeit und hat keine Telefonanrufe beantwortet. Nachdem sie anderthalb Stunden gewartet hatten, fingen die Palästinenser an, dass Land zu bearbeiten. Internationale vom CPT und der (italienischen) Operation Dove waren dabei.

Zehn Minuten später kamen Siedlersicherheitskräfte und drei Siedler und berobachten die Arbeit. 45 Minuten später kamen Soldaten. Nachdem sie mit den Siedlern gesprochen hatten, befahlen sie, die Arbeit zu unterbrechen, bis der DCO kam. eine Viertelstunde später kamen Soldaten. CPTer und Doves fingen an, durch Fotos und Videoaufnahmen die Aktion zu dokumentieren. Soldaten konfiszierten zwei digitale und ein Videokamera und nahmen ein Dove-Mitglied fest.

Kurze Zeit später kamen Mitglieder von Ta'ayush und Rabbiner für Menschenrechte, um das Ereignis zu dokumentieren. Sie verhandelten mit den Soldaten und nach einer Stunde wurden die Apparate zurückgegeben. Anschließend kam Polizei, die mit den Siedlern sprach. Als die Internationalen sie bat, ihre Aussagen bezüglich der Übergriffe der Soldaten aufzunehmen, bedrohte sie ein Polizist und sagte, "Wenn ihr Klage gegen die Soldaten erhebt, werden sie euch anklagen, dass ihr die Waffen der Soldaten festgehalten habt.

Schließlich kam der Militärkommandant für den AtTuwani Bereich und erklärte das Land eine geschlossenes Militärgebiet, obwohl er konstatierte dass die (israelische) Ziviladminstration kein Entscheidungsbefugnis über den Besitz des Landes. Um 16.30 zogen die Palästinenser, Internationale und israelische FriedensaktivistInnen ab.

Die Palästinenser werden weiter das Land bearbeiten, mithilfe ihres israelischen Anwalts, der Dokumente hat, die das palästinensische Eigentum des Landes und die Illegalität des Eingreifens des Militärs beweisen.

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Dorothy und New Profile sind nun wieder aktiv, nachdem die Emailliste mit viel Zeitaufwand umgestellt wurde auf einen neuen Server. Sie schreibt dass im November - die "relativ niedrige Zahl" von 14 Palästinenser getötet wurden, und kommentiert, "'Wenn die Regierung Interesse hätte, Schuldige vor Gericht zu bringen, wenn der Premier Minister sich öffentlich gegen die kriminelle Gewalt, die von israelischen Bürgern ausgeht wenden würde....'", zitiert sie den nachfolgenden Haaretz Leitartikel, und fährt fort: "Aber die Regierung hat kein Interesse daran, Siedler vor Gericht zu bringen... Sie sind ja schließlich seine wahre Armee, die die Arbeit des Landraubs und der Vertreibung der Palätinenser durch Angst durchführen."

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In einem ausführlichen Leitartikel kritisiert Haaretz die verbreitete Zerstörung von Olivenbäume durch Siedler, die im vergangen Halbjahr allein um das Dorf Salem herum 900 Olivenbäume abgebrannt oder abgesägt haben. Sie schreibt, "Die Zerstörung von olivenbäume ist nicht nur ein Schlag gegen den Lebensunterhalt ländlicher PalästinenserInnen; sie ist vor allem eine Tat des Bösen, die den Wunsch widerspiegelt, eines der hervorragensten Symbole der Verbundenheit der Palätinenser an ihr Land anzugreifen und ein Versuch zu beweisen, dass die Siedler tatsächlich vorhaben, dieses Land zu erben und die BewohnerInnen zu vertreiben...

Aber die Zerstörung symbolisiert auch das Desinteresse und die Grausamkeit der Besetzung und die Kriminelle Missachtung der Siedleraktionen durch die Organe des Gesetzes... Es erübrigt sich zu erwähnen, dass kein Regierungsorgan sich bemüht, diese Situation zu ändern....

Wenn die Regierung Interesse hätte, die Schuldigen vor Gericht zu bringen, wäre zu bezweifeln, ob die Siedler ihre Angriffe auch nur eine weitere Woche fortsetzen könnten."

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Für diejenigen unter euch, die Englisch lesen und sich für feministische Frage interessieren (die uns selbstverständlich alle angehen) füge ich einen längeren ARtikel bei über die KDVlerin Idani Halili, die erste Frau, die ihren Armeedienst grundsätzlich aus Gewissensgründen ablehnt. Es ist ganz erstaunlich, wie deutlich eine junge Frau von gerade erst 19 gesellschaftliche Zusammenhänge und die Rolle des Militärs erkennt, und ihre Bereitschaft, benachteiligte Mädchen zu unterstützen, und die Ruhe mit der sie ihrem Einzugstermin und Gefängnisaufenthalt vor wenigen Wochen entgegen sah:

> From a report published November 18, 2005 in Ha-ir (a Tel Aviv area

> weekend

insert of Ha’aretz)

Translated from the Hebrew by Tal Haran

Women's Lib at Induction Center

The Israeli army has heard many different grounds for conscientious objection, but never yet an official appeal for draft exemption on feminist grounds – not yet. Idan Halili, a 19-year kibbutznik, is setting a precedent and going to jail, since the law is the law. She will continue to hone her views on this chauvinist patriarchal institution with her friends from the Coalition of Women for Peace.

Combat Profile

On Tuesday morning, Mati Halili paced impatiently at the entrance to the Tel Hashomer Induction Center. "My daughter is first and foremost a contributor", he said, concerned. "She devotes all her time to contributing to society. Even now she's not merely going against the stream but wishing to contribute in a different way, and they're not letting her be heard. It's very frustrating." But his daughter, 19-year old Idan Halili, has raised a strong enough voice to be sent to jail this week. It seems that even on her official induction day at Tel Hashomer, she sounded less stressed than her father in view of the sanctions awaiting her as a result of the official status that will now be attached to her name: Israel's first-ever draft resister on grounds of feminism.

The letter Idan wrote the army's conscription administration on September 22nd, begins as follows: "On the of grounds conscience based on feminist ideology, I object to military service. I wish to be exempted from the service according to clause 36© of the Law of Military Service 1986". In her letter, Halili requested to see the Conscience Committee, which determines eligibility for exemption from military service on the grounds of conscience. Only on Monday, the eve of her induction date, did the army's answer finally arrive. It was negative. Halili was not intimidated. She had already thought of all the possible scenarios awaiting her in the next few months - military prison, public censure, and the army's hostile attitude.

We met hastily that evening. We did not know what the morrow will bring, being her conscription date, and did not want to risk the interview because of her possible incarceration. She was excited, but relaxed and focused. Feminist activists were buzzing around her, preparing the demonstration planned for the following morning. Halili showed up a bit late for our meeting because she had wanted to stop at the Dizengoff Center mall and buy some color pencils, for the eventuality of having to spend the immediate future in a jail cell. Although likely to be led from the induction directly to a military prison, she looked more prepared for what awaited her than most boys and girls on the eve of their induction. She also came prepared for our conversation. She directed her eyes at mine, seemed admirably focused and determined and showed full confidence in her position. Superbly articulate, she could easily outdo her co versant’s verbal skills.

"Our society is a militarist one", she says. "Army spirit penetrates our civilian lives and takes over." What convinced her to take this unprecedented step is the way the army, in her opinion, treats women. She claims it penetrates society and exercises its negative influence throughout, while Israelis continue to sanctify the army. "We must realize that there are other ways to contribute to the State", she says.

No to changing from within

A month ago she celebrated her 19th birthday. At 18 she decided to postpone her induction and went to serve for one year as a counselor at a girls' Rehabilitation Center in the Sharon area. During this year, she gradually resolved not to enlist. "I was not always a feminist", she reviews her youth at Kibbutz Mishmar Ha'emek. "I already heard of women being harassed when I was very young, and was always shocked and angry about it, but it me a long time to grasp the close connection between all the phenomena to which I was exposed."

Halili says that during her high school years on the kibbutz, she developed an interest in topics such as violence towards women, women's status in Arab countries, the dictates of beauty in our times, and the way in which women, even her young classmates, see themselves and their bodies. "In the 11th grade I volunteered at the Support Center for Foreign Laborers in Tel Aviv. There I learned a lot about the traffic in women and prostitution. This confrontation with one of the most extreme expressions of the exploitation of women in society made me think a lot about feminism and develop a keen interest in feminist theory. I realized that the way in which women are resented in advertising, sexual harassment and the traffic in women are all expressions of inequality and society's basic lack of respect for women. It's all connected."

That was when her contacts with the army began. She had grown up believing the army was a positive organization, and that the best and most proper way to contribute to the State and to society was military service. She meant to enlist and even took part in the preliminary screenings for the Intelligence Corps, but her year as a counselor at the Center gave her extra time for thought. During that time, as she got to know the resident in her care, the moral issues she had always been drawn to just intensified and became clearer.

"Work with the girls confronted me with the way women and girls internalize social messages that are destructive to them," she reiterates. "I became very active. I participated in demonstrations, attended lectures and read essays." The same year, Halili joined the organization Coalition of Women for Peace, the activist group Feminist Women's House, and New Profile. The people, especially women whom she met in these organizations, helped her reach her decision to refuse the draft and appeal to the army for exemption. She receives her legal advice from attorney Smadar Ben Natan, who works with New Profile.

Her decision taken, Halili was determined to go all the way and bear any possible consequences. Her parents, Mati and Bruria, were concerned at first. With time they warmed up to the idea, understood how important it was to her, and now warmly support her. Not that it's easy – in the kibbutz people have been whispering behind their backs. They don't like this unusual step and refuse to accept it. "There is still a lot of fanatic love for the army on the kibbutz", she says. "People say: 'Oh, you're a feminist? Well, become an officer!' This is a common misunderstanding of feminism. Feminism is not the desire to replace male dominance with female dominance, but rather for the system to be less of a hierarchy and more egalitarian."

But, really, why not try to change the system from within, as do quite a few women in the army and in other hierarchies, chauvinist or patriarchal systems? "I don't think the army can be changed from within. The army, any army, is an organization essentially based upon hierarchy, oppression, humiliation, controlling others and naturally, violence. Before I decided not to enlist, I meant to do something in the army that had to do with improving women's status there, for example with the Chief of Staff's Advisor on Women Matters. But at some point I realized I was not willing to join this fig leaf arrangement. For me, type of this activity, which to my understanding means a lot to many women, covers up a destructive system which is not really capable of change."

Halili also calls upon men to refuse to enlist on feminist grounds. "In its inherent structure and conduct, the army is a mechanism that also oppresses men", she says. Her activism aims at weakening the army's influence upon society. In a letter she wrote to the regional conscription administration: "An army is an organization whose basic values are incompatible with feminist values. It is a patriarchal organization… Enlisting, for me, means agreeing to become a part of a system based on control and power. Military service is a contribution to a system that systematically perpetuates the exclusion of women from the public domain and constructs women's place in society as secondary to men."

Halili is convinced that army atmosphere promotes sexual harassment of women. Of the widely publicized refusal of an officer's secretary, a few weeks ago, to serve him coffee, she says: "It's a significant and worthy act," but immediately draws back: "To what extent can we act while adapting ourselves to an organization constructed for men? It's just not enough."

No to Sacrifice

National civilian service is one possibility she sees for contributing to society without violating her resolve. She is sure that this is how she could really be effective. "I think men and women should be able to choose between army and national civilian service", she says.

What if everyone, or at least a large percentage of the population, chose not to serve in the army? "The army would not fall apart that soon. If Israel undergoes such significant transformation and so many people will not be willing to serve because they will no longer endorse this system, then the government and the army would have to change the system. Then the army would also be less of a must."

Halili's act is perceived as a brave but naïve step by Yaara Hotzan, manager of Tel Aviv's Feminist Women's House, that has been very active for the past 10 months. "Her act is both brave and somewhat naïve", she says. "A good sort of naivete - the belief that society can be changed. This is naivete in its idealist sense. We have encouraged Idan to take the step she chose. I think her realization that she can be a feminist activist actually pushed her into it. We intend for this to be more than a passing anecdote. Namely, whatever the consequences, we shall be discussing this act, its motives and implications. And, no, I'm not worried about masses of women and men following Idan. On the contrary."

Hotzan says that refusal on feminist grounds has already been claimed in the past, but without any publicity or public awareness. She says she knows a woman who, 13 years ago, refused to enlist on grounds of her feminist beliefs, served a prison term and was released, but she hasn’t been able to locate her and did not care to disclose her name. A feminist myth? Not sure.

Attorney Smadar Ben Natan, who has already represented several CO's in the past, as well as Tali Fahima, will also represent Idan if the need arises. "Clause 36 of the law makes it possible for the Minister of Defense to exempt from military service a man or woman on any grounds he finds appropriate, including those of conscience", she explains. "This provision is intended precisely for cases such as Idan's. The army is not required to endorse her beliefs and opinions, but only to respect the call of her conscience. Idan wishes to replace military service by a term of national civilian service, by which she could contribute to society in a non-military way that does not contradict her values – this after having already contributed a year to society by volunteering at the Center. She is not after the easy life, rather committed much more than many others to contributing to society. Many young women her age do not enlist for various reasons, without similar moral commitment. The army should enable her to do so as a part of a tolerant position that respects freedom of conscience, by law and as a part of a democratic value system."

The army spokesperson's response on the subject was particularly

succinct: "Enlisting in the Israeli army is required by law, and therefore any candidate for military service eligible for the draft must do so. The candidate's request (to face the Conscience Committee) has been reviewed by the respective army echelons and she has received their direct response." Their answer was, as related before, negative.

Professor Hannah Naveh, head of Women and Gender Studies Program at Tel Aviv University, is impressed and proud of this young feminist. "Young women conscripts are usually posted in mean, pathetic jobs that invite different types of harassment and abuse," says Naveh, siding with Halili, "and I don't mean merely sexual harassment, but the general feeling of humiliation of a person passing her time in superfluous, worthless work. Idan Halili is a true feminist and a believer. She should be encouraged to do civilian service as she wishes – and she is quite familiar with Israeli society's sore spots of shame. Her army service will indeed, as she says, turn her into a collaborator with reactionary historical forces. I don't see her request as a refusal. The army maintains a Conscience Committee, and it is high time this committee started checking itself out and adhering to the principle for which it was created."

On Tuesday, Halili was summoned to see a Women's Corps officer. The army thought that a ranking uniformed woman would straighten her out. This did not happen. Halili is peeved with the army, but not worried. She believes she will convince whoever should enable her to face the Committee, and even obtain her exemption. On Wednesday she was already tried and sent to the army women's prison for 14 days. This is alright, as far as she is concerned, she has already bought her color pencils… "I'm not committed to sit in military jail indefinitely", she assures us. "I don't believe in personal sacrifice, valor and so on. Many CO's eventually got out on the 'mental health' clause, after spending some time in army prisons. This does not make them any less worthy, only puts the army in an even more ridiculous light."

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Die israelische Aktivistin Tali Fahima - festgenommen, nachdem sie versucht hat, eine Dokumentarfilm über Jenin zu drehen - hat eine Entlassung nach etwa einem weiteren Jahr zugesagt bekommen in einer Abmachung mit der Staatsanwalt, in der einige Anklagepunkte fallengelassen werden und sie andere zugibt - Kontakt mit einem ausländischen Agenten (ein Al-Aqsa Aktivist, mit dem sie befreundet war), die weitergabe von Information an den Feind und die Verletzung einer juristischen Order, die es Israelis verbietet, in Gebiete zu reisen, die von der Palästinenser autorität kontrolliert sind. Fest steht noch nicht, ob das Gericht diese Abmachung akzeptiert. Wenn ja, hätte sie weniger als ein weiteres Jahr abzusitzen.

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Schließlich gebe ich eine Bitte weiter von Pax Christi, dem Internationalen Versöhnungsbund , Church and Peace und die Justice and Peace Commissions in Jerusalem. Sie greifen eine Initiative von dem Arab Educational Institute und drei mit dem International Versöhnungsbund verbundenen Organisationen in Palästina - Wi'am Center, Library on Wheels und dem Centre for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation auf und bitten um Weihnachtswünsche, -botschaften und Friedensgebete an und für die BewohnerInnen von Bethlehem. Die Geburtsstadt des Weihnachtsfestes wird langsam von einer obszönen Mauer umgeben und völlig abgeschnitten.

Die Botschaften können auf der Pax Christi Webseite www.paxchristi.net aufgegeben oder an peace-message(at)paxchristi.net geschickt werden,

möglichst aber nicht unbedingt auf Englisch. Sie

werden nach Bethlehem weitergeleitet, gedruckt und als persönliche Botschaften an die Menschen verteilt, sowie im Internet publiziert. Sie können auch Ideen enthalten für gewaltfreie Aktionen, da sie auch in die internationale Tagung "Gewaltfreiheit zelebrieren", die vom 27. - 30. Dez. in Bethlehem stattfinden wird.

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Einen adventlichen Gruß euch allen,