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I recieved this email today, I wonder what you all would say.
~Marc
>PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
>
>Dear friends,
>
>It has been a while since we last sent out an update on imprisoned objectors
>in Israel, mostly because the Israeli military preferred to avoid
>imprisoning objectors in recent months. Today, however, we have a case to
>report.
>
>Yahel Avigur, a pacifist conscientious objector to military service from
>Qiriat Motzkin, near Haifa (see his photo in the attached file) has been
>sentenced on Sunday (27 February 2005) to 28 days in military prison. The
>charge against him was that he refused to wear military uniform. He was not
>imprisoned immediately. Rather, he was detained yesterday in the Beit-Lid
>military base, and is due to be transferred to Military Prison No. 4 in
>Tzrifin today (1 March). He is due to be released from prison on Friday, 25
>March 2005. It is very likely that he will be sent to prison again soon
>afterwards, probably several times. In fact, the officer who sentenced him,
>one Zeev Sharoni, took bother to tell Yahel so at the time of the 'trial'.
>
>This is the second prison term for Yahel. He has already spent 14 days in
>prison in late October and early November 2004, but at the time he asked us
>not to give publicity to his case (which is why it was not reported back
>then). Yahel has decided to refuse to perform military service already after
>he has been formally enlisted. After his first prison term, he was allowed
>to appear before the internal military Conscience Committee. The committee
>summoned to hear Yahel's appeal was not the Conscience Committee in its
>present make-up, which also includes one civilian member, but rather the
>Committee in its older make-up, with military career officers alone as
>members. This committee has turned down his request for exemption from
>military service on grounds of conscience, but no formal notification of
>that decision, nor any statement of the grounds for rejecting his appeal
>have been given to date. It should be mentioned that appeals by soldiers to
>this committee have practically always been rejected.
>
>In a statement he has made shortly before his second arrest, Yahel Avigur
>writes:
>
> ...The procedures that might have led to my discharge from the army have
>been exhausted. Although I have made my intentions clear and have proven
>their sincerity, my right to be discharged has not been recognised. All I
>can do now is to refuse to obey any order given me, and to spend some time
>in prison, until the military system realises it is unreasonable to continue
>my incarceration.
>
> I believe that in every person there is the potential to live a life of
>peace and love to others and to oneself; a potential to comprehend the basic
>identity between oneself and every human being - for we are all born,
>breathe and die. We are saddened by the same things: we all fear decay and
>death, failures, disappointments. Every person has the potential to
>understand that one is part of a huge interrelated system, all of the
>components of which are essentially the same, as they are manifestations of
>life. I see how we are drawn away from realising this comprehension by
>forming barriers and borders between ourselves and 'the other', by believing
>we are different than the others and even hostile to them. Thus we create
>ever more suffering - for ourselves as well as for the other.
>
> I see how humanity acts increasingly to entrench this perception. Wars and
>borders between States, inter-class alienation, viewing the environment as a
>mere resource, which I should exploit for my own personal benefit - these
>are some of the manifestations of this perception, and they to are gaining
>strength. Today there is no doubt that this way leads to the destruction of
>the human species and perhaps of the whole world. Weapons of mass
>destruction, in the hands of thousands of people willing to destroy
>everything in the name of this perception. A collapsing ecological system,
>which we all consume in the name of this perception, lead us towards certain
>death.
>
> Violence is fed by this perception, which presents me as different from
>the other. The willingness to harm a creature perfectly identical to oneself
>can only come out of a denial of this basic identity, and of a belief that
>an essential difference exists between the two. Thus, the use of violence
>blinds our eyes to seeing the other and feeds this false and destructive
>perception.
>
> Violence spreads ever further. A person who has been the victim of
>violence would internalise it and turn it towards the other. A person who
>has used violence internalises the alienation from others and the
>willingness to use violence against them. The use of violence would only
>bring further violence. A solution for violence can only come out of
>nonviolence. Only the complete abolishment of violence, and replacing it
>with a sense of equality, listening, empathy and love as the forces taking
>hold of the mind, may bring violence to a stop and allow us to live in
>peace, us and the others. Only an attempt to actually fulfil what clearly
>needs fulfilling, only liberation from the perception counter-posing one
>human being to another, may turn us around and lead us away from the brink
>of an abyss.
>
> In the name of these beliefs I have chosen not to fill the ranks of the
>army.
>
> I love many people. My family, my girlfriend, my friends ... my tutors.
>They all taught me to love everything, to love myself, to love every human
>being. This is all I want. This is my only statement. This is the only
>reason for doing what I do.
>
> I love you all very much.
>
> Yahel Avigur
> 20 Feb. 2005
>
>
>What can we do?
>First of all, please circulate this message and the information contained in
>it as widely as possible, not only through e-mail, but also on websites,
>conventional media, by word of mouth, etc. Other recommendations for action:
>
>1. Sending Letters of Support
>Please send the Yahel your messages of support to:
>
>Yahel Avigur (Military ID 7379352)
>Military Prison No. 4,
>Military postal number 02507,
>IDF
>Israel.
>
>2. Letters to Authorities
>It is recommended to send letters of protest on behalf of Yahel, preferably
>by fax, to:
>
>Mr. Shaul Mofaz,
>Minister of Defence,
>Ministry of Defence,
>37 Kaplan St.,
>Tel-Aviv 61909,
>Israel.
>E-mail: sar@mod.gov.il or pniot@mod.gov.il
>Fax: ++972-3-696-27-57 / ++972-3-691-69-40 / ++972-3-691-79-15
>
>Copies can be sent to the commander of the prison at:
>
>Commander of Military Prison No. 4,
>Military Prison No. 4,
>Military postal number 02507,
>IDF
>Israel.
>Fax: ++972-3-957-52-76
>
>Another useful address for sending copies would be the Military Attorney
>General:
>
>Chief Military Attorney
>Military postal code 9605
>IDF
>Israel
>Fax: ++972-3-569-43-70
>
>It would be especially useful to send your appeals to the Commander of the
>Induction Base in Tel-Hashomer. It is this officer that ultimately decides
>whether an objector is to be exempted from military service or sent to
>another round in prison:
>
>Commander of Induction Base,
>Baqum, Tel-Hashomer
>Military Postal Code 02718, IDF
>Israel.
>Fax: ++972-3-737-60-52
>
>Copies of appeals in can also be sent to:
>
>Head of Incompatibles Unit
>Induction Base (Baqum)
>Tel-Hashomer
>Military Postal Code 02718, IDF
>Israel.
>Fax: ++972-3-737-67-05.
>
>For those of you who live outside Israel, it would be very effective to send
>protests to your local Israeli embassy. You can find the address of your
>embassy on the web:
>http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfh/Eng/Ntz/Nt...?seek=1&let=85
>
>Here is a sample letter, which you can use, or better adapt, in sending
>appeals to authorities on Yahel's behalf:
>
> Dear Sir/Madam,
>
> It has come to my attention that Yahel Avigur (military ID 7379352), a
>pacifist conscientious objector, has been imprisoned for the second time for
>his refusal to perform military service and is held in Military Prison No. 4
>in Tzrifin.
>
> The imprisonment of conscientious objectors such as Yahel Avigur is a
>violation of international law, of basic human rights and of plain morals.
>The repeated imprisonment of conscientious objectors is an especially grave
>offence, as it means sentencing a person more than once for the same
>offence, and has been judged by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
>to constitute a clear case arbitrary detention.
>
> I therefore call for the immediate and unconditional release from prison
>of Yahel Avigur, without threat of further imprisonment in the future.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>3. Letters to media in Israel and in other countries
>Writing op-ed pieces and letters to editors of media in Israel and other
>countries could also be quite useful in supporting our effort to let the
>public know of Yahel Avigur's imprisonment, and in indirectly but powerfully
>pressuring the military authorities to let go of him.
>
>Here are some contact details for the main media outlets in Israel:
>Ma'ariv:
>2 Karlibach st.
>Tel-Aviv 67132
>Israel
>Fax: +972-3-561-06-14
>e-mail: editor@maariv.co.il
>
>Yedioth Aharonoth:
>2 Moses st.
>Tel-Aviv
>Israel
>Fax: +972-3-608-25-46
>
>Ha'aretz (Hebrew):
>21 Schocken st.
>Tel-Aviv, 61001
>Israel
>Fax: +972-3-681-00-12
>
>Ha'aretz (English edition):
>21 Schocken st.
>Tel-Aviv, 61001
>Israel
>Fax: +972-3-512-11-56
>e-mail: letters@haaretz.co.il
>
>Jerusalem Post:
>P.O. Box 81
>Jerusalem 91000
>Israel
>Fax: +972-2-538-95-27
>e-mail: news@jpost.co.il or letters@jpost.co.il
>
>Radio (fax numbers):
>
>Kol-Israel +972-2-531-33-15 and +972-3-694-47-09
>Galei Tzahal +972-3-512-67-20
>
>Television (fax numbers):
>
>Channel 1 +972-2-530-15-36
>Channel 2 +972-2-533-98-09
>
>
>Thank you,
>Sergeiy Sandler - New Profile.
~Marc
>PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
>
>Dear friends,
>
>It has been a while since we last sent out an update on imprisoned objectors
>in Israel, mostly because the Israeli military preferred to avoid
>imprisoning objectors in recent months. Today, however, we have a case to
>report.
>
>Yahel Avigur, a pacifist conscientious objector to military service from
>Qiriat Motzkin, near Haifa (see his photo in the attached file) has been
>sentenced on Sunday (27 February 2005) to 28 days in military prison. The
>charge against him was that he refused to wear military uniform. He was not
>imprisoned immediately. Rather, he was detained yesterday in the Beit-Lid
>military base, and is due to be transferred to Military Prison No. 4 in
>Tzrifin today (1 March). He is due to be released from prison on Friday, 25
>March 2005. It is very likely that he will be sent to prison again soon
>afterwards, probably several times. In fact, the officer who sentenced him,
>one Zeev Sharoni, took bother to tell Yahel so at the time of the 'trial'.
>
>This is the second prison term for Yahel. He has already spent 14 days in
>prison in late October and early November 2004, but at the time he asked us
>not to give publicity to his case (which is why it was not reported back
>then). Yahel has decided to refuse to perform military service already after
>he has been formally enlisted. After his first prison term, he was allowed
>to appear before the internal military Conscience Committee. The committee
>summoned to hear Yahel's appeal was not the Conscience Committee in its
>present make-up, which also includes one civilian member, but rather the
>Committee in its older make-up, with military career officers alone as
>members. This committee has turned down his request for exemption from
>military service on grounds of conscience, but no formal notification of
>that decision, nor any statement of the grounds for rejecting his appeal
>have been given to date. It should be mentioned that appeals by soldiers to
>this committee have practically always been rejected.
>
>In a statement he has made shortly before his second arrest, Yahel Avigur
>writes:
>
> ...The procedures that might have led to my discharge from the army have
>been exhausted. Although I have made my intentions clear and have proven
>their sincerity, my right to be discharged has not been recognised. All I
>can do now is to refuse to obey any order given me, and to spend some time
>in prison, until the military system realises it is unreasonable to continue
>my incarceration.
>
> I believe that in every person there is the potential to live a life of
>peace and love to others and to oneself; a potential to comprehend the basic
>identity between oneself and every human being - for we are all born,
>breathe and die. We are saddened by the same things: we all fear decay and
>death, failures, disappointments. Every person has the potential to
>understand that one is part of a huge interrelated system, all of the
>components of which are essentially the same, as they are manifestations of
>life. I see how we are drawn away from realising this comprehension by
>forming barriers and borders between ourselves and 'the other', by believing
>we are different than the others and even hostile to them. Thus we create
>ever more suffering - for ourselves as well as for the other.
>
> I see how humanity acts increasingly to entrench this perception. Wars and
>borders between States, inter-class alienation, viewing the environment as a
>mere resource, which I should exploit for my own personal benefit - these
>are some of the manifestations of this perception, and they to are gaining
>strength. Today there is no doubt that this way leads to the destruction of
>the human species and perhaps of the whole world. Weapons of mass
>destruction, in the hands of thousands of people willing to destroy
>everything in the name of this perception. A collapsing ecological system,
>which we all consume in the name of this perception, lead us towards certain
>death.
>
> Violence is fed by this perception, which presents me as different from
>the other. The willingness to harm a creature perfectly identical to oneself
>can only come out of a denial of this basic identity, and of a belief that
>an essential difference exists between the two. Thus, the use of violence
>blinds our eyes to seeing the other and feeds this false and destructive
>perception.
>
> Violence spreads ever further. A person who has been the victim of
>violence would internalise it and turn it towards the other. A person who
>has used violence internalises the alienation from others and the
>willingness to use violence against them. The use of violence would only
>bring further violence. A solution for violence can only come out of
>nonviolence. Only the complete abolishment of violence, and replacing it
>with a sense of equality, listening, empathy and love as the forces taking
>hold of the mind, may bring violence to a stop and allow us to live in
>peace, us and the others. Only an attempt to actually fulfil what clearly
>needs fulfilling, only liberation from the perception counter-posing one
>human being to another, may turn us around and lead us away from the brink
>of an abyss.
>
> In the name of these beliefs I have chosen not to fill the ranks of the
>army.
>
> I love many people. My family, my girlfriend, my friends ... my tutors.
>They all taught me to love everything, to love myself, to love every human
>being. This is all I want. This is my only statement. This is the only
>reason for doing what I do.
>
> I love you all very much.
>
> Yahel Avigur
> 20 Feb. 2005
>
>
>What can we do?
>First of all, please circulate this message and the information contained in
>it as widely as possible, not only through e-mail, but also on websites,
>conventional media, by word of mouth, etc. Other recommendations for action:
>
>1. Sending Letters of Support
>Please send the Yahel your messages of support to:
>
>Yahel Avigur (Military ID 7379352)
>Military Prison No. 4,
>Military postal number 02507,
>IDF
>Israel.
>
>2. Letters to Authorities
>It is recommended to send letters of protest on behalf of Yahel, preferably
>by fax, to:
>
>Mr. Shaul Mofaz,
>Minister of Defence,
>Ministry of Defence,
>37 Kaplan St.,
>Tel-Aviv 61909,
>Israel.
>E-mail: sar@mod.gov.il or pniot@mod.gov.il
>Fax: ++972-3-696-27-57 / ++972-3-691-69-40 / ++972-3-691-79-15
>
>Copies can be sent to the commander of the prison at:
>
>Commander of Military Prison No. 4,
>Military Prison No. 4,
>Military postal number 02507,
>IDF
>Israel.
>Fax: ++972-3-957-52-76
>
>Another useful address for sending copies would be the Military Attorney
>General:
>
>Chief Military Attorney
>Military postal code 9605
>IDF
>Israel
>Fax: ++972-3-569-43-70
>
>It would be especially useful to send your appeals to the Commander of the
>Induction Base in Tel-Hashomer. It is this officer that ultimately decides
>whether an objector is to be exempted from military service or sent to
>another round in prison:
>
>Commander of Induction Base,
>Baqum, Tel-Hashomer
>Military Postal Code 02718, IDF
>Israel.
>Fax: ++972-3-737-60-52
>
>Copies of appeals in can also be sent to:
>
>Head of Incompatibles Unit
>Induction Base (Baqum)
>Tel-Hashomer
>Military Postal Code 02718, IDF
>Israel.
>Fax: ++972-3-737-67-05.
>
>For those of you who live outside Israel, it would be very effective to send
>protests to your local Israeli embassy. You can find the address of your
>embassy on the web:
>http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfh/Eng/Ntz/Nt...?seek=1&let=85
>
>Here is a sample letter, which you can use, or better adapt, in sending
>appeals to authorities on Yahel's behalf:
>
> Dear Sir/Madam,
>
> It has come to my attention that Yahel Avigur (military ID 7379352), a
>pacifist conscientious objector, has been imprisoned for the second time for
>his refusal to perform military service and is held in Military Prison No. 4
>in Tzrifin.
>
> The imprisonment of conscientious objectors such as Yahel Avigur is a
>violation of international law, of basic human rights and of plain morals.
>The repeated imprisonment of conscientious objectors is an especially grave
>offence, as it means sentencing a person more than once for the same
>offence, and has been judged by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
>to constitute a clear case arbitrary detention.
>
> I therefore call for the immediate and unconditional release from prison
>of Yahel Avigur, without threat of further imprisonment in the future.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>3. Letters to media in Israel and in other countries
>Writing op-ed pieces and letters to editors of media in Israel and other
>countries could also be quite useful in supporting our effort to let the
>public know of Yahel Avigur's imprisonment, and in indirectly but powerfully
>pressuring the military authorities to let go of him.
>
>Here are some contact details for the main media outlets in Israel:
>Ma'ariv:
>2 Karlibach st.
>Tel-Aviv 67132
>Israel
>Fax: +972-3-561-06-14
>e-mail: editor@maariv.co.il
>
>Yedioth Aharonoth:
>2 Moses st.
>Tel-Aviv
>Israel
>Fax: +972-3-608-25-46
>
>Ha'aretz (Hebrew):
>21 Schocken st.
>Tel-Aviv, 61001
>Israel
>Fax: +972-3-681-00-12
>
>Ha'aretz (English edition):
>21 Schocken st.
>Tel-Aviv, 61001
>Israel
>Fax: +972-3-512-11-56
>e-mail: letters@haaretz.co.il
>
>Jerusalem Post:
>P.O. Box 81
>Jerusalem 91000
>Israel
>Fax: +972-2-538-95-27
>e-mail: news@jpost.co.il or letters@jpost.co.il
>
>Radio (fax numbers):
>
>Kol-Israel +972-2-531-33-15 and +972-3-694-47-09
>Galei Tzahal +972-3-512-67-20
>
>Television (fax numbers):
>
>Channel 1 +972-2-530-15-36
>Channel 2 +972-2-533-98-09
>
>
>Thank you,
>Sergeiy Sandler - New Profile.
.
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