Breaking Ranks: Refusing to Serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip - Hardcover

Ronit Chacham

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1590510437 ISBN 13: 9781590510438

Publisher: Other Press, 2004

Synopsis

In a series of moving and provocative conversations, nine members of the Israeli Defense Force tell why they refused to serve in the West Bank and Gaza. The "Refuseniks" describe their risky moral decision against the background of what is perhaps the most volatile conflict in the world today: the Israeli-Palestine struggle. Their individual choices and their collective activism have generated intense debate in Israel and the international community, from the leading Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz to a segment on 60 Minutes.

In a sociocultural mosaic of the refusenik movement and the political context in which it arose, these men recount their individual family backgrounds and beliefs. Dedicated to the welfare of their country and its religious heritage, they outline their concerns for the future of Israel. As they tell their stories of personal struggle, they also raise the disturbing and highly controversial issue of human rights abuses in the occupied territories.

These searching personal accounts of existential choice offer new perspectives on some entrenched ideas about the situation in the Middle East. The testimony in Breaking Ranks is essential background for a full understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The refuseniks illuminate the inner workings of Israeli society by challenging what it most reveres, offering a new moral framework that reinforces a sense of belonging to Israel. In this time of grave crisis in the Middle East, with no solution in sight to repair the utter collapse of the peace process, these voices offer a message of hope in their commitment to their society and nation

About this title

About the Author

Ronit Chacham, a native of Israel currently living in Jerusalem, is a widely published cultural critic who contributes regularly to news magazines in Israel. She is also the author of numerous works of fiction, including children's books, short stories, and plays.

Reviews

On January 25, 2002, a letter was published in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz in which 52 Israeli army reservists asked their fellow soldiers to join them in refusing to serve in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (More than 500 soldiers have now joined in their cause.) They believed that the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians were being violated by Israel. The soldiers were disturbed by what they called "the force they were expected to use as soldiers against a civilian population collectively penalized for its uprising against the occupation." Their letter was intended to persuade Israeli Jews that unwarranted violence against civilians threatened Israel's existence and eroded the Zionist principles in which they had been raised. In conversations with Chacham, nine so-called "Refuseniks" tell why they disobeyed orders to serve there, citing the wrongdoings of the Israeli army. Whether readers agree or disagree with their beliefs, this book is essential in understanding Israeli society today and the growing conflict in the Middle East. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Other Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1590510437
• ISBN 13: 9781590510438
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176