Breaking the Silence

One of the greatest, most moving and unfortunately most disturbing things that I did while living in the West Bank was to go on a Breaking the Silence tour. This organization was created after the beginning of the Second Intifada and is comprised of form Israeli soldiers who have decided to share with the Israeli public what is being done in the West Bank and Gaza. Here is the bio they put on their website:

Breaking the Silence is an organization of veteran combatants who have served in the Israeli military since the start of the Second Intifada and have taken it upon themselves to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories. We endeavor to stimulate public debate about the price paid for a reality in which young soldiers face a civilian population on a daily basis, and are engaged in the control of that population’s everyday life.

Soldiers who serve in the Territories witness and participate in military actions which change them immensely. Cases of abuse towards Palestinians, looting, and destruction of property have been the norm for years, but are still explained as extreme and unique cases. Our testimonies portray a different, and much grimmer picture in which deterioration of moral standards finds expression in the character of orders and the rules of engagement, and are justified in the name of Israel's security. While this reality is known to Israeli soldiers and commanders, Israeli society continues to turn a blind eye, and to deny that what is done in its name. Discharged soldiers returning to civilian life discover the gap between the reality they encountered in the Territories, and the silence about this reality they encounter at home. In order to become civilians again, soldiers are forced to ignore what they have seen and done. We strive to make heard the voices of these soldiers, pushing Israeli society to face the reality whose creation it has enabled.

We collect and publish testimonies from soldiers who, like us, have served in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem since September 2000, and hold lectures, house meetings, and other public events which bring to light the reality in the Territories through the voice of former combatants. We also conduct tours in Hebron and the South Hebron Hills region, with the aim of giving the Israeli public access to the reality which exists minutes from their own homes, yet is rarely portrayed in the media.

Founded in March 2004 by a group of soldiers who served in Hebron, Breaking the Silence has since acquired a special standing in the eyes of the Israeli public and in the media, as it is unique in giving voice to the experience of soldiers. To date, the organization has collected more than 700 testimonies from soldiers who represent all strata of Israeli society and cover nearly all units that operate in the Territories. All the testimonies we publish are meticulously researched, and all facts are cross-checked with additional eye-witnesses and/or the archives of other human rights organizations also active in the field. Every soldier who gives a testimony to Breaking the Silence knows the aims of the organization and the interview. Most soldiers choose to remain anonymous, due to various pressures from official military persons and society at large. Our first priority is to the soldiers who choose to testify to the public about their service.

In the winter of 2009, myself along with two colleagues decided to go one the Southern Hebron Hills tour. I wish I had my photographs and interviews to post along with this information, but due to technical problems they are no longer available.

While this tour takes a person on many stops, what I remember most from the experience was visiting one family who were literally living in a hole/cave in the ground. Their house had been built without an authorized building permit from the Israeli government and as a result it was bulldozed to the ground. What the family had left they gather together in holes they had dug in the dirt. The coverings to keep out the hot sun or rainy weather were old cement sacks that the women had stitched together.

Utterly shocked by the living conditions these people found themselves in, (the people in my village in Africa had a higher stander of living) I was humbled to knees when the family we were visiting offered us tea. Not only did this family have to sleep in a cave/hole they also had no water. Clean water had to be carried in by the family from a great distance. A trip made even more cumbersome by the Israeli settlers who live near by and the laws especially designed to protect them.This family with little to nothing to their name stood their offering everything they had to me, my colleagues as well as the roughly 20 or so individuals on the tour with us. Generosity like that restores my faith in the world, but usually breaks my heart as well. It always seems that the ones most willing to give are the ones who have the least to give.