Compulsive Creations Arts & Design Services, New Orleans, Louisiana

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

Residency rights revoked, families forced to relocate, mprisoned within their communities, unable to leave without a permit. Husbands, wives, and children separated. Curfews. Not enough food, water or medical supplies. Medical treatment denied while people bleed in the streets. People arrested in their homes in the middle of the night, dragged to the police station and tortured. Homes bulldozed with families still in them. Refugee camps.

Is this starting to sound familiar?

In 1938 Hitler began his campaign against the Jews, not to mention Homosexuals, Gypsies and a slew of other peoples deemed a threat to the Aryan race. Relocation, curfews, restrictions, imprisonment, starvation, torture… and finally, mass genocide.

The Holocaust still resides firmly in the collective Jewish memory, as it well should. We vowed never to forget, and never to let it happen again.

So how can we be allowing it to happen now?

On Friday I attended a rally in support of Palestine, in support of their right to exist, their right to live in their homeland, their right to be treated with the dignity and respect they are due as members of the human race. I was holding a sign stating “I am Jewish and I demand Israel stop killing Palestinians.”

A Jewish woman angrily confronted me. She yelled that her relatives had died in the holocaust. She asked me how I could be standing there, in support of these people that are killing our people. I tried to tell her that I do not support the killing on either side, that it is precisely because of what has happened to our people that I was standing there. She told me I was wrong, she called me a traitor, she s creamed “How can you.” She would not listen to me, she did not want to hear.

I hope that you will listen to me, I hope that you will open your minds and your hearts and hear me. We can not continue to let this happen. We must think hard now: do we honor the memory of what has happened to us as Jews by turning around and perpetrating it on others? There is no honor there. We should be ashamed. We must separate the issues and think clearly.

In a perfect world, governments would represent the wishes of their people. But it is not a perfect world, and governments’ actions are most often motivated by their own self-serving agendas. Likewise, there are fundamentalists on all sides with extreme agendas, willing to perform extreme acts. But the governments and the fundamentalists are not the people. And the people do not want this. They want to live in peace, they want to live their lives in safety, without fear, in their homes, with their families. The want to eat, to love, to create. This is what the people want. On all sides. I have lived in Israel and I know this. When I lived there I saw Israelis and Palestinians living side by side, working together, playing together, friends. Certainly, not everyone, but many. And the desire for this has not changed.

As of today, 402 members of the Israeli army have signed a declaration refusing to serve in the territories. Their numbers have been growing daily. This is their statement:

We, reserve combat officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, who were raised upon the principles of Zionism, sacrifice and giving to the people of Israel and to the State of Israel, who have always served in the front lines, and who were the first to carry out any mission, light or heavy, in order to protect the State of Israel and strengthen it.

• We, combat officers and soldiers who have served the State of Israel for long weeks every year, in spite of the dear cost to our personal lives, have been on reserve duty all over the Occupied Territories, and were issued commands and directives that had nothing to do with the security of our country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the Palestinian people. We, whose eyes have seen the bloody toll this Occupation exacts from both sides.

• We, who sensed how the commands issued to us in the Territories, destroy all the values we had absorbed while growing up in this country.

• We, who understand now that the price of Occupation is the loss of IDF’s human character and the corruption of the entire Israeli society.

• We, who know that the Territories are not Israel, and that all settlements are bound to be evacuated in the end.

• We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements.

• We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people.

• We hereby declare that we shall continue serving in the Israel Defense Forces in any mission that serves Israel’s defense.

• The missions of occupation and oppression do not serve this purpose – and we shall take no part in them.

25 of these conscientious objectors are currently in jail.

Yesterday, 7000 Israeli and Palestinian protesters marched for peace in Tel Aviv. Similar protests with equally large numbers have been taking place on a regular basis. As with protests here and everywhere, they are largely unreported by major media. But they are taking place – In Israel, in America, in Europe, all over the world.

The Palestinians do not want the end of Israel. They do not want the end of Jews. They simply want their rights as human beings, and as a people that have had to fight for our rights throughout the ages, we as Jews should be the first to speak up, to hold out our hands in friendship, to protest what is being done in our name, to make it clear that the only solution to this age old bloody conflict is a firm resolution to learn how to live together as brothers and sisters, how to live side by side in a way that is beneficial to both.

I will not go into exact details of the atrocities the Israeli Government and Army is carrying out against the Palestinians, there are too many. Instead, I urge you to seek the truth yourselves - please click here for links to start your research – and I urge you to clear your mind and heart of any biases based on fear and honor the memory of our people and those that stood with us in our struggles, to honor our history, our heritage and our faith by standing up and speaking out against this genocide. I urge you all to stand together with our Palestinian brothers and sisters and all the people of this world and say loud and clear:

I WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN

NOT IN MY NAME

Andrea Garland
April 7, 2002
New Orleans, LA

Return to Peace Links Page




	AN OPEN LETTER TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY Residency rights revoked, families forced to relocate, mprisoned within their communities, unable to leave without a permit. Husbands, wives, and children separated. Curfews. Not enough food, water or medical supplies. Medical treatment denied while people bleed in the streets. People arrested in their homes in the middle of the night, dragged to the police station and tortured. Homes bulldozed with families still in them. Refugee camps. Is this starting to sound familiar? In 1938 Hitler began his campaign against the Jews, not to mention Homosexuals, Gypsies and a slew of other peoples deemed a threat to the Aryan race. Relocation, curfews, restrictions, imprisonment, starvation, torture… and finally, mass genocide. The Holocaust still resides firmly in the collective Jewish memory, as it well should. We vowed never to forget, and never to let it happen again. So how can we be allowing it to happen now? On Friday I attended a rally in support of Palestine, in support of their right to exist, their right to live in their homeland, their right to be treated with the dignity and respect they are due as members of the human race. I was holding a sign stating “I am Jewish and I demand Israel stop killing Palestinians.” A Jewish woman angrily confronted me. She yelled that her relatives had died in the holocaust. She asked me how I could be standing there, in support of these people that are killing our people. I tried to tell her that I do not support the killing on either side, that it is precisely because of what has happened to our people that I was standing there. She told me I was wrong, she called me a traitor, she s creamed “How can you.” She would not listen to me, she did not want to hear. I hope that you will listen to me, I hope that you will open your minds and your hearts and hear me. We can not continue to let this happen. We must think hard now: do we honor the memory of what has happened to us as Jews by turning around and perpetrating it on others? There is no honor there. We should be ashamed. We must separate the issues and think clearly. In a perfect world, governments would represent the wishes of their people. But it is not a perfect world, and governments’ actions are most often motivated by their own self-serving agendas. Likewise, there are fundamentalists on all sides with extreme agendas, willing to perform extreme acts. But the governments and the fundamentalists are not the people. And the people do not want this. They want to live in peace, they want to live their lives in safety, without fear, in their homes, with their families. The want to eat, to love, to create. This is what the people want. On all sides. I have lived in Israel and I know this. When I lived there I saw Israelis and Palestinians living side by side, working together, playing together, friends. Certainly, not everyone, but many. And the desire for this has not changed. As of today, 402 members of the Israeli army have signed a declaration refusing to serve in the territories. Their numbers have been growing daily. This is their statement: We, reserve combat officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, who were raised upon the principles of Zionism, sacrifice and giving to the people of Israel and to the State of Israel, who have always served in the front lines, and who were the first to carry out any mission, light or heavy, in order to protect the State of Israel and strengthen it. • We, combat officers and soldiers who have served the State of Israel for long weeks every year, in spite of the dear cost to our personal lives, have been on reserve duty all over the Occupied Territories, and were issued commands and directives that had nothing to do with the security of our country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the Palestinian people. We, whose eyes have seen the bloody toll this Occupation exacts from both sides. • We, who sensed how the commands issued to us in the Territories, destroy all the values we had absorbed while growing up in this country. • We, who understand now that the price of Occupation is the loss of IDF’s human character and the corruption of the entire Israeli society. • We, who know that the Territories are not Israel, and that all settlements are bound to be evacuated in the end. • We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements. • We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people. • We hereby declare that we shall continue serving in the Israel Defense Forces in any mission that serves Israel’s defense. • The missions of occupation and oppression do not serve this purpose – and we shall take no part in them. 25 of these conscientious objectors are currently in jail. Yesterday, 7000 Israeli and Palestinian protesters marched for peace in Tel Aviv. Similar protests with equally large numbers have been taking place on a regular basis. As with protests here and everywhere, they are largely unreported by major media. But they are taking place – In Israel, in America, in Europe, all over the world. The Palestinians do not want the end of Israel. They do not want the end of Jews. They simply want their rights as human beings, and as a people that have had to fight for our rights throughout the ages, we as Jews should be the first to speak up, to hold out our hands in friendship, to protest what is being done in our name, to make it clear that the only solution to this age old bloody conflict is a firm resolution to learn how to live together as brothers and sisters, how to live side by side in a way that is beneficial to both. I will not go into exact details of the atrocities the Israeli Government and Army is carrying out against the Palestinians, there are too many. Instead, I urge you to seek the truth yourselves - please click here for links to start your research – and I urge you to clear your mind and heart of any biases based on fear and honor the memory of our people and those that stood with us in our struggles, to honor our history, our heritage and our faith by standing up and speaking out against this genocide. I urge you all to stand together with our Palestinian brothers and sisters and all the people of this world and say loud and clear: I WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN NOT IN MY NAME Andrea Garland April 7, 2002 New Orleans, LA Return to Peace Links Page
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