Israel jails Canadian `refusenik'. Reserve medic won't serve in West Bank, Gaza. `We simply have to break the circle of violence',
by MITCH POTTER, Toronto Star, October 9, 2003
"A Canadian-born Israeli reserve soldier has been jailed for refusing to serve in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, citing "reasons of conscience." Dan Goldenblatt, 33, a Montreal native, declined the order to deploy to the territories Tuesday morning after returning from a funeral for a friend killed in last weekend's Palestinian suicide bombing in the Israeli port city of Haifa, in which 19 civilians died. Officers at the Israeli Defence Forces base at Yokneam immediately tried Goldenblatt, a paratrooper battle medic, sentencing him to 28 days. His detention began yesterday at an Israeli military prison near the northern Israeli town of Atlit. "Until today, I have never refused to obey an order. I always came when called, with my army boots, hat and uniform," Goldenblatt said in a written statement to his superiors obtained by the Star. "For reasons of conscience, I refuse to take part in acts of occupation. I refuse to give any Palestinian even the slightest additional reason to participate in terrorist acts, to hate my country. I refuse to participate in the policy of revolving and stupid revenge of the current government of Israel, which believes in power and lacks initiative or hope," Goldenblatt said. "And I refuse to guard the poisonous and extremely costly settlements, which are the foundation of the policy of oppression and occupation. "I believe with all my heart that in refusing to serve in the occupied territories, I am serving the State of Israel in the most important manner." In a dramatic declaration last month, 27 Israeli pilots vowed to abstain from flying "assassination strikes" in densely populated Palestinian areas. Goldenblatt was a toddler when his Montreal-born parents moved to Israel in the early 1970s. His family has always maintained close ties to Canada, his father said in an interview last night. "I'm proud of him, I agree with him 100 per cent, but at the same time I'm not happy about it," David Goldenblatt, 62, said. "The question is what happens after 28 days? The army has jailed several dozen so-called `refuseniks,' and at least one of them keeps having his detention renewed. He's spent months in jail." David Goldenblatt said the irony is he once served as an Israeli military prosecutor, yet he feels helpless to assist his son ... In his written statement, Goldenblatt cited the death of his friend, Zvi Bahat, who was killed in Saturday's suicide attack at Maxim Restaurant in Haifa. The bomber, Goldenblatt noted, was revealed to be a woman, a young Palestinian law clerk from Jenin, whose own brother and cousin were killed in earlier IDF operations. "How is it possible that a young woman can carry out such an awful suicide bombing?" Goldenblatt wrote. "The only possible answer is that she was driven by an utter lack of hope, that the result of 36 years of occupation is this utter lack of hope for a better life, freedom, self-respect — in short, all of the things that all of us hope for and expect. "We have turned the lives of women and children into hell, but we are shocked, enraged and demand retribution when the people who are the products of our occupation take action against us." David Goldenblatt, who has a sister living in Toronto, said he is concerned something will be lost in the translation when the Canadian family learns of his son's incarceration. "It's a problem. My sense is the overwhelming majority of the Canadian Jewish community gets its views from the Israeli government," he said. "I would tell them that at this point, it doesn't even matter who is right. We simply have to break the circle of violence." |
