War Resisters Reach Out in Dialogue

The Dialogues Against Militarism (DAM) delegation has arrived in
Be'er Sheva, Israel, a small city that sits in the middle of the Negev
Desert. Our travels from San Francisco, California lasted two days, including a
twenty hour flight and a long ride through the Sinai Desert. As with
crossing any border, the terrain was heavily militarized. As we
ventured across the Sinai, we passed military checkpoints and abandoned
compounds, which became more frequent the closer we got to the border.
When we got to the Israeli side, we were "greeted" by 18 year old
soldiers with machine guns strapped to their chests. The three weeks of
the DAM delegation has begun.

Why did a group of US war resisters, conscientious objectors, and
anti-militarist organizers decide to fly across the world here to
Israel/Palestine?

We are all interested in resisting militarism in our own countries.
Some of us have resisted it with our bodies, refusing to participate in
unjust wars, choosing prison and military abuse over deployment to Iraq
or Afghanistan. Some of us have the knowledge of these wars written in
our bodies and minds, having been deployed to fight in these wars. All
of us have lent our efforts to the powerful civilian and GI resistance
movements that have arisen in opposition to US military aggression.

However, we recognize that in order to address U.S. militarism in
the Middle East, we must also look to the U.S.- supported Israeli
occupation. We see these two governments working ever more closely as
the U.S. and Israeli wars drag on, with the continued occupation of
Iraq, escalating attacks and bombings in Afghanistan, and last winter's
brutal attacks on the already besieged Gaza Strip, as well as the
continuing state violence against Palestinians manifested through
bloodshed as well as constriction of peoples' lives, rights, and
movement and theft of their land and resources. It reveals two arms of
a project to establish control through military dominance in the region
- all funded by the U.S., with us, as citizens, as the underwriters.

Israelis resisting militarism are our close peers. We both live in
states where deep racism is woven into the social fabric, and ongoing
occupation and colonization has become a normalized part of existence.
In August of last year 100 Israeli high school students signed an open
letter to the government of Israel stating they would not enter into
the mandatory two years of service in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)
upon graduation and instead risk imprisonment, with another group of
high school students making a similar refusal this August. These
refusals were based on their unwillingness to enter into a situation
where they were going to be forced to participate in the occupation of
land and the subjugation of a people. These are just a few instances of
a large number of Israeli youths who have decided to enter the ranks of
the Refusenik movement rather than those of the IDF, while
simultaneously ex-soldiers are increasingly speaking out in opposition
to Israeli policy based on their own experiences.

We are here because we want to learn from the brave acts of
resistance that shine out of this occupying state, from Israeli
refusers to Palestinians resisting occupation. DAM hopes to connect
antiwar activists and war resisters from the US with those in
Israel/Palestine to build relationships and work more collectively
against the militarism of our societies. We will unite across borders
to learn from each other's strategies for confronting war and
occupation while engaging the effects of militarism. A film will be
produced to document these dialogues and investigate the effects of
militarism on Israeli and Palestinian life. The documentary will
support organizing within the U.S., Israel, and Palestine.

Dam is the phonetic spelling of "blood" in both Hebrew and Arabic.
It was chosen as the name of our project because blood is what we all
share and spill in war and occupation, as well as through our struggle
for peace.

As we continue our journey, we hope to share with you the stories of those we meet and the lessons our journey brings to us. You can follow us at our blog, Dialogues Against Militarism.

Written by DAM: Sarah Lazare,
Eddie Falcon,
Stephen Funk,
Clare Bayard,
Matthew Edwards, and
David Zlutnick