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13 May, 2016

Open letter by female teenager in Israeli military prison for refusing to join the Army — The Independent

Here’s the thing: I am sitting in an Israeli military prison. And our uniforms, here in the military prison, were donated to my country by your country. Yes, it is really US Army uniforms that we are wearing, the tiger-skinned uniforms, the uniforms of the Marines, and some of them still have the family names of the soldiers sewn on the right and left sides of the shirts. And this time, I received your shirt with your nametag still sewn on the right side of the shirt. I want to tell you why I am in prison. I am sitting in prison because I refused to enlist in the Israeli army, because I am against the continuation of the policies of occupation in the occupied territories. I requested to do alternative community service, but they are not letting me do that. This time, when the prison uniform had a name on it, I thought of you. I wondered what you would think, how you would feel about me wearing your uniform.

Source: I’m a teenage conscientious objector in Israeli military prison for refusing to join the IDF – this is my letter | Voices | The Independent