WW News Service Digest #369
1) More Israeli youths refuse induction
by WW
2) Lori Berenson brutally moved to mountain dungeon
by WW
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 10, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
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FREE YAIR KHILOU!
MORE ISRAELI YOUTHS REFUSE INDUCTION
By Michael Kramer
["I fail to understand how the repression of the Palestinian
resistance to Israel by means of state terror--more cruel
and of wider scale even than the counter terror which it
provokes--serves the society that I am part of. How does the
activity of the state, implemented through the army, benefit
me and those I care for? The 'sterile' Jewish space created
by the State of Israel is a ghetto for its Jewish residents
as well. It prevents them from integrating into the Middle
East. Nobody is safe in this space--neither Jews nor Arabs."
--Yair Khilou]
Yair Khilou, a recent high school graduate and political
activist, was arrested at his home on Dec. 23 after he
refused to be inducted into the so-called Israeli Defense
Forces. He was jailed at the Tel-Hashomer induction base and
transferred the next day to Military Prison No. 4.
Khilou is one of a growing number of Israeli youths and
military reservists who refuse to take part in the apartheid-
like occupation of Palestine. Some limit their refusal to
serving in the West Bank and Gaza regions of Palestine only.
These regions came under Israeli occupation after the June
1967 Arab-Israeli War. Others, like Khilou, refuse to serve
in the U.S.-armed and -financed IDF anywhere in Palestine,
including the Negev and Galilee. These regions have been
occupied since 1948.
Khilou was one of the organizers of a letter dated Aug. 19,
2001, that was sent to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
by 62 soon-to-be-drafted youth. In it, they announced that
they would not take part in "confiscation of lands, arrests,
executions without trial, destruction of houses, closure,
torture and prevention of medical treatment."
According to the Hebrew language monthly Etgar (No. 4),
"These 12th-graders continue a tradition established by
youth in earlier times but they are also different. In
earlier letters of this sort, refusal was described as a
personal step. This time the signers call on others to do
the same."
Some among the group have been influenced by the events that
took place in Seattle, Quebec City and Genoa where young
people have begun to challenge the global system put in
place by U.S. finance capital and kept in place by the
Pentagon and its puppets like the IDF.
As in other mobilizations, the Internet and e-mail played an
important role in bringing the 62 together. And just like
draft-age youth in the white-minority population in
apartheid South Africa, many Israeli youth have left the
country rather than serve in a military that is in essence
an occupying colonial army.
In an interview with the Etgar staff Khilou explained, "My
decision was political from the beginning. The thought began
to develop two years ago, as an anti-Zionist thing. I didn't
go along with the idea of a state with a Jewish majority.
... Later my views developed more along class lines. The
army's operations are basically in the interests of the
rich."
Michal Bar-Or also signed the letter, and in the same
interview she discussed the importance of solidarity: "I see
a connection between the Palestinian struggle and our
refusal. By means of the group letter, where we refuse to do
something that would hurt them, we show them they have
support and we strengthen them in what they are doing."
The letter has received wide publicity, not only in Israel
but in the Arab countries as well. A group of Palestinian
families who have had relatives killed by the IDF has
written to thank the youths for their stand. So has a group
of students in the West Bank.
Ariel Sharon, prime minister of the Israeli settler state,
is a documented war criminal. He has commanded military
units that have intentionally murdered non-combatant
civilian populations in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon.
According to current U.S. law he should be denied an entry
visa into the United States and his various fund-raising
organizations should be closed down.
The IDF is a terrorist organization. Its everyday conduct
violates the United Nations Charter, various United Nations
resolutions and the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Israeli
youth who refuse to become part of this U.S.-financed
terrorist operation should be given political asylum in the
country of their choice.
Free Yair Khilou!
[Kramer served in the IDF from 1972 to 1976.]
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
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From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (WW)
Date: tiistai 8. tammikuu 2002 11:58
Subject: [WW] Lori Berenson brutally moved to mountain dungeon
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 10, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
PERU:
LORI BERENSON BRUTALLY MOVED TO MOUNTAIN DUNGEON
By Heather Cottin
At 3:15 a.m. on Dec. 27, while Lori Berenson and 17 other
prisoners were sleeping in Yanamayo Prison in Lima, Peru,
more than 30 police reportedly stormed their cellblock. The
prisoners report that the cops in gas masks wielded clubs
and filled the corridor and individual cells with tear gas.
The gas overcame Berenson. She described being brutally
manhandled and forcefully removed from her cell. She was
carried away wearing only her sleeping clothes: tee shirt
and shorts. She was forced to leave behind all of her
possessions including her eyeglasses, medicines and shoes.
Other women in the cellblock describe being gassed, beaten
and threatened with rape.
Berenson was moved to a remote prison in Cajamarca, 8,900
feet high in the Andes.
Her father, Mark Berenson, responding to a query from
Workers World, wrote, "Witnesses who visited the prison on
Saturday observed the bruises from the beatings of the other
... women and visited Lori's cell where they saw a used tear
gas canister...." He added that the cells still smelled of
tear gas more than 30 hours after the attack.
In addition to the unprovoked brutality against Berenson,
the government once again denied her due process. Officials
claim she was transferred for disciplinary reasons. But
Peruvian law requires that the prisoner be informed of any
infractions and be permitted to respond in defense. This was
not done.
On Dec. 29, Berenson filed a "denuncia" against the Peruvian
Justice Minister and officials of the Peruvian penal system
for abuse of authority and injury. Her attorney, José Luís
Sandoval, said she was beaten and sprayed with tear gas by
the police when she and another prisoner were taken from
their cells last Friday. He also said Berenson had been
sexually abused by a police officer.
POLITICAL PRISONER--U.S. HOLDS THE KEY
Mark Berenson, continuing his campaign to free his daughter,
said, "She was moved for political reasons."
Lori Berenson has been in prison since being arrested in
January 1996. She was one of 23 people convicted on charges
of "lawless treason" for supporting the Tupac Amaru
Revolutionary Movement--MRTA. The group waged a long
struggle against U.S. domination of the Andean nation and
its 22 million people.
Supporters argue that Berenson was convicted because she
opposed the brutal policies of Alberto Fujimori, the
dictator who came to power in 1990. His Draconian policies
resulted in the imprisonment and torture of more than 5,000
Peruvians.
The number of Peruvians living in poverty doubled after
1990. Five years ago, more than half of Peru's 24 million
people were living in poverty, 85 percent of the work force
did not have full-time jobs and 93 percent of children did
not have access to schoolbooks. (International Herald
Tribune, May 22, 1996)
An estimated 36,000 children die every year before they
reach their fifth birthday due to starvation or preventable
disease. About seven million people don't have clean
drinking water and 12 million are without sanitation. (1996
Human Development Report)
Fujimori is no longer in charge in Peru, but his supporters
still yield much influence within the judiciary, military,
police and penal systems. And without Washington's tacit
support, Lori Berenson would not still be behind bars or
have been so brutally moved to another prison.
The U.S. government provides funds and military advisers to
"develop" Peru for the profits of U.S. banks and
corporations.
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
