Tommorow (Wed., Dec. 4) at 8.00 AM, the 18-year old musician Omar Sa`ad, fromAl Mughar Village in the Galilee, will show up at the Tiberias recruitment center and willdeclare his refusal to join the IDF. He expects to be sent to military prison.
Activists of New Profile movement will will hold a solidarity vigil outside. To be thereon time they will set out by bus from Tel Aviv at 5:45 AM (meeting point -outside the Arlozorov Street Railway Station, Tel Aviv).
A further protest will be held on Thur. Dec. 5, at 6.00 PM outside the Ministry of Defence, Kaplan Street, TelAviv.
Last year Omar wrote a letter staing his reasons for refusing to join the army:
To the Prime Minister of Israel,To the “Defense Minister”,
Subject: refusal to appear for compulsory military recruitment.
I, the undersigned, Omar Zahr Eldin Mohammad Saad from the village of Mughar –Galilee, have received a notice to appear in the military recruitment offices on31.10.2012 to conduct tests according to the conscription law imposed on theDruze community. I would like to make the following points:I refuse to appear for tests, because I oppose the law of conscription imposedon my Druze community. I refuse because I am a man of peace and I hate all formsof violence, and the military institution represents for me the peak of physicaland psychological violence.
Since I got the notice to appear for tests, my life has changed, I became more nervous, my thoughts were distracted, Iremembered thousands of cruel images, and I couldn’t imagine myself wearingmilitary uniform and participating in the suppression of my Palestinian peopleor fighting my Arab brothers. I oppose the recruitment to the Israeli militaryand any other military for conscience and nationalistic reasons. I hate theinjustice and oppose the occupation; I hate intolerance and restriction offreedoms. I hate those who detain children, the elderly and women.
I am a musician, I play the Viola , I have played in many places, I havemusician friends from Ramallah, Jericho, Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus, Jenin,Shfa’amr, Eilabun, Rome, Athens, Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Oslo, and we all playfor freedom, humanity and peace, our weapon is the music and we shall not haveany other weapon.
I am from a community that was unjustly treated by an unjust law, how can wefight our relatives in Palestine, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon? How can I hold armsagainst my brothers and people in Palestine? How can I be a soldier standing atQalandia checkpoint or any other checkpoint, after I experienced the injusticesat these checkpoints? How can I prevent someone from Ramallah to visit his city,Jerusalem? How can I guard the apartheid wall? How can I be a jailer to my ownpeople while I know that the majority of prisoners are freedom prisoners andseekers of rights and freedom?
I play for joy, for freedom, for a just peace based on halting settlements, theend of the occupation in Palestine, the establishment of an independentPalestinian state with Jerusalem its capital, the release of all prisoners inprisons and the return of displaced refugees to their homes.Many of the youth from my community have done the compulsory service in thearmy, what have we received? Discrimination in all areas, our villages are thepoorest, our lands were confiscated, there are no master plans, and noindustrial zones. Percentages of university graduates in our villages of thelowest in the region, the unemployment rates in our villages are the highest.This mandatory law has kept us away from our Arab connection.This year, I will finish high school, and I seek to complete my universityeducation. I’m sure you will try to make me concede my human ambition, but Iannounce it loudly:
I, Omar Zahr Eldin Mohammad Saad, will not be the fuel to the fire of your war,and will not be a soldier in your army .
Signature: Omar Saad
Contact:Shahaf Weisbein, New Profile Movement 054-4443041Zaher Saad, Omar`s father: 052-2820794
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