Noam Gur and Alon Gurman are keeping a diary of the week leading up to their refusal to serve in the Israeli military and their likely imprisonment. Here is the first installment:
Monday, 9th April, 2012
Alon Gurman (Photo: Activestills)
The final countdown has begun. A week left and it’s the first time that I feel the pressure. Suddenly I feel as if there’s no time, and yet everything goes on as usual. Well, more or less anyway. My mom and I decided to go on a tour to South Mt. Hebron with an NGO called “Shovrim Shtika” (Breaking The Silence). It is guided tour with an ex-soldier in the Israeli military, through and area that often escapes the media and public eye. The tour has a strong effect on people, and once we are done, my mother seems wound up and ready to go on a demonstration against the occupation, despite the fear of military violence. In order to relax in preparation for my imprisonment, I try to spend a lot of time with friends, just relaxing. Today I did not get this chance, as I rush to an interview straight from the drop-off point of the tour. It was my first time on camera, and it didn’t feel too good. Any media coverage makes me feel exposed, and it is discomforting. - Alon
Tuesday, 10th April, 2012
Today’s the day. I’ve been building up to this day. Today is the day when I am supposed to face the mighty challenge of – preparing my bag for imprisonment. Needless to say I didn’t really get to it. I look for something to do when eventually Noam arrives to Tel-Aviv early for her interview, and I pick her up and we spend some time talking. It helps a lot that we have each other to talk to. Many people have shared experience and support, but nothing compares to talking to someone who’s going through the same process as you are. After lunch we meet up again with a few friends to work on some posters for the demonstration we’ll have on our imprisonment. We are mostly quiet for most of the time, and burst out laughing every now and again from one thing or the other. It’s weird, because suddenly I realized how temporary it all is. I leave early for Arabic class. I had missed a few lessons and inform the group of my refusal for the first time. They are all very supportive. I rush to a staff meeting of a youth summer camp project. I feel preoccupied and later realize that I can’t bear the thought of doing anything that has nothing to do with either the occupation, resisting it, imprisonment, or relaxing in preparation. - Alon
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
Noam Gur (Photo: Activestills)
5 days. That’s what separates me from entering a closed compound, a military compound to be exact, that will be denying me from my freedom. We are rushing through the preparation – both on the personal and public aspect – and it seems like I’m done with the Bureaucracy and all the “materialistic” prep. Now, when I’m done with that, we have to talk, or think, about the personal aspect of refusing, the emotional part. It’s feels like that’s the time I supposed to be freaking out, but that doesn’t seem to have happened. All the support we got is amazing, and makes us remember how important our statement is to some people out there. Suddenly cameras are not so scary as they used to be, and angry reporters are becoming the joke of our day. And “JAIL” this huge word, this terrifying word and place, is so much less scary. – Noam
Good for you guys. How about convincing everyone [the entire nation] to move to Florida and live there? No enemies, no threats, a big buddy protecting you, lots and lots of sand and a lovely ocean to float around in…
The courage of these two young people is awe-inspiring! If they only had publicly defied the prevailing pro-military atmosphere, it would have been enough, but they are bravely awaiting imprisonment for refusing to follow the easier but immoral path that almost everyone else chooses. There should be streets named after people like that.
There should be streets named after people like that.
Streets in our hearts.
it’s good people like you..that make life worth living.
Making this kind of commitment to justice is inspiring. Stay strong Noam and Alon!