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Israeli Women Soldiers Break the Silence
by Ira Chernus




'What's it like to be a woman serving in the Israeli occupation force in the West Bank? Is a woman's experience as an occupier any different than a man's? Yes indeed, say some women who have just broken their silence and offered a glimpse into the grim reality of the occupation.




"A female combat soldier needs to prove more," one explains. "A female soldier who beats up others is a serious fighter...When I arrived there was another female [who] was there before me...Everyone spoke of how impressive she is because she humiliates Arabs without any problem. That was the indicator. You have to see her, the way she humiliates, the way she slaps them, wow, she really slapped that guy."





This "impressive" woman is not a rare exception. "We discovered that the girls try to be even more violent and brutal than the boys, just to become one of the guys," says Dana Golan, director of Breaking the Silence, the Israeli organization that has just released a report with testimony from some 50 Israeli women who are veterans of the occupation.
The report "indicates how violence was deeply rooted in the daily routine," according to an article in Yediot Aharonot, one of Israel's most widely-read newspapers, full of disturbing quotes from the women.'





"A female combat soldier needs to prove more…a female soldier who beats up others is a serious fighter…when I arrived there was another female there with me, she was there before me…everyone spoke of how impressive she is because she humiliates Arabs without any problem. That was the indicator. You have to see her, the way she humiliates, the way she slaps them, wow, she really slapped that guy."
The Breaking the Silence organization on Friday released a booklet of testimonies by female soldiers recounting various abuse cases involving Palestinians in the West Bank."







Breaking The Silence - Israeli soldiers talk about the occupied territories:




"Breaking the Silence published today (January 31) a book of testimonies by women who served in the occupied territories, from the outbreak of the second intifada until now. The book includes 96 testimonies and contains interviews with dozens of women who served as combatants, medics, scouts, officers, noncommissioned education and social welfare officers and more. These women join hundreds of male combatants who have already testified to the organization. Together they place a mirror before Israeli society. This collection of testimonies presents for the first time the realities in the territories from the perspective of women who served there.





This collection of testimonies presents for the first time the realities in the territories from the perspective of women who served there. The testimonies demonstrate that the tendency to keep the occupation as far away from home as possible blurs the role of the women who take an active role in it. The voice of the women who serve in the occupied territories is a voice that is not usually heard in Israeli society and their presence on the ground is hidden from the public eye. The reason for their silence stems from the fact that these women are placed in a military environment controlled by men. They have to prove they are worth just as much as the men and that they are "one of the guys." During their service they are afraid to speak, out of fear they will be even more alienated by their units. After they are discharged, many of these women feel that because they did not play a central role in their units, it is not their place to speak out. But mostly, they do not speak because the public does not really want to hear."











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