BREAKING THE SILENCE Israeli Soldiers' Testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000 - 2010

Presentation of the new book entitled 'Breaking the Silence' with Yehuda Shaul,
co-founder of Breaking the Silence (The Dutch version of the book has also been
just released)

The Israeli army is held by many to be 'the most moral army in the world' and its actions in the Occupied Territories are - it claims - first and foremost aimed at protecting the country from terror. But what stories do the soldiers themselves tell?

Talking frankly about what they did, what they were told to do, and what they saw, these young Israelis draw a broad and powerful portrait of an ostensibly defensive military program that in fact serves an offensive agenda. As the soldiers show in vivid and immediate detail, even the key terms of the Israeli army policy 'preventing terror', 'separating populations', 'preserving normal Palestinian life', and 'law enforcement' in fact mean precisely the opposite on the ground, spreading fear and subjugation, accelerating Jewish settlement and the acquisition of Palestinian land, crippling all political and social life, and ultimately thwarting any possibility of independence.

The presentation will take place in room 2.01

About the author:

YEHUDA SHUAL served in the IDF as commander and platoon sergeant in the 50th battalion of the Nahal Brigade from 2001 to 2004. After graduating from a yeshiva high school in a Jewish settlement on the West Bank in 2004, Shaul founded  'Breaking the Silence, with a group of fellow veterans. Born and raised in Jerusalem in an ultra-Orthodox family. He serves as the organizations Co-Director and Foreign'Relations Officer.

The event is co-organized by Palestine Link and Gate48.