Declaration of Noam Bahat

"I, Noam Bahat, 'a soldier in the army of non-violence', hereby declare:

"On Thursday, 16 January, I began a hunger strike, protesting the occupation of the Palestinian people, the human rights violations in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, the detention of conscientious objectors in military prison, our recurrent sentences and the turning of the State of Israel into a fascist state before our eyes.

"With my hunger strike, I hope to open the eyes of many people to the distress of the Palestinian people, that is so near yet so far from us, Israelis.

"I also state that in prison too, I carry on my combat based on the principle of non-cooperation with the army, while maintaining physical and verbal non-violence with respect to the staff (commanders) and the rest of the prisoners.

"It is sometimes difficult to conduct the struggle against myself, to restrain myself facing the senseless rigidity of the young wardens (not all, but a large part of them).

"But, as Milan Kundera put it in his book The Joke: 'At that time I felt nothing but hatred toward him, and in the blinding light of hatred objects lose their plasticity. I saw the commander as a vindictive and cunning rat. But today he is seen by me first of all as a human being, who was young and was playing. After all, one cannot blame young people for the love of play inherent in them, they are not yet mature and are already throw into a mature world, and they have to act as mature people. Therefore they hastily fall back on their favorite formulas and patterns - and so they play'.

"I hereby call upon all young people facing conscription or already conscripted: use your power of judgment. Do you intend to cooperate with the horrifying regime of [Israeli Prime Minister] Sharon, as the instrument of execution? And if you do intend to enlist, do not forget for a single moment that the army takes away from you, at the moment of mobilization, your power of judgment. Consequently, you must consider in advance what are the lines you shall never be willing to cross, because once you are inside, everything gets blurred up.

"Noam Bahat, Prisoner No. 7165951, Sunday, 19 January 2003".