The Israeli NGO "Breaking the Silence," composed of IDF veterans who record soldiers' testimonies about their behavior toward the civilian population of the Occupied Territories, has published the most important book of the year on Israel/Palestine* – a mammoth volume that makes Wikileaks's disclosures and the Nixon-Kissinger tapes look tame.
For these are not leaked documents. These are the testimonies of ordinary Israeli soldiers concerning four key aspects of the Occupation: "Law-enforcement," "Separation," "Fabric of Life," and "Deterrence/Prevention." The book is not merely a neutral presentation of all the testimonies. It shows that the primary aim of the IDF's presence in the Occupied Territories is not the security of the state of Israel, but the control of the lives, property, and resources of the Palestinian civilians. It also shows that the IDF's soldiers primary partners in the control are the West Bank settlers.
This is not the conclusion drawn by some wacko leftwing anti-Zionist Swede – this is the conclusion that is drawn from testimony after testimony of Israeli combat soldiers.
The English translation of the Hebrew book will be available as a book in a few days. The group plans to distribute it widely. When it is available on Amazon, I will let readers know.
In the meantime, the magazine +972 is publishing extensive excerpts from the book I urge you to read those excerpts and the analyses by the +972 crowd. If there are testimonies that they don't publish, and I find the urge to publish, I will do so.
By the way, check out Breaking the Silence's new website here
(* Full disclosure: I helped translate parts of the book into English.)
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