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From	Wash <wash@ecn.org>
Date	Tue, 17 Apr 2001 17:41:13 +0200
Subject	globe_l: objo israČlien libČrČ, mais... (en anglais)

14 April 2001


Dear friends,

Below is a letter that Gabby Wolf wrote in the brief recess he was given

between one imprisonment and another. He asked me to forward it to you.

All the best,
Sergeiy Sandler.



Dear Friends,


when, on April 1st I refused to become part of the IDF I was sent to the

jailing facility at the Induction Base. There I was sentenced to 14 days
in
military prison, spent the night and was sent to Military Prison No. 4
on
Monday Morning. In Tzrifin (where the prison is located) I tried to
convince
some newcomers to the prison of my ideas, and was thrown on Tuesday
morning
to the isolation ward, after refusing to get a free, military haircut
(my
four-and-a-half-year-long hair is important to me).

I was welcomed by a commander, who decided to scream all kinds of
threats
directly into my left ear ("You are now in my isolation ward! Do you
know
what that means?" - "..." - "That means, you are going to suffer! Suffer

badly!!") All by stuff (my pens, some books, soap, my tooth brush and
other
things) was taken away from me, and I was sent to my cell with my
underwear,
some books, three blankets, my uniform and a 3 cm. thick mattress. My
cell,
a small room, with two cement blocks (beds), 24-hours a day neon
illumination and a cellmate who speaks only Russian. I felt lonely. Very

lonely. During the days (for at least a week) I was busy mainly waiting
for
the next meal and trying to read the books - the only thing I was
allowed to
do. It was very difficult to concentrate in the isolation ward. That was
how
I spent my nineteenth birthday, on April the 4th.

On Friday, 6 April, I was at last allowed to take a shower. I had seven
minutes to get undressed, to wait for hot water, to give up, to try to
take
a shower in ice cold water without getting a heart attack, to get
dressed
again, and to be screamed at that exceeded the time limit by two and a
half
seconds ("Tomorrow you'll get judged for that. Do you understand?" - in
fact, I was never judged for this "offence").

That same day I was also allowed to phone home. While I was on the
phone, my
commander took a look at my personal file. I guess he was not previously

aware of the faxes and letters from Israel and abroad, which the prison
commander and the Minister of Defence got, protesting my imprisonment,
and
was a bit astonished.

That, of course, had nothing to do with the fact that this Friday I was
moved to a different cell (with a bit of sunlight, no 24-hours-a-day
neon
illumination and a toilet), I was now taken out of my cell for meals and
to
perform different tasks like washing dishes and the ward's floor
(several
times one after the other, whenever my commander was in an especially
good
mood).

On Monday (another shower) CO Lotahn Raz and my mother visited me and
told
me about the demonstration planned by the New Profile Movement at the
next
day. Before and during this demonstration, Joseph Algazi, a journalist
from
the Ha'aretz daily newspaper, heard about my conditions of imprisonment
in
the ward, and on Wednesday he published a short story about the
demonstration and me.

I didn't have to wait a long time for the proof that my prison
commanders
can read: on Thursday morning they started running around and asking me
questions about the times at which I was allowed to take a shower,
whether I
had hot water, whether I was able to send letters (I wasn't), whether I
got
copies of the faxes sent on my behalf to the IDF, and other questions.
At
noon I was pushed into the shower and in the afternoon, I was pushed
there
once again ("So you can't say you didn't have enough opportunities to
get a
shower"). A bunch of letters was thrown into my cell, together with 15
military postcards and a pen. On Friday I was released.

Thank you - all the New Profile people, all those who demonstrated, all
those who wrote letters, published, and spoke out. Thanks also to all
those
who painted graffiti on the walls of Tel-Aviv - it all helped.

This Sunday, I will have to be at the DKM7227RM KLT unit (no, I don't
know
where or what that is, neither does the military city liaison officer in

Jerusalem).

I guess I will be sentenced once again to 14 or 28 days of imprisonment.
I
will once again be sent to prison, will refuse to have my hair cut and
be
sent to the isolation ward. Let's see when they grow tired of it.


Yours,
Gabby Wolf.





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