After cumulative sentences amounting to more than 4 months in prison, occupation objector Tamar Alon was released from incarceration on Wednesday, April 5, and received an official exemption from mandatory military service in the Israeli army. Alon served six terms behind bars for her refusal to be conscripted, which she contended would have contributed to the oppression of the Palestinian people. She had expressed her willingness to perform civilian national service instead, an alternative the army rejected.
Occupation objector Tamar Alon proudly displays her official exemption from military service after spending a total of 130 days in military prison. (Photo: Mesarvot)
“The price I paid is small compared to the price millions of Palestinians have been paying for 50 years, their basic rights being violated on a daily basis and their freedom has yet to be returned to them like mine was to me,” Alon said upon being released from prison and military service. “I will continue from within civil society to struggle for a just society and ending the occupation,” she continued. “I wish my friends and sisters still in military prison, among them Atalya Ben-Abba, a happy Passover and those they are released from prison quickly.”
Joint List leader MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash) visited Ben-Abba in prison, last week. Regularly, for years, Hadash MKs visited all occupation objectors in military prisons. Ben-Abba, who has spent over 50 days in prison so far, is expected to declare her refusal to serve in the army again in the coming days, and be sentenced to an additional term in prison.
Last month, for the first time in 13 years, the Israeli army recognized refusal to serve in the occupation as a valid conscientious objection. In that decision, Tamar Ze’evi was released from military service after 118 days in prison. The exact same committee refused to grant Tamar Alon conscientious objector status at the time, however, claiming that her refusal was not based solely in personal considerations — but was also an act of civil disobedience.
A growing number of conscientious objectors have spent time in Israel military prison over the past year for their refusal to take part in the occupation. Additionally, last fall, Israeli military reservists of Ethiopian descent published a letter refusing to perform their mandatory reserve duty until police violence and institutional discrimination against their community is brought to an end.
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