Chen Alon

Last updated

Chen Alon is an Israeli lecturer, activist, and cofounder of Combatants for Peace. [1] Alon is the Theater Director of the movement. He was nominated, along with Palestinian Combatants for Peace co-founder, Sulaiman Khatib, for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. [2] Alon served for four years as an officer in the Israeli Defense Force, upon his release he served 11 years as an operations officer in the reserves. [3] Later he became a "refusenik," and co-founded the group "Courage to Refuse," a group of former IDF officers and combat soldiers refusing to serve in the occupied territories. [4] As a result, he served time in jail. [5] [6] Alon currently works as Theater Director and lecturer at Tel Aviv University. [7]

Contents

Childhood

Alon's grandfather immigrated to Palestine at the turn of the century because of his Zionist ideals. He was the only member of his family who was not killed in the Holocaust. As a result, Alon grew up with the understanding that Zionism literally saved his family from destruction. [3] He was raised to believe that the Jewish State was surrounded by enemies whose goal, like the Nazis, was to massacre the Jewish people and destroy the State. He was taught that men like his father, who served in both the 1967 war and the 1973 war, were heroes for defending the people and the land. In spite of this, his father came back from the wars deeply psychologically damaged and permanently traumatized; [3] as a result, Alon was exposed to the effects of war at a young age.

Military service

Drafted in 1978, Alon calls himself an "Occupation Scholar" [8] for his participation in IDF activities in the West Bank and Gaza. He said he was "sent everywhere and did everything. The most difficult thing were the arrests." [3] Alon talks about having to arrest children as young as ten years old for being "wanted terrorists". [3] In 2001, he was again drafted into military service during the second Intifada. He describes a particular moment that transformation took place for him:

The Palestinian villages became like prisons, with one exit in and out. On one occasion when I was stationed at a roadblock, I was asked to allow a taxi full of sick Palestinian children (who didn’t have a permit) through to the hospital in Bethlehem. At the same time, I got a phone call from my wife telling me she was having problems picking up our three-year-old daughter from kindergarten. So there I was, standing on a sand blockade talking to my wife, while sick Palestinian children were waiting in the car. I couldn’t bear it any more: on the one hand I was a kind, devoted father, and on the other hand I was being so callous with these people. Were these children nothing more than potential terrorists? My children were human, and yet we had dehumanized the Palestinian children entirely. I began to realize that in the de-humanizing of the other, you begin to de-humanize yourself. That night we got the order to demolish a Palestinian house. I presumed it must belong to a terrorist, but I found out later we were demolishing it because the owner had built an “illegal” balcony. Hence a civil legal mission became a military operation. We came with two platoons, a bulldozer and three tanks. Not surprisingly the operation deteriorated into a fierce battle, with the local Mosque calling people in to defend the house and to rise up against the Israeli invasion. I knew from then on that this was the last time I could do such a thing. [8]

At this point he signed a petition of IDF soldiers and officers refusing to serve in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Courage to Refuse

The Courage to Refuse letter was an open letter initiated by soldiers and officers stating that they would no longer serve in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. As of February 2003, Alon was one of 520 Israeli reservists who had put their names to this petition. At that time he described his position: "We are all front-line combat soldiers, Zionist patriots and willing to defend their country and fight against any real aggression against the state of Israel, but we are not willing to humiliate and starve and expel and repress three million people." Alon said that he had realized, after some incidents during his military service in Bethlehem at the beginning of the second intifada, "that our presence was only to get a few more people killed or wounded, to keep the war going on. The occupation for me is many, many horrible details, of curfews and sieges and children who can't go to school - all these things that make the big picture in the occupied territories 24 hours a day." [9]

Combatants for Peace

In 2005, he and other IDF "refuseniks" were approached by a group of Palestinian former fighters. Together they formed the group, Combatants for Peace, a joint, grassroots nonviolence movement, dedicated to ending the Occupation and bringing peace and security to both Israelis and Palestinians. The movement has grown and today has hundreds of members and thousands of supporters. The Combatants speak to nearly 3,000 people per year, hold a joint annual Memorial Day ceremony, which attracts over 4,000 people and is live-screened across the world, run tours in the West Bank, and hold dialogue and reconciliation groups. They also have a theater group, which Alon directs, that uses theater to build bonds and overcome trauma.

The documentary film Disturbing the Peace depicts the founding of Combatants for Peace, and profiles several of its founding members including Alon. [10] This film, directed by Stephen Apkon and Andrew Young, was awarded the first ever Roger Ebert Humanitarian Award in 2016, a recognition for films that exemplify humanity and empathy. [11]

Theatrical work

Alon began to study theatre at an acting school after his army service, and was subsequently professionally involved in repertory theatre. [12] An important theatrical influence was the playwright Hanoch Levin. [12] He studied theatre at Tel Aviv University after his release from jail, and heard about Augusto Boal and the Theatre of the Oppressed in his first year there. [12]

Theatre of the Oppressed

Alon works with the techniques of the Theatre of the Oppressed of Augusto Boal and co-developed the Polarized model of the Theatre of the Oppressed. [13] He has introduced his model into Combatants for Peace, which often use theater as a means of nonviolent protest and reconciliation work. [13] This theater often takes place at road blocks within the West Bank, in villages and in public spaces; it allows audiences to view the aggression and violence of the military occupation and struggle in a nonviolent way. [1] For example, the Theatre of the Oppressed has acted out the common scene of a sick Palestinian grandfather trying to get back to his home in the village who is stopped by Israeli soldiers, and has performed the scene of a home demolition. [14] [15] Alon has described how the actors confront the guards in this kind of situation by "mirroring how they look" in order to "shoot embarrassment on them". [14] Theatre of the Oppressed techniques allows actors from both sides of the conflict to view and understand the pain of the other. Augusto Boal has described the objective of Theatre of the Oppressed as "to encourage autonomous activity ... to set a process in motion, to stimulate transformative creativity, to change spectators into protagonists". [14] Alon has taught Theatre of the Oppressed techniques in many countries throughout the world. [16]

About the Theatre of the Oppressed, Alon has said, "I think it’s a form of knowledge, which is able to avoid, bypass or subvert obstacles such as the resistance to new ideas, the resistance to feeling for the other or identifying with the other. They are all things that prevent us from being transformed. The Theatre allows us to take an action and to observe ourselves at the same time, to put ourselves in the shoes of the other or to embody another person: I truly believe that these qualities of the Theatre are transformative." [13]

Legislative Theatre at Holot and other theatrical work

Alon has also worked together with Avi Mograbi to found the Legislative Theatre at the Holot detention center, a troupe composed of six asylum seekers who have been detained there, along with four Israelis. Their first play was performed in 2015, and a film was made documenting the theatrical process. The play consists of images explaining the reasons the asylum seekers left their homelands, and moves between situations familiar to every asylum seeker in Israel: crossing the border; sleeping on the grass in south Tel Aviv's Levinsky Park; exploitative working conditions; the inability to establish a family and build a stable life; to their imprisonment in Holot. Alon has also worked with groups of prisoners inside jails and addicts on detox programs. Alon considers expansion of one's acting ability to be politically empowering and has said that "to learn to expand your ability for expression is a political act". [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Intifada</span> 2000–2005 Palestinian uprising against Israel

The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major Palestinian uprising against Israel. The general triggers for the unrest are speculated to have been centred on the failure of the 2000 Camp David Summit, which was expected to reach a final agreement on the Israeli–Palestinian peace process in July 2000. Outbreaks of violence began in September 2000, after Ariel Sharon, then the Israeli opposition leader, made a provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa compound on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; the visit itself was peaceful, but, as anticipated, sparked protests and riots that Israeli police put down with rubber bullets and tear gas.

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ISM is dedicated to the use of nonviolent protests and methods only. The organization calls on civilians from around the world to participate in acts of nonviolent protests against the Israeli military in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Defensive Shield</span> 2002 Israeli military operation

Operation Defensive Shield was a 2002 Israeli military operation in the West Bank, carried out amidst the Second Intifada. Lasting for just over a month, it was the largest combat operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War, when Israel seized the territory from Jordan. Israel's stated goal for the escalation was to stop Palestinian terrorist attacks; the operation was launched two days after the Passover massacre, in which a Palestinian suicide bomber attacked the Park Hotel in Netanya, killing 30 civilians while injuring 140 more.

This page is a partial listing of incidents of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breaking the Silence (organization)</span> Israeli non-governmental organization

Breaking the Silence (BtS) is an Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO) established in 2004 by veterans of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It is intended to give serving and discharged Israeli personnel and reservists a means to confidentially recount their experiences in the Occupied Territories. Collections of such accounts have been published in order to educate the Israeli public about conditions in these areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bil'in</span> Palestinian village in Ramallah and al-Bireh, State of Palestine

Bil'in is a Palestinian village located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Bil'in has a population of 1,800, mostly Muslims. In the 2000s, it was known for its regular protests against Israeli occupation.

The 2006 shelling of Beit Hanoun by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) happened on 8 November, when shells hit a row of houses in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, killing at least 19 Palestinians and wounding more than 40. The shelling followed the IDF's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in completion of a week-long operation codenamed Operation "Autumn Clouds", which the Israeli government stated had been intended to stop the Qassam rocket attacks on Israel by Palestinian militants. The Israeli government apologized and attributed the incident to a technical malfunction.

Combatants for Peace is an Israeli-Palestinian NGO and an egalitarian, bi-national, grassroots movement committed to non-violent action against the “Israeli occupation and all forms of violence” in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The following is a partial list of civilian casualties in the Second Intifada. According to the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, 887 of the 1,137 Israelis killed in attacks from September 2000 – 2005 were civilians. Another 8,341 Israelis were wounded during this period, including 5,676 civilians and 2,665 security forces personnel. The majority of casualties were caused by suicide bombings, though Israelis have also been killed by planted bombs, shootings, stonings, stabbings, lynchings, rockets, and other methods of attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Hot Winter</span> 2008 military offensive in the Gaza strip

In 2008 the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Hot Winter, also called Operation Warm Winter, in the Gaza Strip, starting on February 29, 2008 in response to Qassam rockets fired from the Strip by Hamas onto Israeli civilians. At least 112 Palestinian militants and civilians, along with three Israelis, were killed, and more than 150 Palestinians and seven Israelis were injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yair Golan</span> Israeli major general (born 1962)

Yair Golan is an Israeli politician. He served as the Deputy Minister of Economy in the Thirty-sixth Israeli government, and served as a Member of the Knesset representing Meretz from 2019–2022. He is a reserved major general (Aluf) in the Israel Defense Forces. During his military service he served, among other roles, as the IDF Deputy Chief of Staff, Commander of the Home Front Command and Commander of the Northern Command.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gush Etzion Junction</span>

Gush Etzion Junction("Tzomet HaGush") also known as Gush Junction is a 120-dunam business, commercial and tourism center in the southern West Bank, which serves as the entry point to the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements. It is administered by the Gush Etzion Regional Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Machsom Watch</span> Israeli human rights organization

Machsom Watch, or Checkpoint Watch, is a group of Israeli women who monitor and document the conduct of soldiers and policemen at checkpoints in the West Bank. Its members also observe and document the procedures in military courts, and aid Palestinians crossing through IDF checkpoints. The self described "politically pluralistic" human rights organization is composed entirely of Israeli women, who tend to have a "liberal or leftist background". The word machsom is Hebrew for "checkpoint," referring to Israeli Defense Forces checkpoints which control movement between different parts of the West Bank and between the West Bank and Israel.

Adam Keller is an Israeli peace activist who was among the founders of Gush Shalom, of which he is a spokesperson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 in Israel</span> Israel-related events during the year of 2014

Events in the year 2014 in Israel.

The 2014 Alon Shvut stabbing attack occurred on 10 November 2014, when Palestinian Maher al-Hashlamun first attempted to run his vehicle into a crowd waiting at the bus/hitch-hiking station at the entrance to the Israeli settlement of Alon Shvut, in the Gush Etzion section of the occupied West Bank, then, when the car was stopped by a bollard, got out and attacked with a knife, killing a young woman and wounding two others. The attack occurred four hours after the killing of Sergeant Almog Shiloni in Tel Aviv and took place at the same bus/hitch-hiking stop where three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered in June 2014.

Sergeant Almog Shiloni of the Israel Defense Forces was killed on 10 November 2014 after he was stabbed multiple times at Tel Aviv HaHagana Railway Station. He died in hospital from his wounds. Shiloni was off-duty, but in uniform and armed at the time.

BOYCOTT! Supporting the Palestinian BDS Call from Within, commonly known as Boycott from Within, is an association of Jewish and Arab Israelis who support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Founded in 2008, it describes itself as following the guiding principles and sharing the goals of the Palestinian BDS movement, as delineated by Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sulaiman Khatib</span>

Sulaiman Khatib is co-director and co-founder of Combatants for Peace, a bi-national, grassroots nonviolence movement in Israel and Palestine. Combatants for Peace is dedicated to three main pillars: nonviolent direct action, joint partnership between Israelis and Palestinians and ending the Israeli military occupation. Khatib was nominated, along with Israeli co-founder of Combatants for Peace, Chen Alon, for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 and 2018. He has been compared in the press to a modern-day Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. or Nelson Mandela. He cites these three nonviolence leaders as his personal inspiration and the key to his transformation from violence to nonviolence.

References

  1. 1 2 "Dr. Chen Alon, IL". Spot on Israel. 1969-04-20. Archived from the original on 2017-04-13. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  2. ↑ "The Nobel Peace Prize Watch". Nobelwill.org. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Combatants for Peace | Chen Alon". Cfpeace.org. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  4. ↑ "Soldiers who won't occupy". Theage.com.au. 2003-02-08. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  5. ↑ "Chen Alon". The Forgiveness Project. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
  6. ↑ "Courage to Refuse - Press". www.seruv.org.il. Retrieved 2018-02-12.
  7. ↑ "Dr. Chen Alon | Tel Aviv University". English.tau.ac.il. 1980-01-01. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  8. 1 2 "Chen Alon (Israel)". Forgiveness Project. 2010-05-26. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  9. ↑ "Soldiers who won't occupy - theage.com.au". www.theage.com.au. 8 February 2003. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  10. ↑ "About » Disturbing the Peace". disturbingthepeacefilm.com. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  11. ↑ Allen, Nick. "Ebertfest 2016". www.rogerebert.com. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  12. 1 2 3 "… about radical intimacy and missing visions". Theater Rote Rübe Leipzig. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  13. 1 2 3 "Chen Alon - Theater Rote Rübe Leipzig". Theater-rote-ruebe.de. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  14. 1 2 3 ""Rehearsing the revolution": theatre in Israel-Palestine". openDemocracy. 2015-03-13. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  15. ↑ SocialTV (2013-01-16). "The Oppressed Theatre". YouTube . Retrieved 2018-02-11.
  16. ↑ "Chen Alon & The Polarised Theatre of the Oppressed". Cardboard Citizens. 2014-01-25. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  17. ↑ Lee, Vered (2015-06-13). "All the Desert's a Stage for These Asylum Seekers". Haaretz. Retrieved 2018-02-11.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.