Breaking Ranks: Refusing to Serve the West Bank and Gaza Strip

by Ronit Chacham

Originally published in 2003 following the Second Intifada, a series of powerful conversations with Israeli soldiers who refused to serve in the West Bank and Gaza.

In 2002, fifty-two members of the Israel Defense Forces signed an open letter, published in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, detailing why they refused to serve in Gaza and the West Bank. A year later, the movement counted more than five hundred of these “refuseniks.” In a series of moving and provocative conversations, nine members of the movement tell why they refused “to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve, and humiliate an entire people.”

These nine refuseniks are sergeants, majors, or lieutenants; their names are Guy, Assaf, Rami, Yaniv, Tal, Shamai, Yuval, Ishay, and David. They tell of their individual family backgrounds and beliefs, and as they share their stories of personal and moral struggle, they also raise the disturbing issue of human rights abuses by the Israeli army in the occupied territories.

Through these personal accounts, the refuseniks offer new perspectives on entrenched ideas about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Their voices carry a message that is much needed and sorely lacking in our discourse about the current one of hope and humanity.

170 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 17, 2024

About the author

Ronit Chacham was born in Israel in 1950 and studied English literature and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has worked as an editor, has taught drama and puppetry to children and adults, and has developed educational programs. She currently produces and directs street theater events and community theater. Chacham has published over 30 books for children and a novel for adults, as well as plays and TV scripts for children. Her book, Five Wacky Witches (Carnegie Hill Press), won the Israel Museum Prize (1994) and was included in the anthology The Best Children's Books in the World published by Abrams, New York. She's married to historian Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin and they have three children.


בוגרת ספרות אנגלית ופילוסופיה, האוניברסיטה העברית, ירושלים.
כתבתי ספרים ומחזות לילדים ולמבוגרים; עסקתי בהפקה ובבימוי של אירועי תיאטרון רחוב ותיאטרון קהילתי, של תיאטרוני בובות ומיצגים באנגליה ובישראל; לימדתי דרמה ותיאטרון בובות לילדים ולמבוגרים; עסקתי בפיתוח תכניות לימודים, בעריכת ספרים וכתבי עת; בהפקה ותחקירים לטלוויזיה