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Among the Settlers

Today on Tablet

by
Marc Tracy
February 17, 2011

Columnist Michelle Goldberg’s profile of Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli soldiers dedicated to ending the occupation, and of one remarkable member, Mikhael Manekin, will cure any doubts you may have had that politics is personal:

Once, when his unit was assigned to protect the route to a settlement, the soldiers commandeered a house in a nearby village to serve as a lookout, and then, suspecting others might be more suitable, they took over those instead. Manekin was troubled by the soldiers’ cavalier attitude toward Palestinian homes. When he voiced his concerns, he was summoned to the battalion general, who asked if he was uncomfortable serving in the territories.



At the time, he was indignant at the suggestion that he wasn’t ready to do everything required by his military position. But in retrospect, he realized the general was right.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.