Not
many outsiders are able to get behind the scenes of the Israeli military
and therefore A Soldier's Life: Inside the Israeli Army, by Xeriqua
Garfinkel is particularly interesting. The book is a photo documentary taken
over a three week period inside the Israeli military, during January 2002.
The book also includes a history of the military and its place in Israeli
society, as well as descriptions of the subjects of the photos.
@The Source Israel met with Ms. Garfinkel in Washington, DC, recently.
I was interested in the logistics of setting up a project of such magnitude
with the IDF. Well, it turns out to have been fairly simple. Garfinkel wrote
a letter to the IDF explaining her project and the IDF granted permission
and helped make the arrangements. Garfinkel's goal was to humanize the soldiers
who are often demonized by the media but at the same to portray them without
editorial comments and without imposing her own point of view, a goal at
which she succeeds.
What does come through is Garfinkel's respect for people who serve their
country, ``it is the highest sacrifice one can make,'' she said.
Garfinkel chose to document the Israeli military for several reasons. Her
previous trips to Israel had made her acutely aware of the young soldiers
who are so visible throughout the country, she was unaware of any other
such project, and she is fascinated by the military.
Garfinkel was based in a hotel in Tel Aviv and every morning called the
IDF to find out the day's itinerary. Accompanied by an IDF spokesman to the
army bases and military sites, Garfinkel was able to meet and photograph men
and women during different stages of their military duty.
Her photos include the first days of newly-inducted soldiers, disabled
veterans undergoing physical therapy at the Beit Halochim, and a funeral for a member of the Bedouin
Desert Patrol Battalion who was killed by Hamas shortly before his wedding
day. (Garfinkel was the only female at the cemetery since as women, even
the mothers and wives of the deceased, are not permitted at Bedouin funerals.
Being American and a journalist, no one stopped her.) She accompanied soldiers
on guard duty in the Golan and she was allowed to photograph soldiers training
for hand-to-hand combat (Krav Maga) at the Wingate Institute .
Readers learn the names of some of these soldiers and some of their ambitions
for their lives after completion of their military service. In the preface,
Garfinkel wrote: ``Next time you turn on the news and see a soldier defending
Jewish territory, maybe you will not think of him or her as a generic ``Israeli
soldier.'' Maybe you will wonder whether it is one of the individuals in
these pages.'' I know I will.
Readers interested in personal
accounts of serving in the IDF should also read the poignant and
beautifully written story by Haim Sabato, winner of the prestigious Sapir
Prize, Adjusting
Sights.
The story of a soldier serving in the tank corps during the Yom Kippur war,
the Jerusalem Report called the book "sophisticated and radiant".
A must read.
Text by Deborah
Rosenbloom.
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