Breaking the Silence

On Sunday March 7, Dana Golan, Executive Director of the Israeli organization "Breaking the Silence," presented a lecture and showed a film at the Boulder Friends Meeting House (1825 Upland St). "Breaking the Silence," founded in 2004 by soldiers recently discharged from the Israeli Defense Forces, collects testimonies of soldiers who served in the Palestinian Territories in the last ten years. The organization aims to educate the public, especially the Israeli public, about the actions of the Israeli army in the Territories. It highlights not only the suffering of the Palestinians but the moral cost to Israeli soldiers who serve there. Dana Golan spoke on Sunday of her own experiences in the West Bank city of Hebron and showed the 59-minute documentary "To See if I'm Smiling," by Tamar Yarom. The film chronicles the military service of six women, who describe the alternate reality that exists in the Territories and its negative effects on them. The presentation was sponsored by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and Progressive Democrats of America, Colorado CD-2 Chapter. For more information about "Breaking the Silence," visit http://www.shovrimshtika.org/index_e.asp.

-Hanlon Kelley