Your Email:

Friend's Email:

Note: (optional)

Subject:

Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/30391/full/30391/paratrooper-s-memoir-makes-a-case-for-peace/ <br /><br /> <b>Paratrooper’s memoir makes a case for peace</b> <br /> Friday, September 22, 2006 | by <p>curt schleier </p> <br /><br /><p>Adam Harmon believes peace will come to the Middle East. And his vantage point — much closer than that of most ivory tower academics — makes him something of an expert. He viewed the region from the perspective of a soldier who raided homes and manned checkpoints.<br /><br /> Harmon, who was raised in New Hampshire, is the author of “Lonely Soldier: The Memoir of An American in the Israeli Army.” In a telephone interview from his office in a high-tech software company in Reston, Va., he spoke at length about the prospects for peace, morality and his experiences in the Israeli military.<br /><br /> “The answer is yes,” he said, when asked if he was optimistic about the future. “I know (peace is) possible, and I know we’re going to get there. The only question is, how long will it take us? It’s only a question of time. Will it happen in two years — or two decades?<br /><br /> “During the ‘90s when the terrorism attacks increased dramatically, I moved a little center of right. I came to the view that the Palestinian leadership wasn’t ready for peace. But over the years the personal relationship between Israelis and Palestinians improved. Israelis would travel to Jenin or Nablus for falafel. The business relationship between the two improved.<br /><br /> “The relationships started getting better when (Oslo) negotiations warmed up. Ultimately that process failed. But eventually there will be a new process.”<br /><br /> Harmon served as a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces from 1990-1992 as part of his conscription. He was in the reserves (serving one to two months a year) from 1993 to 1999, after which he went back to the States. But he voluntarily returned to Israel in both 2002 and 2003 to take part in Operation Defensive Shield.<br /><br /> He said he was never placed in a position that — to him, anyway — was morally ambiguous. And if he had been, he’d have had an easy out. Israeli soldiers are instructed not to follow orders they consider immoral. There have been times when he had to make critical decisions — to run someone down rather than fire his weapon at them, for example — but he was never asked to perform what he considered a questionable act.<br /><br /> He always “felt empowered to make the right choice,” he said. And that included bulldozing the homes of the families of suicide bombers.<br /><br /> “I thought it was a prudent and effective policy and I believe in the procedures that were put into place,” Harmon said. “The occupants received notification in advance and were given the opportunity not only to vacate the building, but to remove their belongings, as well.<br /><br /> “Certainly people can debate whether this is the correct course of action, but I don’t think they can say it’s immoral in terms of the way soldiers are interacting with the people on the ground.”<br /><br /> If soldiers know a terrorist is in the house, he said, Israeli policy is to call out to the occupants to warn them to leave before storming the building. “We throw pebbles at the window and fire shots in the air (to get their attention), even though this gives terrorists an opportunity to escape or prepare for an attack. This is opposed to doing the prudent thing, which would be to attack. But Israel makes a moral choice.”<br /><br /> Israel’s entire approach to the military is different, he noted. “My biggest surprise is how caring the environment was,” Harmon said. “It was very collegial. Having grown up in the states, I had the false assumption that it was going to be an almost brutal experience, that I would be broken down emotionally and yelled at. Instead, the commanders considered themselves teachers.”<br /><br /> Harmon was raised in Manchester, N.H., which has a medium-sized (about 1,000 families) but vibrant Jewish community. There are two synagogues, one Reform and one Conservative. His family belonged to both, though Harmon was more active in the Reform temple.<br /><br /> The family traveled a great deal, but there was something special about Harmon’s first trip to Israel. “It was visceral,” he explained. “On my first visit there I felt a special connection ... I just kept going back every summer for a month or two, and each time I felt that connection between the country and myself.”<br /><br /> He spent a year in Israel after graduating high school and before starting college, and decided to immigrate there after getting a B.A. He did, moving back in 1990 and immediately signing up for military service — though he didn’t have to. Immigrants are given a year or more to get acclimated, and he was already, at 22, about four years older than the other recruits.<br /><br /> Harmon tried to get into an elite paratrooper unit, but didn’t make it — perhaps because he still had difficulty communicating in Hebrew. But he still became a paratrooper, entitling him to wear the prestigious red beret.<br /><br /> Since his IDF service, he’s helped the U.S. military as a consultant. The Marines, for example, will show him an after-action report of an ambush. “They’ll want me to provide some input into why it happened and what they need to do to assure that it doesn’t happen again,” he said.<br /><br /> <br><b><br /><br /> “Lonely Soldier: The Memoir of an American in the Israeli Army” </b>by Adam Harmon (288 pages, Presidio Press, $25.95).</p> <p> </p>

Please enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below: