Yom Kippur Plea for Forgiveness
by Yesh Gvul, 1988 


For the sin that we have sinned before You in repression of a people;

And for the sin that we sinned before You in killing hundreds of Palestinians, including children;

For the sin that we have sinned before You in injuring tens of thousands;

And for the sin that we have sinned before You in breaking limbs;

For the sin that we have sinned before You in inequality before the law;

For the sin that we have sinned before in dividing families;

For the sin that we have sinned before You in adulating the soil;

And for the sin that we have before You in demeaning the human likeness', theirs and ours;

For the sin that we have sinned before You in corrupting the souls of young soldiers; 

And for the sin that we have sinned before You by justifying our deeds with the argument that 'there's no other choice'; 

For the sin that we have sinned before You by our indifference;

And for the sin that we have sinned before You by obedience to orders that serve the occupation regime;

And for all of these, we have no right to beg forgiveness, for we did not acknowledge the humanity of Others.