These photos are from a new series by Ashkan Sahihi. See more at axelraben.com.

Rotem: I know I smoke too much, but in my office everybody does. We just chitchat all day. After the army, I want to get far away. To Nepal, India, Australia. I haven’t seen anything of the world. Shani (left): I wish my time in the Army was over already. At the end, I’ll take the first flight to Hawaii and surf. I want to become a surfing instructor and don’t want to waste a single thought on the war at our doorstep.

Zehava: I’m happy that I can serve in the army. I do that to defend my country. But I am for peace and for living side by side with the Palestinians. I am against war, death, and blood.
Melanie: I am not interested in politics. I like being in the army because I learn something about life. We learn to compromise, to listen to others, to help one another. But I also think that there would be less war if women ruled the world.

All we know about Israel is that we don’t know nothing. Sure, Ariel Sharon is a fucking maniac and his new gigantic-fence idea is totally insane, but everyone knows that—Israelis and Palestinians alike. Even Bush thinks Sharon is out of control. Also, you have people on both sides who have paid too much in blood to ever get over the past. We all know its inception was unjust, but Israelis have lost millions of family members to this war, and going back to the borders of 1967 is as absurd as us giving North America back to the natives.

Palestinians have lost even more innocent civilians and may still win this war based solely on that. Their increasing population is no match for the bulletproof bulldozers that kill them in their sleep.

The only certainty is that there’s nothing more insulting to both sides of the battle than smug college students with their Palestinian scarves. Fuck those guys. Oh yeah, and stop talking about the “Zionist media” and their secret agenda. Yes, Jews are disproportionately represented in the mainstream press, but they are as split on the Israel debate as the rest of us, so the point is moot. Nobody with a brain knows what the fuck to do with that place, so everyone should just shut up.

Anyhoo, here are some pictures of a few female Israeli soldiers who we think are pretty.