'I have always preferred to forego expressing my feelings of isolation.' Jonathan Pollard
Photo: AP
Pollard: It's a miracle I am alive
Ahead of a rally to be held in his support on Thursday by the Western Wall in Jerusalem, American spy Jonathan Pollard says Israel needs to wake up 'before it is too late'
American spy Jonathan Pollard on Monday sent a letter to Israeli supporters in which he urged the State of Israel to save his life, saying he is struggling in his prison cell where he is serving a life sentence for passing US military intelligence files to Israel.
"Over the last 21 years it has never been easy for me to get a message out from within the prison walls. Every such attempt diminishes the limited opportunity that I have for maintaining contact with the outside world...The fact I am still alive today is a complete miracle," Pollard wrote in the letter which will be read to supporters during a rally for his release at the Western Wall on Thursday.
Support From Israel
Sharon Roffe-Ofir
In letter to PM Olmert, Israeli-Druze who spent years in Egypt prison appeals for Pollard's release
Pollard was sentenced to life in jail in 1987 after admitting to passing thousands of secretive military documents to Israeli agents. Pollard served as a civilian analyst with the US Navy.
"...From the start of my incarceration – I have always deliberately avoided using the limited opportunities to communicate with the Israeli public to talk about my own private hell. I have always preferred to forego expressing my feelings of isolation, betrayal and abandonment; or speaking about my deteriorating health and the life –and-death nature of my daily existence," he wrote.
"Very few prisoners survive 21 years under the conditions in which I have been held and continue to be held. Those Israeli officials, who have for years claimed to be using 'quiet diplomacy' for my release, while waiting for time to take its own effect, never imagined that the 'Pollard problem' would still be around after all this time. They never dreamed that I would refuse to give up and just die," he said.
Former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu is expected to ask Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky to award Pollard the city's honorary citizenship at Thursday's rally.
"We are optimistic and believe that the Jerusalem mayor will answer the request," an aide to Rabbi Eliyahu said.
Past efforts by rabbi Eliyahu to name a street in Jerusalem after Pollard and make him an honorary citizen failed.
On Sunday, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef sent a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asking he evoke the issue of Pollard's release with President George W. Bush during his visit to Washington.
"According to testimonies I have heard lately, Pollard is feeling worse with every day that goes by," Yosef wrote.
