52 Israeli reservists refuse to fight in West Bank, Gaza Saturday, January 26, 2002
By LAURIE COPANS The Associated Press
JERUSALEM -- Fifty-two Israeli reserve soldiers said Friday they would no longer fight in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, claiming military actions there had nothing to do with security for Israel and were meant to control the
Palestinians.
In an advertisement in Israeli newspapers, the soldiers, some with the rank of major, said Israel's stringent travel
bans, which confine many Palestinians to their communities, needlessly punish the Palestinians. Israel says the
closures are needed to prevent attacks by Palestinian militants.
"We declare that we will not continue to fight a war for peace in the [Jewish] settlements" in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, read the ad. "We will not continue to fight on the other side of the Green Line with an intent to control,
expel, starve, and degrade an entire people."
The Green Line refers to the line separating Israel from the territories it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
The soldiers wrote that they decided to stop serving in the Palestinian areas when it became clear to them that the
army orders "had nothing to do with security, and their only intent is to control the Palestinian people forever."
Such public criticism of the military by soldiers has been relatively rare in Israel, though throughout the years, there
have been some groups of soldiers refusing to serve, including during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and during
the first Palestinian uprising against Israel in 1987-93.
Friday's announcement marked the first time since the outbreak of the current round of fighting in September 2000
that a large group of soldiers announced it was refusing to serve in the Palestinian areas.
Israeli men perform three years of compulsory military service, followed by reserve duty for about a month every
year until age 40.
Israel TV's Channel Two reported Friday that several soldiers who joined the group said they had been ordered to
degrade Palestinians without reason. In one case, soldiers were ordered to demolish homes or greenhouses of
Palestinians just because a Palestinian militant passed near the property on his way to attack Israelis, the report
said.
"In another 10 to 15 years from today, people will look back, take their heads in their hands, and say, 'What did we
do?' " said Noam Livne, explaining why he had decided to refuse to serve in the Palestinian areas.
The army said in a response quoted by Channel Two that it weighed "ethical considerations against operational
ones when making decisions" on security.
Maj. Gen. Uzi Dayan, the head of Israel's National Security Council, said the formation of the group concerned
him.
"It worries us," Dayan said. "We have to allow these discussions, but I say that it shouldn't be expressed in a
refusal to serve." |
