Michael,
Re: Your points of view seem to come across to this reader as being VERY one sided. Hardly what I would call a search for the truth.
You remind me of the faux free speech advocates who say that it is important to include neo-nazis in the discussion of gas chamber for proper balance.
Those who support Israel's fascism can present their own arguments. I don't care to make them for their side.
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Just to be clear, I'm not really much of a fan of the Palestinians. I certainly wouldn't agree to live in their world. My point is that Israel is a criminal operation today. I really just want to see some iota of fair play from the Israelis. Fortunately, there are some Israelis who see through Sharon's butchery for what it is, a war crime, and they want nothing to do with it.
Here's one such organization, Yesh-gvul, "There is a limit!"
yesh-gvul.org
<SNIP>
Yesh Gvul ("There is a limit !") is an Israeli peace group that has shouldered the task of supporting soldiers who refuse assignments of a repressive or aggressive nature. The brutal role of the Israel Defence Force (IDF) in subjugating the Palestinian population places numerous servicemen in a grave moral and political dilemma, as they are required to enforce policies they deem illegal and immoral. The army hierarchy demands compliance, but many soldiers, whether conscripts or reservists, find that they cannot in good conscience obey the orders of their superiors.
The current Palestinian intifada is not the first instance of such a predicament. Yesh Gvul was founded in response to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, as growing numbers of soldiers realized that the campaign, with its bloodshed and havoc, was an act of naked and futile aggression in which they wanted no part. Acting on their convictions, 168 servicemen were jailed, some repeatedly, for refusing to serve in the campaign: the actual number of refusals was far greater, but their rising numbers deterred the military authorities from prosecuting most of the refuseniks. The onset of the Palestinian intifada in 1987 prompted further refusals: the numbers imprisoned came close to 200, though here too, the army backed down from jailing many of the recalcitrant soldiers, suggesting that refusals may have been ten times more numerous. Significantly, a disproportionate ratio of refuseniks are combat officers (ranking from sergeant to major) i.e. soldiers who have served with distinction.
From its formation, Yesh Gvul set out to foster the refusal movement. Defying official intimidation - including intense surveillance by the police and security services - the group offered counseling to soldiers wrestling with the agonizing choice between serving policies they found abhorrent, or defying military discipline. To those who elected to refuse, Yesh Gvul extended unreserved moral and material backing, ranging from financial support for families of imprisoned refuseniks, to pickets at the military prisons where they were held. Whenever a refusenik was jailed, Yesh Gvul took action to bring his protest to the public notice, as a model for the broader peace movement, and for other soldiers in a similar dilemma.
Yesh Gvul is a small group with limited resources, human and financial alike. But the unique thrust of its campaign has had an electrifying effect on the broader peace movement, which drew inspiration from the moral example set by individuals prepared to suffer for their convictions. Other peace movements confined themselves to verbal protest, stopping short at the direct challenge to conventional authority represented by refusal. But Yesh Gvul rejected the "shoot-and-cry" syndrome; its own slogan - "We don't shoot, we don't cry, and we don't serve in the occupied territories !" - made the group a spearhead of the Israeli peace movement.
With members holding a variety of political views, Yesh Gvul is not bound to any specific peace program. Its immediate aim is to put an end to the misuse of the IDF (Israel Defense Force !) for unworthy ends, and terminate the occupation. The group is united on the "two-state" solution, as the key to a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
<Continues at the website........>
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YESH GVUL deserves our full support, as do the Refuseniks. They are the conscience of a sick nation.
Shalom, Ray |
