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Politics : Israel to U.S. : Now Deal with Syria and Iran -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Emile Vidrine who wrote (4130)	12/24/2003 4:09:27 PM
From: Emile Vidrine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 22250

Reservists’ refusal to serve shakes Israel’s top leaders By Dan Baron TEL AVIV, Dec 22 (JTA) — For decades, they were Israel’s shadow heroes, staging daring operations in places such as Entebbe and Lebanon and emerging into the limelight only when it came time to take top civilian posts. But now even Sayeret Matkal, made up of these elite military figures, has been touched by a new moral unease in the Israeli military after three years of conflict with the Palestinians. Thirteen reservists from Sayeret Matkal — the General Staff Reconnaissance Company — went public on Sunday with a letter they wrote to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announcing they would refuse to serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Their move has shaken — and has been roundly condemned by — the political upper echelons to which the elite unite answers directly. “We will no longer be party to an oppressive rule in the territories and the disregard for the human rights of millions of Palestinians,” wrote the reservists, ranging in rank from sergeant to captain. “We will no longer serve to advance the Settlement Crusade.” In a nod to the heavy secrecy under which Matkal operates, the petitioners signed only the first letters of their last names and, when making television appearances, insisted their faces be obscured. It served as a slick inversion of the mystique surrounding Israel’s version of the U.S. Army Green Berets or the British Special Air Service, further enhancing the 13 reservists’ appeal.