[Amit Mashiah, a reserve sergeant who also signed the letter, explained, "We are patriots. Most of us are at the end of our 20s and the beginning of our 30s. We did what we were told, and now we see things as they are. There is a limit to the obedience of a citizen to his country." ] Amit Mashiah, un sergente in riserva, uno dei -già- 141 ufficiali che non vogliono stare nelle terre occupate, spiega:
"Siamo patrioti. Abbiamo fatto cosa ci hanno detto a fare. Ora vedono le cose come stanno. C'è un limite alla obbedienza di un cittadino al suo paese".
Per qualcuno potrebbe essere anche una disillusione constatare che gli ufficiali israeliani che rifiutano a "servire" nelle terre occupate non sono -tutti- rivoluzionari. Ma come disse Debby Lerman delle donne in nero israeliane ieri a Milano: adesso sta nascendo un movimento di disobbedienza dal centro dello spettro policico israeliano, non sono i "soliti militanti di sinistra", e questo fatto da forse ancora più speranza.
Il resto dell'articolo da Jerusalem Post:
Choosing to serve a higher cause
By Tovah Lazaroff
JERUSALEM (February 1) - Before sunrise one morning in the Gaza Strip, Yaniv Itskovich's unit almost shot an innocent Palestinian man. It was during Ramadan. Many Muslims wake up early to eat before the fast, so they take eggs from the chickens and milk the goats, Itskovich said.
Looking through his binoculars, a soldier in the unit spotted the man leaving his house, thought he had a gun, and shot at him. The soldier missed, the man fled.
"We didn't know who he was or what he was. We suspected, but we had no proof," Itskovich said, adding that, even so, they might have killed him.
The person who shot at him was a good person in a impossible situation, Itskovich said. It was the final straw for the 26-year-old lieutenant from a paratroop unit who was doing reserve duty.
After his stint was over, he and a friend from the same unit, David Zonshain, a fellow lieutenant, decided they would never again serve in Judea, Samaria, or Gaza.
They say they aren't afraid. They want to defend their country. They simply think Israel's presence in the territories is wrong.
They were soon joined by 48 other combat reservists. Last week the 50 reservists, some of whom are officers who have served in the reserves for over 10 years, stepped into the spotlight. They published a letter in Hebrew newspapers announcing their intention to stop serving in the territories and also spoke at length to both Yediot Aharonot and Channel 2.
In the letter, the reservists said that, although they believe in the state and have often fought for it on the front lines, they no longer intend to "take part in the war for the peace of the settlements."
"We will not continue to fight beyond the Green Line in order to rule, to expel, to destroy, to blockade, to assassinate, to starve, and to humiliate an entire people," they wrote.
Amit Mashiah, a reserve sergeant who also signed the letter, explained, "We are patriots. Most of us are at the end of our 20s and the beginning of our 30s. We did what we were told, and now we see things as they are. There is a limit to the obedience of a citizen to his country."
The IDF has contested their accusations. Speaking earlier this week at a General Staff forum, Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz had harsh words for the reservists, according to the IDF Spokesman. He said the IDF acts in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip according to the law. He noted that the reservists are required to serve by law and cannot just pick and choose where they want to be.
Other General Staff members also said these reservists do not represent the majority, who understand very well what their duty is.
On Wednesday, the IDF suspended both Itskovich and Zonshain from their command positions, pending their appearance before their division commander.
An army spokesman told The Jerusalem Post the IDF has not decided whether similar action will be taken against the other protesting reservists.
"They did what they had to do. I'm not angry, it's a price I'm willing to pay," Itskovich said.
Not all the reaction has been negative. In the last week their numbers have doubled, said Mashiah, a 30-year-old MA student at Tel Aviv University. They hope to grow to 500, said Mashiah. And they have created a Web site: http://www.seruv.org. **********
Mashiah hopes the swell of protesting voices will put so much pressure on the government that it will have no choice but to evacuate the settlements and end the occupation.
Mashiah was quietly true to his conscience for five years. After serving many months in the territories as a conscript and twice as a reservist, he refused to return. Instead Mashiah, a staff sergeant, did his reserve duty inside Israel. He opted to go public only after meeting Itskovitch and Zonshain.
Itskovich said he considered the option of quietly refusing to serve, but decided it would be selfish. Those who don't want to serve have many options, he said. "I could have lowered my profile, gone to another country for a while, or gone to a psychologist."
But as an officer he was in the habit of looking at the larger picture and keeping the good of his men in mind.
"We don't just want to save ourselves - we want to save our soldiers. I have a responsibility as an officer," Itskovich said.
He is convinced he is helping his men this way, even though he knows it is no longer possible to be with them in the field.
"I could not remain a moral person and an officer in the same person, so now I have to divide myself," Itskovich said. "It was a hard decision. Israel, the army is very important to me."
He just could not go into a community of Palestinians and keep them from running their daily lives, Itskovich said.
"All the time you point guns at cars, you fire warning shots and destroy houses and olive grooves," Itskovich said.
As a conscript from 1993-1997, Itskovich did several short stints in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, but always hoped it would end soon because of the Oslo peace process. Israel still needs to end this situation, he said.
"We are not politicians," said Mashiah. But they want to change policy.
President Moshe Katsav said he disapproves of their tactics. There is a better way for the reservists to make their point, said his spokeswoman, Hagit Cohen.
"It's a free country and people can say what they like, but what would happen if tomorrow no one showed up to serve?" she asked.
"It would break the army, and it would break the nation," said MK Uri Ariel (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu). "They are making a big mistake and they need to stop this," he said. "Making headlines in the newspaper is not the way to succeed here."
Politics should be played out in the Knesset rather than the army, Ariel added.
But MK Tamar Gozansky (Hadash) applauded the reservists.
"They are honest people who don't want to go into a hellish situation," Gozansky said. She hopes their numbers swell, pressuring the government to "stop the occupation" so that "we will have peace with secure borders."
MK Mossi Raz (Meretz) supports the reservists in principle, accusing the IDF of committing "war crimes" in the territories. Ironically, he said this is precisely why the reservists should serve there. "They should go and refuse to carry out illegal orders," he said.
MK Ran Cohen (Meretz), a reserve colonel, said he, too, understands the reservists' feelings, but feels that in this time of crisis, such public protest and refusal to serve is not productive.
There is no good time for this protest, Mashiah said. At any point, people could ask us, "Why now?"
The existing conflict is directly impacted by the Israel's presence and policy in these areas, so it makes sense to oppose it, he said.
"There is no such thing as 'the situation.' Situations are created by people and they are created by people's interests. This situation is wrong and we are trying to create the first crack in the wall in order to change the situation."
The reservists have refused to talk with the foreign media.
"We are not trying to be a Trojan horse inside Israel. This is an internal thing," Mashiah said.
The publicity they have received has been a little overwhelming, he added. "Being so public all of a sudden is something we are not used to."
MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) blamed the media for focusing on what is a familiar phenomenon of soldiers refusing to serve in contentious areas.
"There is nothing new here," he said. "Some soldiers refused to serve in Lebanon. That the Israeli media decided to reemphasize or refocus on this phenomenon is odd. This is a time of crisis. There is a war against terrorism. Suddenly several people refuse to fight, and the Israeli media, instead of condemning it, are backing it."
Gozansky said that, had the government listened to the soldiers who protested in the early 1980s, it might have avoided the problems of Israel's prolonged presence in southern Lebanon.
Peretz Kidron, a member of the 20-year-old grassroots group Yesh Gvul, has refused to serve in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip since the late 1970s. He said he is delighted by the reservists' actions. He himself is still an activist in this cause. On Sunday, for example, he handed out fliers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Givat Ram campus, urging reservists to take similar action.
Yesh Gvul distributed leaflets in 15 other locations across the country on Sunday.
Kidron said that, since October 2000, more than 400 soldiers have refused to serve in the territories.
