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July 2, 2004
A look at Israel's refuseniks
Israeli activist and author Kidron shares his views with Vancouverites.
NORMAN EPSTEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
There are currently more than 1,300 men and women in Israel, including
27 air force pilots and 13 commandos, who have declared that they
refuse to participate in military service in the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip. In the vast majority of cases, the people involved are
not pacifists, but they are practising selective refusal: they will
not participate in what they feel is an exertion of illegitimate
power of an occupier over the occupied. These and other insights
were the subject of an address by Israeli freelance journalist and
activist Peretz Kidron at the Vancouver Public Library on June 13,
sponsored by Jews for a Just Peace and the Near East Cultural and
Educational Foundation.
According to Kidron, selective refusal to serve in the Israel Defence
Forces (IDF) for purposes of occupation was actually initiated individually
by a number of Israelis in the early 1970s, but it was not until
the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, when 168 Israeli servicemen were
jailed, some repeatedly, for refusing to serve in that war, that
the first organization of refusers was started. They called themselves
Yesh Gvul, which translates literally as "there is a
limit" or "there is a border."
Kidron joined Yesh Gvul in 1983. He explained that Yesh Gvul have
leafleted soldiers at military transportation centres, asking them
to search their consciences before proceeding with any further military
service as occupiers, they have provided assistance to jailed refuseniks
and their dependents, and they have organized both a national and
a worldwide solidarity and support network for those in Israel who
eschew military service for conscientious reasons (and who tend
to suffer social ostracism, economic penalties and physical incarceration).
These activities were stepped up during the first Palestinian intifada
(December 1987-September 1993), during which about 200 soldiers
were jailed for refusing to partake in the campaign, said Kidron.
He added that, more recently, in January 2002, in the midst of the
ongoing second intifada, 53 Israeli reserve officers and soldiers
publicly stated that "We shall not continue to fight beyond
the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate
an entire people." The resulting organization, Courage to Refuse
(www.nimn.org/refuse/
about.html), has grown to more than 600 reservists and has generated
widespread debate in Israel.
Even before the above declaration, a group of 55 Israeli high school
seniors known as Shministim (defined as "top high school
students" in Kidron's book Refusenik! Israel's Soldiers
of Conscience) sent an open letter to Sharon declaring their
refusal to join the IDF as long as it continued, in their view,
to violate the human rights of Palestinians. Their numbers have
now grown to 500, said Kidron, and they are being backed by a Parents'
Forum, who are also supporting five convicted Shministim now serving
a second year in jail for following their individual consciences
rather than the consciences of the army generals.
In their communications to soldiers and reservists, Yesh Gvul stresses
a lesson of the Nuremberg Trials, that committing war crimes (such
as bombing civilians) because one is simply obeying orders is not
an acceptable excuse. In his Vancouver talk, Kidron pointed out
that the enormous military expenditures by the Israeli government
have severely damaged the once enviable social safety net of Israel.
He also speculated that the daily brutality of the current situation
is spilling over into Israel itself by lowering moral standards
and contributing to increasing criminality.
During his lecture, Kidron made reference to what he said was the
unofficial credo of Yesh Gvul, a poem by Bertold Brecht, the first
verse of which is "General, your tank is a powerful vehicle
/ It tramples the forest, it crushes a hundred men / But it has
one flaw: / It requires a driver."
In his closing remarks, Kidron appealed to Diaspora Jews not simply
to oppose Sharon, a wordy gesture with little practical effect,
but to morally and financially support the Israelis who oppose the
government's policies, especially those who put themselves on the
line by refusing what they consider illegitimate army service (www.refusersolidarity.net).
Norman Epstein is a professor emeritus of chemical engineering
at the University of British Columbia and a member of Jews for a
Just Peace.
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