Hi all!
This was a very big story here 2 days ago & I thought that you might find it interesting.
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This is from yesterday's Haaretz newspaper:
High Court rejects 'selective' refusal to serve in
territories
By Moshe Gorali and Jonathan Lis
The High Court of Justice yesterday rejected the petition of eight Israel Defense
Forces reservists, soldiers and officers, who refused to serve in the territories
for reasons of conscience.
A panel of three justices - including Supreme Court President Aharon Barak,
Dorit Beinisch and Ayala Procaccia - ruled that selective conscientious objection
could be recognized because "it would weaken the ties that bind us as a
nation."
The 12-page verdict said: "Yesterday, there was opposition to serving in
Lebanon; today, the opposition is to serving in Judea and Samaria; and
tomorrow, there will be opposition to evacuating settlement outposts."
The justices warned that "the people's army is liable to turn into an army in
which every unit acts according to its own particular conscience."
The eight petitioners - David Zonsheine, Rami Kaplan, Uri Fein, Ramah
Shaham, Maor Persa'i, Uri Meimon, Udi Elipentz, and Yaniv Itzkowitz - belong to
Courage to Refuse, a group of reserve soldiers who refuse to serve in the
territories. They are not classic conscientious objectors, as they are willing to
serve in the military inside Israel.
Indeed, all were called up for reserve service and appeared at their bases, but
refused to go across the Green Line into the territories.
Founded in January, the group has since grown to 512 members. The
signatories have vowed they will "not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders
in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people."
With the decision, lead petitioner First Lieutenant (res.) David Zonsheine will
return to jail for three weeks.
To return to prison "is the best and most important duty a soldier in the army can
perform today for Israel," Zonsheine said after the ruling.
"Our refusal to serve in the occupied territories is the most Jewish and Zionistic
ideal that can be upheld in this situation," he added.
Link: <
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/p...2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y>
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Here is The Jerusalem Post's story:
Court rejects petition by soldiers refusing to serve in territories
Dan Izenberg
Dec. 31, 2002
The High Court of Justice on Monday rejected a petition by eight reservists who have refused to serve in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip on moral grounds, declaring that the defense minister had the right to order them to serve and to punish them if they
refused.
The petition was submitted by attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Michael Sfard on behalf of eight soldiers who have been
sentenced to jail by military disciplinary courts. The petitioners were David Zonshain, Rami Kaplan, Uri Fein, Romach Shaham,
Maor Parsai, Uri Tocker-Maimon, Udi Eliphantz, and Yaniv Itzkovich.
Zonshain was allowed out of military prison to attend the hearing. Afterward, he told reporters, "For 11 years I have served in
the IDF as a paratroop officer, and it is a great privilege for me to do so. In the light of today's court decision, I will have the
great privilege of serving in Military Prison No. 6. I think this is the best and most serious military service one can perform in the
army today. It is the most Zionist and the most Jewish act and the only right one under these circumstances."
The justices rejected the concept of selective conscientious objection, that is, the refusal to serve in specific circumstances as
opposed to pacifism, which is recognized as legitimate by the army.
Supreme Court President Aharon Barak and Justices Dorit Beinisch and Ayala Procaccia ruled that although both types of
refusal to serve are based on moral considerations and conscience, the impact of selective refusal is more damaging to the state.
"In a society as pluralistic as ours, recognition of selective conscientious objection might loosen the links that hold us together as
a people," Barak wrote. "Yesterday, the objection was to serving in southern Lebanon. Today, the objection is to serving in
Judea and Samaria. Tomorrow, the objection will be to evacuating the outposts in the territories. The army of the people might
turn into the army of [different] peoples, made up of different units, each of which has its own areas where it may operate and
other areas where, for reasons of conscience, it may not."
Barak added that if selective conscientious objection were allowed, it would be increasingly difficult to determine when a
soldier's refusal was based on moral considerations and when it had to do with his political or ideological point of view.
Asked why he believed his refusal was different from those of soldiers who will not obey orders to remove illegal outposts in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Zonshain replied: "There is a big difference. The refusal to remove outposts is based on
ideological and messianic considerations, whereas our refusal is based on universal values."
Link: <
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1041223904026>
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Comments?
Be well!
ssv
I always like to see people standing up for what's right. Thanks for posting those stories, SSV! It's good to know those soldiers have consciences when it comes to the Palestinian people.
