In late January, 52 reserve officers and combat soldiers of the Israeli Defense Force sent a letter to their government explaining their refusal to serve in the occupied areas of Palestine. Immediately they were lambasted from all sides. The right accused them of treachery, betraying their country in a time of war. The Center and Left criticized them for undermining Israeli democracy, emphasizing that the military is controlled by elected civilian leaders and must not be politicized. Three of the designers of the "Courage to Refuse" letter were sentenced to military prison.
Since then, however, over three hundred reservists and soldiers have signed the list, adding to the more than 400 reservists who have silently refused to serve since the Intifada began in 2000. In an army of many thousands, the "refuseniks" are but a handful, but they have made quite a statement.
They assert that they have been issued commands "that had nothing to do with the security of our country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the Palestinian people." They further declared that "We will not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders - the Green line - in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people."
In the letter they lamented the damage done to the "humane character" of the Israeli Defense Force as a byproduct of the occupation, as well as the contradiction between the values with which they were raised and the actions of the Israeli Defense Force.
Testimonials describe the typical Israeli upbringing, lush with values of peace and pride and dedication to democracy. But all this was contradicted by both the occupation of Palestinian territory and the brutal behavior of the force towards the Arab population. Refusenik Ram Rahat states that the Israeli Defense Force teaches that it's okay to harm an Arab. This is supported by countless testimonials of reservists who now refuse to fight.
Democracy is also contradicted. For the 3 million Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, no such democracy exists. Soldiers are taught to be proud, for they are fighting for democracy, but simultaneously they are enforcing authoritarianism over a huge population.
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Refusal of military service is no new concept. It was encouraged by French intellectuals such as Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre during the war of Algerian Independence in the 1950s. About 100,000 dead Muslims and 10,000 dead French soldiers later, under increased pressure from both civilian and military resistance, Algeria won independence.
Then, in Vietnam, thousands of Americans saw that not only was that war detrimental to the upstanding (he! he!) image of the US Armed Forces, but that tens of thousands of Americans were dying along with millions of Vietnamese for something that was not a real national security threat. Americans' refusal to serve helped lead to the decision to pull out.
This is not a new phenomenon in Israel either. In every war since 1967, hundreds had refused to serve on the basis that their government was not fighting for peace, but for domination. In 1978, Prime Minister Begin faced thousands of signatures in protest. In the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, in the wake of the Sabra and Shatila massacres, many more refused to serve. The 1987-1993 Intifada saw more refusals. Today it is happening again.
And today it is happening as the Arab-Israeli conflict reaches new heights of violence and ridiculousness. More and more people are awakening to the reality that the conflict is not simply about terrorism and age-old ethnic rivalry. It is about politics and domination.
It is true that a politicized military is bad for democracy, for when guns have their own opinions, civilian rule is undermined. But Israeli democracy and liberal values have been supremely corrupted from the evermore-encroaching occupation since 1967.
There comes a time in every corrupt democracy when the strong arm - the military - must consider the motives of its civilian leaders' decisions. Israel's time has come again.
I commend the signees of the Courage to Refuse letter for their questioning of and action against their government's insane Palestinian policy. I further call on all police, military personnel, and other gun-totin' employees of the state in this country to question your orders, and if need be, lay down your arms.
by Mike Wolff
Daily Lobo Columnist
Questions or comments can be sent to Mike Wolff at mudrat@unm.edu
