Refuseniks
Clarity of conscience causes some Israeli soldiers to refuse service in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

Zonshein refused, and the reserve combat soldier helped draft a statement of objection to military service in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As of late May, 462 reservists in the Israeli Defense Forces have signed the document and now refuse to serve beyond the borders of Israel as set in 1967. They will no longer participate in the occupation of contested areas that are home to over three million Palestinian Arabs.

"How can a man say 'I do terrible wrongs' and continue doing it?" asks Staff Sgt. Gil Nemesh. "In this brutal occupation, a soldier can brag about shooting a child, can stop ambulances and still believe in his righteousness, can kill without feeling." For Nemesh and other refuseniks, it's not simply a little cognitive dissonance that needs resolution, but a total cognitive conflict.

Some soldiers snap. Talo Belo tells the story of his friend Daniel, who accidentally fired into a crowd and killed a pregnant woman with a fifth- month belly. Though cleared by an official investigation, Daniel couldn't live with himself. One evening after dancing with friends, he stepped outside to fire one final bullet.

Compared to the Israeli army, estimated at 186,000 soldiers and 30,000 called-up reservists, the number of refuseniks may seem small. But the refuseniks are not your typical conscientious objectors - pacifists who bow out of service. Some are longtime soldiers, and many remain active in the field. They are united, however, as political agitators who argue that there will be no peace for Israel or Palestine until the occupation ends.

The movement is gaining international support - refuseniks have spoken in the US, Canada, Japan, and Germany, and have plans to visit Italy, Turkey, and Sweden. At home, they face official condemnation. "It will be the beginning of the end of democracy if soldiers don't carry out the decisions of the elected government," said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The chairman of one Israeli television broadcaster advised its news network to reduce coverage of the refusal movement. Calling it a marginal manifestation, he said that interviews with refuseniks "divorce the communications media from the true Israeli experience." The Israeli army, meanwhile, has imprisoned only a fraction of the objectors, fearing that a crackdown might spark an even broader revolt in the ranks.

Facing social censure and arrest, the refusenik soldiers have shown uncommon courage, deepening a wider debate about morality and patriotism. "If our country is about to run into the street without looking, there is absolutely nothing disloyal about crying, 'Stop!'" writes Sam Smith, Washington, DC-based, author of Why Bother? Getting a Life in a Locked- Down World. True patriotism, Smith says, is "debate not salutes . . . service not revenge."

But the Israeli objectors are not only defined by courage and dissent. These traits have been combined by political extremists to the jeopardy of us all. Most remarkable about the refuseniks is their compassion. They are unable to reduce human casualties to collateral damage. They are soldiers who dare to feel empathy.

The Israeli refuseniks didn't follow any hero. They didn't even set out to do right, but rather to avoid doing wrong. In the process, they have become an inspiration to people everywhere who are asked to do what they know they should not.

"We are the Chinese young man standing in front of the tank," says refusenik Asaf Oron, recalling the battle for democracy in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. "And you? If you are nowhere to be seen, you are probably inside the tank, advising the driver."

For more on the Israeli refuseniks, or to support their movement, check "http://www.yesh-gvul.org"

Article Reproduced By Permission of ATTAC

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