Independent.co.uk

Sharon suspends reservists as revolt in the ranks grows
By Phil Reeves
06 February 2002
Israel's armed forces have decided to suspend scores of reserve soldiers from their posts in an effort to quell the largest internal revolt in the ranks since the start of the 16-month Palestinian uprising.

The reservists, who include combat officers, have signed a petition saying they will refuse to serve in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip because Israel is "dominating, expelling, starving and humiliating" the Palestinian population.

By yesterday, the petition had 173 names. The figure has risen from 100 in less than a week, adding momentum to an acrimonious national debate. It is the first big rift in Israeli public opinion over Israel's conduct of the conflict since Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister in a landslide victory 11 months ago.

The army has reacted with annoyance and unease, not least because it makes wide use of reservists to patrol and guard Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.

The refuseniks insist that their objections are principled, and have stressed that they are willing to defend Israel within its pre-1967 borders.

One of them, Lieutenant Ishai Sagi, has described how, during one two-week stint in the West Bank, he was ordered to open fire at Palestinians who picked up stones for throwing at the troops. "There were no specifics about whether [the person] was a child, a woman or an elderly man," he said, "And there were no specifics as to where to shoot [the person]."

He told one interviewer: "I don't think that what the Israeli Defence Forces do in the territories contributes in any way to defending Israel itself ...

"Everything that we do in there – all the horrors, all the tearing down of houses and trees, all the roadblocks, everything – is just for one purpose, the settlers, who I believe are illegally there. So I believe that the [orders] that I got were illegal and I won't do them again."