ZGram - 1/27/2002 - "A very unusual ad"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

Copyright (c) 2001 - Ingrid A. Rimland

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

January 27, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

What does this ad mean?  Is the Sharon front crumbling from within?

It is my understanding that it is highly unusual for "officers and soldiers
in the combat reserves" of *any* defense force to challenge the system
under which they serve - much less do so in an open forum.

[START]

TEXT OF PAID AD IN HAARETZ  ANNOUNCING  REFUSAL TO SERVE IN OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES

   We, being officers and soldiers in the combat    reserves of the Israel
Defence Force, having been brought up on Zionism,    self-sacrifice and
contribution to the Israeli people and the state of    Israel, having
always served in the front line, having always been the    first to   carry
out any mission, easy or difficult, to defend and buttress    the   state
of Israel;

  we, combat officers and soldiers who serve the    state of Israel for
many weeks each year, regardless of the heavy personal    cost, have
rendered reserve service throughout the occupied territories    and
received orders and instructions that had nothing to do with the
security of the state, and whose sole purpose is perpetuation of our
domination of the Palestinian people;

  we, having witnessed with our    own eyes the bloody toll that the
occupation takes on both sides of the    divide;   who have sensed how the
orders we received erode every value we    have   imbibed in this country;

   who understand today that the price    of the occupation is loss of the
humane image of the IDF and corruption of    the entire Israeli society;

  who know that the territories are not    Israel, and that the Jewish
settlements there will ultimately have to be    evacuated;

   We hereby declare that we will no longer fight in the war    for the
welfare of the settlements in the territories. We will not    continue   to
fight beyond the Green Line  [Israel's pre-'67 border]    for the   purpose
of dominating, expelling, starving and humiliating an    entire   people.

   We hereby declare that we will continue to serve in    the Israel
Defence Force in any assignment that will serve the defence of    the
state of Israel.  The assignment of occupation and repression    does   not
serve that aim - and we will have no part in it.

   52    signatures, specifying the signatories' reserve rank (ranging from
first    sergeant to major) and combat  unit (paratroops, armour,
engineers,    artillery, navy, military intelligence, airforce, Golani
brigade, Givati    brigade, Nahal brigade).

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Thought for the Day:

"Truth is a torch that gleams through the fog without dispelling it."

(Claude Adrien Helvetius)