December 21, 2003

Today's Contents:

13 Sayeret Matkal Reservists Join Refusal to Seve In Territories(Ha'aretz) Elite unit's members add weight to refusal movement

Daily Dehumanization(Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz) Daily life at checkpoints

[In a remarkable turn of events following closely and symbolically upon the conviction last week of five young Israeli conscientious objectors -- Hagai Matar, Shimri Zameret, Adam Maor, Noam Bahat and Matan Kaminer -- today 13 members of the elite Israeli military unit Sayeret Matkal announced their refusal to serve in the Occupied Territories.  The significance of the announcement by the 13 Sayeret Matkal reservists is hard to describe to a non-Israeli observer because of the special status that Sayeret Matkal commands in Israeli society.  The unit has undertaken a series of high profile and extremely difficult operations over the years -- most famously, the Entebbe raid in 1976 that freed more than a 100 Jewish and Israeli hostages held by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijackers (several captives were killed in the rescue effort, as was former PM Benjamin Netanyahu's brother, Yoni, the Sayeret Matkal commander).  The 13 new refusers have sent a letter to Israeli PM Ariel Sharon announcing that "we will no longer give our hands to the oppressive reign in the territories and the denial of human rights to millions of Palestinians."  The Sayeret Matkal reservists maintain that the continuing occupation is unrelated to the defense of Israel but illegitimately forces Israeli soldiers to "serve as a defensive shield for the [Israeli] settlement enterprise."

Predictably, much of the Israeli political elite vehemently denounced the 13 reservists today.  Former Labor PM Ehud Barak, himself a past Sayeret Matkal commander, has called on them to rescind their refusal. It is perhaps a measure of growing frustration among many Israelis over the continuing dead-end of occupation, however, that the IDF refusal movement is now resurgent.  This coincides with new pressures on Israel's ruling coalition arising from independent political initiatives such as the so-called Geneva Accords, and surprising comments by a dyed-in-the-wool political hawk, former Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert, who called for (extremely limited) Israeli territorial concessions.  Moreover, such new pressures must be linked to increasingly vociferous anti-Arab racism, such as that displayed at a conference last week sponsored by the Israeli Institute for Policy and Strategy, where MK Benjamin Netanyahu and armaments researcher Dr. Yitzhak Ravid advocating official policies to defeat the "demographic threat" posed by Israel's Arab minority, currently about 20% of the Israeli citizenry (see JPN message of December 19, 2003).

These events attest that the situation in the Occupied Territories continues to rot Israel's moral self-conception while devastating the captive Palestinian population, as Gideon Levy's article from Ha'aretz (second below) documents.  Levy points out that the dehumanization of the Palestinians by Israeli military forces has become routine and all-pervasive -- an unavoidable outcome of the continuing, unconscionable occupation.  The knowledge that Palestinian civilian deaths and daily degradation continue to mount with each successive Israeli military operation in the Territories is relegated, in turn, to the void of appalling disavowal among much of the Israeli and international media and public.  Perhaps today's action by the 13 outspoken Sayeret Matkal reservists, among other faint glimmers of hope, are the early signs of meaningful social change and shifting political ground.  --Lincoln Shlensky]


13 Sayeret Matkal reservists join refusal to serve in territories

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/374325.html

By Amos Harel and Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondents

Thirteen reservists in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit of the Israel Defense Forces on Sunday evening signed a letter declaring their refusal to serve in the territories.

The letter - signed by soldiers and officers - was delivered to the Prime Minister's Office, which refused to comment on the content of the letter.

Among the 13 signatories are nine who still do reserve service in Sayeret Matkal, while the most senior is an officer with the rank of major.

"We say to you today, we will no longer give our hands to the oppressive reign in the territories and the denial of human rights to millions of Palestinians," reads the letter addressed to the prime minister, " and we will no longer serve as a defensive shield for the settlement enterprise."

Although Sayeret Matkal - the IDF General Staff's elite special-operations force - is rarely involved in operations in the territories, the announcement carries weight because of the group's standing in Israeli society.

In 1972, Sayeret Matkal commandos, led by former prime minister Ehud Barak, raided a Sabena plane hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. In 1976, the elite troops carried out a daring operation at Entebbe
airport in Uganda to rescue some 100 hostages on an Air France plane hijacked by terrorists.

In response, the IDF Spokesman said, "It is grave when reservists use their military records and the name of their unit for the purpose of expressing their political ideas."

Political figures who served in the elite army unit sharply criticized the announcement. Barak, who served as commander of Sayeret Matkal, called on signers of the letter to "immediately" retract their decision. According to Barak, it was a grave mistake, but "it's not too late correct it, and it's important to do so."

"In a democracy there's no place for refusal because it is the elected government that issues the orders to the army. As much as we are divided over the hesitant and confused policy of Sharon's government which is endangering Israel, it is essential that this battle be waged in the public sphere, and for the army to defend all of us. Every soldier has the right and the obligation to refuse an blatantly illegal order, but I am convinced that the IDF, under Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon, would never lend a hand to the giving of blatantly illegal orders to soldiers, including those in Sayeret Matkal."

Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who served in the elite unit, said Sunday that "if people base their military service on their political opinions, be left-winged or right-winged, we won’t have an army or a state left. It is time to stop using military service as a political axe."

MK Matan Vilnai (Labor), a major general in the reserves who served as deputy commander of Sayeret Matkal, also criticized the letter. "Refusal is a phenomenon that must cannot be accepted in any manner. It cannot be denied that we are not speaking of a few isolated instances, but rather a phenomenon that stems from the feeling of lack of purpose in government policy."

"Refusal harms society's strength," said MK Dan Yatom (Labor), a major general in the reserves who served in Sayeret Matkal. "I condemn any form of refusal. No person or group has the right to determine which missions are to be carried out." According to Yatom, "The government of Israel must be attentive to the distress expressed by such quality groups as the pilots and Sayeret Matkal, and to respond appropriately."

Deputy Defense Minister MK Ze'ev Boim (Likud) said the reservists were exploiting their military uniform for political purposes, and were unworthy of wearing it, Channel Two TV reported. Meretz MK Yossi Sarid said that while he opposes refusal to serve in the territories, this latest letter was another example of the failure of the occupation.

MK Ophir Pines (Labor) said that in light of the letter, a serious discussion should be held on the issue.

Minister Effi Eitam, Chairman of the National Religious Party, said that he sees the letter as a break in Israeli society and that he expected the wave of refusal to grow.

Meretz MK Roman Bronfman called the letter a brave step intended to save israel from the occupation, while MK Shaul Yahalom (NRP) said that jail was the proper place for the signatories.

The Sayeret letter is the third such public declaration of reservists refusing to serve in the territories since the outset of the current intifada. In early 2002, the "Courage to Refuse" movement released a letter signed by reservist soldiers and officers refusing to serve in the territories, which to date has over 570 signatories. In September of this year, a group of Israel Air Force pilots announced their refusal to carry out air strikes in the territories.


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Daily dehumanization

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/374054.html

By Gideon Levy

Bashar Awis was dying in a hospital. Though there was no doubt that he only had a few hours left, none of his relatives were by his bed at Haemek Hospital in Afula.

Awis, a 29-year-old father of two from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, was a prisoner at Megiddo Prison. Circumstances surrounding his death on December 8 remain unclear.

This much is known: Had it not been for one minimally respectful doctor, he would have died alone. After one of the hospital's physicians discretely phoned Physicians for Human Rights, the organization brought Awis' mother and wife to Haemek Hospital. Up to that point, nobody thought to notify the family, as is done in human society.

As it turns out, even in a hospital - a place where human compassion is supposed to be the sole operating norm - a Palestinian is still not on the same footing as other human beings. This process of dehumanizing the Palestinians has spread to every sector of Israeli society. What started in the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security service, and spread to other branches of power and to the media (which has, for years, deliberately emphasized the violent side of Palestinian reality) has now permeated every part of Israel's social fabric. That's apparently the only way a state can continue with a conquest and oppression without being overly concerned about what it means to the conquered.

The dehumanization is characterized by insensitivity to the value of human life. During the past months, virtually not a single day has gone by without Palestinians being killed in clashes in the territories; dozens of Palestinians, many of them unarmed innocents, have died each month, even during periods in which there were no terrorist attacks. The deaths were a marginal item of Israel's public agenda.

A related attitude is the utter lack of respect for Palestinians' human dignity. This attitude is particularly manifest at the point of everyday contact - the checkpoint. IDF roadblocks, the main point of interaction with Palestinians, are rancid, filthy sties - often they resemble animal holding pens. Is it mere neglect and laziness that has the IDF force anyone who wants to cross through the checkpoints to wallow in dirt and garbage before standing before a soldier? A person who passes through a roadblock is condemned in advance to suffer insult and humiliation.

The IDF roadblocks, places where people are forced to wait for hours and sometimes days, lack rest rooms or water faucets. While waiting at the Rafah checkpoint - an ordeal which lasts hours - Palestinians are not allowed to get out of their cars to go to the bathroom. Observing affairs a few days ago at the Jenin checkpoint, where Palestinians typically face a five or six-hour wait, I witnessed an elderly, handicapped man go to the bathroom inside his car. A puddle outside the vehicle said it all. Such scenes have nothing to do with security. Whoever is detained for a security check (and many people are taken aside for such inspections) is required to sit outside on the ground, in the rain, cold or blazing heat, for hours. You won't find a roadblock in the territories where people aren't sitting on the ground by the side, some of them in handcuffs.

The same attitude is directed toward Palestinian property. Not only does it happen that land is unilaterally expropriated and trees are cut down without notice, as though the property belongs to everyone; nor is it enough that homes are demolished as part of ongoing military operations or legal routines. This is not all - there are also the little things. Whoever leaves his car at a roadblock, where there are never orderly parking procedures, gets slapped with an NIS 500 fine. Cars are easily confiscated. Dozens of cars have been confiscated at each roadblock; often their owners haven't a clue as to why the vehicles were impounded.

The same attitude of contempt is on display in a variety of settings - when troops raid residential homes, when IDF men force all males in an area to sit together in a public area, when Palestinians have to wait endlessly around a stretch of the separation fence, hoping that some jeep will come with the keys and open up the gate. The attitude of sheer disdain is displayed in the behavior and speech of most soldiers.

All of this has become routine. It is not pure evil - it is the measure of evil that is needed to continue with the occupation. Hence, the most important step on the way to any arrangement will have to be a perceptual transformation by which Palestinian dignity is restored. As things stand today, we are far from such a cognitive turnabout. Former IDF soldier Ron Porer, author of the book "The Roadblock Syndrome," relates how soldiers he knew were furious whenever Palestinians dared wish them "good morning" at checkpoints. That's no accident: Such courteous residents of the territories might have put a crack in the soldiers' wall of rage and contempt.