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The following overview and comments are from Max Watts, Australia, a long time peace activist and a researcher of resistance inside militaries.
Rela [in Israel]
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IL RITA
3 AUGUST 2006
Nota: IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE VIETNAM WAR MANY AMERICAN RESISTERS INSIDE THE ARMY (RITAs) INITIALLY BELIEVED THEY WERE THEY WERE THE FIRST, AND sometimes THE ONLY, SOLDIERS TO RESIST. THERE SEEMS TO BE A SIMILAR SITUATION ONGOING IN ISRAEL (SEE 2 AND 3, BELOW).
MAX
1/ First Sergeant Omri Zeid
SFC ZEID, An Artilleryman from Tzfat, refused to shell Mjadara a Lebanese village. Zeid, serving in an artillery battery in the North Golan Heights, was ordered to shoot 150 shells at the village. Zeid took up his backpack and told his fellow soldiers:
"I am not willing to be part of an army which shoots on women and children", whereupon he departed.
2/ Captain Amir Pastar
called up by army in recent days to join fighting in Lebanon, declared Sunday he refuses to take part in this war. Pastar was sentenced to 28 days in military jail. 'He thinks Israel's operation hurts civilians on both sides,' his girlfriend explains.
Captain Pastar stated that "participating in the war contradicts the values I was brought up upon." He prefers to serve jail time rather then act against his conscious.
On Sunday morning, when Pastar found out he would have to enter Lebanon, he spoke with his subordinates and informed them he will not take part in the mission. By evening he faced a disciplinary procedure and was sent to prison,
"It's not easy refusing to take part in this, especially when you're the first one to do so," his girl friend Nitzan said. Nitzan also said that while Amir gave a lot of thought to this move, he eventually decided he is willing to go to jail in order to stay true to his principles.
3/ Staff Sergeant Itzik Shabbat
The Lebanon 2006 war has produced its first conscientious objector - Staff Sergeant Itzik Shabbat, a 28-year-old TV producer. He refused to comply with an emergency order (Tsav 8) to report today for reserve duty in the territories in order to free forces in the standing army for the war in Lebanon.
Shabbat, a resident of Sderot, had not yet decided last night whether he would go to his reserve unit today and announce there that he was refusing to do reserve duty or whether he would not report at all and be considered absent.
"I know people will attack me and ask how could I not take part in this war when Qassams are falling on my hometown and Katyushas on the towns in the north," he told Haaretz. "In my opinion, only this type of opposition that I've chosen will put an end to the madness that is going on now and will shatter the false feeling that the entire home front supports this unnecessary war that is based on deceptive considerations."
He added: "Someone has to be the first to break the silence and it will be me. It is a shame that my order was signed by another Sderot resident, Defense Minister Amir Peretz."
Shabbat says he has already informed his commander and other officers in the unit of his intentions and he is prepared to pay the price.
In the past Shabbat, considered an outstanding commander, also refused to serve in the territories and sat in prison for 28 days. He was one of the signatories to the petition of the refusal movement, Courage to Refuse.
However he says that his present decision is not connected with the need to relieve a unit in the territories but rather with his opposition to the war in Lebanon. The larger Yesh Gvul movement started by opposing the 1982 Lebanon war and only later the territories, too.
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The Yesh Gvul movement reported in this regard that it is currently in touch with more than 10 soldiers and officers who have been called up to serve in Lebanon and decline taking part in the fighting.
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