ZGram - 1/27/2002 - "A very unusual ad"
irimland@zundelsite.org
irimland@zundelsite.org
Sun, 27 Jan 2002 15:18:20 -0800
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)