TITLE: A Farewell to Arms
AUTHOR: Sara Leibovich-Dar
PUB: Ha'aretz
DATE: January 12, 2001
Eyal Rosenberg: Not a cog in the system. After serving for two years in a prestigious intelligence unit, Eyal Rosenberg, 19, from Haifa, decided that he was not willing to be a soldier in an army of occupation. The recent events in the territories strengthened his conviction.
"The state is doing injustice to the Arabs and I am not prepared to be a cog in a system that suppresses another people," he wrote to his commanding officer - and stayed home. He was tried by a military court and sentenced to a 14-day suspended sentence. He was not deterred.
Rosenberg arrived at the army base where he was stationed wearing civilian clothes, and declared that from now on, "I am a civilian." He was tried again and this time sentenced to 14 days in prison. He finished serving his term at the end of this week. Rosenberg intends to continue his struggle. He refuses to wear an Israel Defense Forces uniform; he will not serve in an army that kills Arabs systematically, he insists. His parents are worried. His father votes Likud. His mother, Veronica, was influenced by Eyal's views, "But I am not as extreme as he is," she says. "I feel like I have reached a dead end, that I have failed in my son's education."
In an attempt to persuade him to change his mind, she put him in touch with Michael Harsegor, a retired professor of history who is well-known for his media appearances. "For some reason, I am the one mothers turn to when their sons get embroiled with the army," Harsegor says. The meeting between the historian and the young soldier did not produce agreement.
"Rosenberg is a humanist, but he is not practical," the professor explains. "The fact is that there is no reason for an immediate revolution. He is a lone individual who has crammed himself with ideas. He feels like a martyr. It's too bad, though, that the army throws him into jail instead of dealing with him humanely. For example, he could be turned into a good instructor. If he had come to me earlier, I would have advised him to follow the path that the great revolutionaries carved out for us: stay in the army and propagandize there."
Three other young men who also refuse to do army service across the 1967 Green Line have also been to see Harsegor recently. "The situation generates despair," he says. "My feeling is that the number of cases like this will increase. It is not an isolated problem. We are going to have a problem now with youngsters who will not want to serve across the Green Line." Shaul Schwartz: The limits of obedience On the northern front, 170 people were jailed for refusing to serve in Lebanon. A total of 180 preferred prison to serving in the territories during the first Intifada in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The usual estimate is that for every soldier sent to prison there are 10 others who also refused to serve in a particular area but did not find themselves in a head-on clash with the army.
A similar wave of refusals is now threatening to wash over the IDF, says Yishai Menuhin, the spokesman of the Yesh Gvul ("There is a Limit/Border") movement that supports refusal to serve in the territories: "There are quite a few combat soldiers in the reserves who are unwilling to do guard duty at settlements, to take part in an occupation force, or to come into military contact with a Palestinian civilian population. Many of them are ready to pay the price exacted by their refusal."
A case in point is Shaul Schwartz, 44, a musician from the town of Even Yehuda, near Netanya. He plays the cello in a trio he established: "But, there is no demand for classic call-up notice. He called his commanding officer and told him he was not willing to serve in a capacity or in a situation that would oblige him to come in contact with Palestinians.
"I will prefer to go to jail in order to avoid acting against my conscience," he says. "I cannot do something that I don't believe in ... The fighting that is going on now is absolutely not to my liking. I think [Palestinian leader Yasser] Arafat is fighting because he wants to get a better agreement. What is happening now is the continuation of the desire to resolve the problem by political means. At the moment, we find ourselves in a period of brute force, but both sides have a strong desire to end the conflict peacefully. Violence will interfere with that process. therefore, I do not want to be a party to violence and occupation."
Schwartz's commanding officer was not impressed either by the articulate presentation or by the rationale. He offered Schwartz the possibility of doing his reserve service at Meggido Prison. Schwartz refused.
"Most of the Palestinian prisoners who are sent to Meggido are arrested in the wake of confrontations in the territories," he notes. "The army should not be there in the first place. Certainly there is no point or purpose in arresting Palestinians. I am also against the judicial process these prisoners undergo. Military justice is extremely unfair."
Schwartz's superiors in the army made additional attempts to persuade him and threatened to put him on trial, but he did not back down. Finally, he was sent to do guard duty in Bat Yam.
Schwartz has experience in taking on the army. He grew up in Ramat Gan and did his compulsory service in the air force. In 1989, he got a call-up notice for the reserves with a posting to the Ansar detention camp. He informed his commanding officer that he refused to carry out any missions that were related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was tried four times for disobeying an order, and spent a total of 45 days in a military prison.
"I was young and idealistic then, I didn't have a family, and I took it all very easily. Today, if I were to sit in prison for a lengthy period it would be a problem, because I have two small children. But, if the alternative is to go to jail rather than serving in the territories, I am ready for it."
In the past 10 years, Schwartz has been called up for duty in the territories many times. Refusal or compliance with that type of reserve duty was to him a function of the political situation.
"I never agreed to do guard duty in settlements and I was always released from that, but after the Oslo accord, I was called up to do guard duty in Hebron and I did not object. I told myself that the base there was going to be evacuated within a few months anyway, and if Arafat agreed to the base remaining there for a few more months, then it would be foolish for me, of all people, to reject the agreement. But, now there is no agreement, there is a fierce conflict. I find the Palestinians' demands logical, and there is no reason why I should be part of an army of occupation at a time like this."
The struggle and the victory gave him a good feeling. Schwartz adds: "I stood up for what I believed in and I succeeded. It is very important for me to preserve the feeling that I don't do anything I do not believe in. I would prefer to go to jail rather than do something only out of fear of the consequences."
Schwartz's friends have not been enthusiastic about his refusal to serve in the territories: "Not all my friends agree with my way, especially not now when the feeling is that we are in a state of war and we are supposedly defending ourselves." Robert Tries: No moral occupation Robert Tries is equally determined. He is 31, married, lives in an Arab neighborhood in Jerusalem, and edits "Israel News Today," a compilation of press clippings translated from Hebrew into English for foreign correspondents and embassies. He does his reserve duty in the Armoured Corps. A few weeks ago, the army contacted him by telephone with an emergency call-up order. He was to be sent to Jenin in the West Bank.
"I told them I was not willing to serve, and the next day they cancelled the order. Then they renewed it and rescinded it again. I told my commanding officer that I was not willing to enter the territories in an army uniform," he says.
"At the political level, I believe the Palestinians deserve a state of their own and the time has come to give then back the territories. From my point of view, they are not fighting their war of independence. The army, at this stage, is only interfering in the attempt to reach political agreements.
"The prime minister has an army and he thinks the army gives him the power to wait until there is an agreement that he is satisfied with. But, I am not ready to be a tool in this government's game. I am not a pawn on a chessboard and I am not willing to be thrown into the cycle of violence against my will."
His refusal to serve also has moral facets, he explains: "There is no such thing as a 'moral occupier.' The two [concepts] are completely incompatible. Even the most enlightened soldier is perceived by the Palestinians as an occupier. Almost the only contact that many Palestinians have with Israelis is at roadblocks, and that is what has aggravated the relations between us over the years.
"The only possible moral decision is not to get into a situation in which I am forced to defend myself by shooting at people who do not deserve to die. In the last analysis, we are victims of our leaders. Both Barak and Arafat want to stay in power, and the ordinary citizen pays the price.
"Today, my awareness is such that I say there has to be an end to this situation: Violence will not bring about a political change in the region, and until an understanding is reached that there has to be peace, a lot more people will be killed here. I am not ready to become a part of that cycle."
Tries came to Israel with his family from the United States 15 years ago. His "political awareness" developed during a lengthy process. "In the past, I served in the territories, both in the regular army and in the reserves, in order to oversee our soldiers ... When I was a tank commander, I had soldiers who had just completed basic training, and were immediately sent into the territories. They got to the territories after half-a-year of being humiliated, because that is what usually happens in basic training, and suddenly they felt they had power but they didn't have the tools they needed in order to cope with that power. They humiliated elderly people. I had to stop them from coming into contact with the local population."
This time, he decided to refuse to serve, he says, because he reached the conclusion that his ability to oversee and influence others was very limited and ineffective. There is also a practical reason for his stance. Not long ago he moved to an Arab neighborhood.
"I cannot disappear for three weeks of reserve duty in the territories and expect my neighbors to show understanding for that," Tries says. "Today, I also feel that I understand the Arabs better than most Israelis, who hardly ever come into contact with them. I live with them, I am much more sensitive to them than I used to be. And that doesn't mean I think they are saints. One of the mistakes of history is to think that victims are always righteous people. That is not the case, but it also doesn't mean you have to kill them."
The reactions to his decision were generally sympathetic: "No one in my unit says I am a scumbag or asks how I dare refuse to serve. People actually say they understand me."
His family, though, was not very supportive. "My father is a Likudnik. Half a year ago already, I intimated to him that if there was a war with the Palestinians, I would not take part. He was very angry." Shlomi Yosef: Better jail than a coffin Shlomi Yosef, 35, a graphic editor for the Jerusalem weekly Kol Ha'ir, published an article in the paper two weeks ago, in which he stated that he had no intention of reporting for his next stint of reserve duty - at the Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip.
"I prefer going to jail rather than being placed in a cheap wooden coffin draped with a blue-and-white flag. I do not want people to say about me that I was a good guy and a good friend, someone who was always happy, a good soul and all that stuff. I am sick of being a good guy. Starting tomorrow I am going to be a bad guy, a real shit of a guy, a wimp."
Readers wrote to the paper that he was endangering democracy, but he thinks he is in fact a boon to democracy: "All my reserve duty stints so far have been in the settlements. From now on, I am not going there any more. I am not willing to live by brute force any more. What do they expect me to do? Do reserve duty, kill a few Palestinians and go home to the routine, as though nothing happened? That type of life is not for me. Reserve duty within a hungry and humiliated population is police work. If I had wanted to be a policeman, I would have volunteered for the police force. But, I am a soldier, I was trained to fight against an army and not against children, women and old people. I am tired of this kind of war.
"Up above the leaders are moving troops around and threatening the world with our 'force' and our 'strength,' and they actually mean me - I am their force and their strength - but I don't have the strength for this any more. We are not in danger of being wiped out, so why fight all the time?"
And what about the settlers' children? Is he not ready to defend them either?
"If I do reserve duty, won't their legs be amputated anyway? They shouldn't be there in the first place, they are like a bone in the throat. Barak was afraid to take the final step toward making peace. I am not ready to pay the price of his fears." Shmuel Sheintoch: The Conscience Committee Shmuel Sheintoch, 29, a social worker from Jerusalem, is not willing to do reserve duty of any kind. "Even if I serve in civilian clothes and without a weapon, I will still be part of the violent occupation mechanism," he says, explaining that six months ago, he asked to be discharged from reserve duty as a conscientious objector.
"After doing my compulsory army service, I worked at the Center for the Defense of the Individual in Jerusalem, which is also a center that assists Palestinians. I saw all the wrongs being done by the Israeli establishment against the Palestinians, and I felt I could no longer accept doing service in the territories, mainly because I believe in non-violence."
Sheintoch returned to Israel a year ago after getting a master's degree in social work in England. Shortly after his return, he was called up for reserve duty at Tze'elim, the huge IDF base near Be'er Sheva. Once there, he realized the time had come to obtain a permanent discharge from reserve service, and he set about finding out how this could be done.
"My commanding officer told me that he never heard of such a thing. The officer in the Human Resources Branch who handles requests from the public said there is a committee that exempts soldiers for religious reasons only. I then turned to the Military Advocate General's Office and they directed me to the Conscience Committee."
The result was that a month ago, Sheintoch was exempted from reserve duty for reasons of conscience: "Everyone who knows the committee told me I had no chance of getting a discharge. I decided not to give up. I told them what I believed in - and I succeeded."
The Conscience Committee was established in 1995. Until then, men who refused to serve in the army could be exempted only on grounds of not being fit; women who seek exemption on grounds of conscience encounter no special difficulties. The establishment of the committee (for men) generated great expectations, but they were shattered by a report drawn up by Amnesty International in 1999. In the five years of the committee's existence only five soldiers, including Sheintoch, have been exempted from army service.
According to the Amnesty report, the committee consists of five members, four from the IDF. Applicants may not present external opinions or submit documents, nor may they have legal representation, even though one of the committee members is a jurist. The committee deals only with pre-draft teenagers and with reservists. The report recommends permitting conscripts as well to seek a selective discharge - that is, exemption from certain aspects of army service - on the grounds of conscientious objection.
The report did not help Yinon Hiller, 19, from Kibbutz Ha'ogen. He informed the army that he refused to be drafted for reasons of conscience. He has been a pacifist all his life. The recent events in the territories reinforced his convictions. Hiller appeared before the committee twice and his request for a discharge was rejected both times.
This week, he filed a petition with the High Court of Justice against the decision of the Conscience Committee. The court has already turned down similar petitions from two other soldiers. Hiller's lawyer, Uri Keidar, believes the case of his client is different.
"He is a genuine pacifist," Keidar states. The refuseniks: A civil society for all in the past couple of months, Rela Mazali from the New Profile organization has been contacted by a number of young men and reservists who have decided not to serve in the army and in the territories. The organization was founded two years ago with the aim of forging a "civil society" in Israel.
"If in the past, we used to get three calls a month from people who were hesitating about whether to serve or who had already decided they would not serve, that number has doubled in the past two months," Mazali says. "Most of those who refuse to serve go about it indirectly.
They don't go directly to their commanding officer and say they are refuseniks. Instead, they apply to the mental health officer, or suddenly they don't feel well and they go to a doctor - or they go AWOL, get sent to jail and then are exempted on grounds of unfitness.
"The phenomenon of outright objection, including general refusal to serve in the army altogether and selective refusal to serve in the territories, is only the tip of the iceberg. In the past few years, there is a social phenomenon of increasing unwillingness to serve in the army," she says.
Attorney Keidar, the legal adviser of New Profile, also handles many queries from regular soldiers and reservists about how they can get a discharge.
"People are not ready to serve in the territories and are already not enthusiastic about belonging to a body that has killed more than 200 hundred Palestinians in two months. That agonizing, which I think is a trend, and which used to be more on the moral-intellectual level, is becoming more concrete. My message to all those who are hesitating is that they have to be prepared to do time in a military prison."
The past two months have produced a stream of refuseniks who have been affected by the events in the territories, says Sergei Sandler from the Conscientious Objectors association.
"Regular soldiers are in the territories and see the killing first-hand. Reservists hear about it from their friends. The result is that people are being pushed to make a final decision, a refusal to serve in the army and in the territories." Lotan Raz: Cannon fodder for the government In the past few weeks, says Lotan Raz, many people have called him to ask his advice about refusing to serve. A year ago, Raz, 19, a history and philosophy student at Tel Aviv University, refused to be drafted. After 52 days in jail, he was discharged as unfit to serve.
"I did not want to be part of an army of suppression. I knew that when the time came, as it has now, they would use us as cannon fodder to maintain a mistaken policy. The problems of the State of Israel will not be resolved if I am killed in the territories. If I were to be drafted, I would not help the state. On the contrary: my public struggle made it clear to other people that it is possible to say no to killing and suppression."
The agonizers, Raz says, turn to him for support. "A lot of them want to know what it's like to serve time in prison. I tell them that a military prison is not a very pleasant place, that the prisoners are not treated humanely, they are always trying to humiliate you, to break your spirit, to separate you from other prisoners to prevent any solidarity. The other prisoners treated me well. Even though most of them have right-wing views, they hate the army, and they feel that somehow I am waging their struggle."
Will the army be able to come through the current ripples of protest unharmed? Prof. Stewart Cohen from the political science department of Bar-Ilan University has studied the interaction between army and society. People's refusal to do military service has no effect on Israel's security, he says.
"The phenomenon draws a lot of attention but, in the immediate term, it has only a minor impact. Israel is not the United States and the territories are not Vietnam. There is a well-developed culture of negotiation in Israel through which soldiers can work out various arrangements with the army without getting into confrontations. In the U.S. that possibility did not exist, which is why refusal to serve was so widespread there.
"A people's army - and the IDF is a people's army - is effective when there is a consensus within the society," Cohen explains. "When there are disputes within the nation, they also find their way into the army. What will happen in the future when the army will seek to dismantle settlements? There may be a problem with reservists who hold opposing points of view about that question.
"In those situations, it is best to use conscript soldiers, but they are young people who are not mature enough to deal with complex issues. The scenario for the future could be problematic and that is something they should start thinking about already now." Atalia Baumel: My boy doesn't have to fight in the future, says Atalia Baumel from Yuvalim, a community in Lower Galilee, the army could encounter refusal on the part of parents. "That will be the new trend, which I expect will be extensive and sweeping. People are not ready any more to sacrifice their sons for goals they do not believe in."
When Baumel's son received his draft notice three years ago, she asked the defense minister and the chief of staff to exempt him from combat service because she objected to her son being a fighter. "We are a generation that lives on wars," she says. "My parents fought in the War of Independence, my brother-in-law was at Ammunition Hill [in Jerusalem] in the [1967] Six-Day War, my brother fought in the [1956] Sinai War, my husband fought in the [1973] Yom Kippur War. My generation was effectively wiped out in the Yom Kippur War. We are not willing for our children to go through what we went through."
And if there is no choice?
"There is a choice," Baumel says. "The army will have to start taking us into consideration because a fighter whose family objects to his military service will not be a good fighter. Already today, there are parents who buy their son's army service with all kinds of promises: 'If you don't go into a combat unit we will buy you a car,' or 'If you stay out of the territories, we will pay for a trip abroad.'"
Baumel's son recently received his discharge from the army after completing his three-year stint. Now she will pressure him not to do reserve duty in the territories.
"I am bothered by the fact that my son will be an occupier. I have a girlfriend whose son was a sharpshooter in the territories. He killed four Palestinians. When he told her about it, she couldn't sleep nights any more. What kind of life is her son going to have after killing four people? Anyone who takes a human life is no longer the same person. I am afraid for my son's humanity.
"And there is also a legal problem with service in the territories. The settlements are a violation of international law. Theoretically, there could be a situation in which my son will go for a perfectly innocent trip abroad and be arrested there as a war criminal."
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